I’ve predicted Megalopolis, anticipated as it is, will have a clear dividing point: the cultural commentariat hoping to see “another film by the director of The Godfather” and those who appreciate “something that looks and sounds like a Star Wars prequel.” I am very firmly in the latter, was duly excited by the first image, and can only be pleased with the time-stopping debut teaser, arriving today via Le Pacte.
It comes with a sad addenedum. Coppola, sharing the teaser on Instagram, noted:
Megalopolis has always been a film dedicated to my dear wife Eleanor. I really had hoped to celebrate her birthday together this May 4th. But sadly that was not to be, so let me share with everyone a gift on her behalf.
As Coppola recently told Vanity Fair, “I wouldn’t have been able to make it without standing as I do on the shoulders of G.B. Shaw,...
It comes with a sad addenedum. Coppola, sharing the teaser on Instagram, noted:
Megalopolis has always been a film dedicated to my dear wife Eleanor. I really had hoped to celebrate her birthday together this May 4th. But sadly that was not to be, so let me share with everyone a gift on her behalf.
As Coppola recently told Vanity Fair, “I wouldn’t have been able to make it without standing as I do on the shoulders of G.B. Shaw,...
- 5/4/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Now that Francis Ford Coppola has unveiled his long-in-the-works epic Megalopolis to buyers and the industry, we’re just a few weeks away from its official premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. As he hopefully secures U.S. distribution soon, the first look has finally arrived.
Featuring Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel towering above the metropolis, the first image comes courtesy from Vanity Fair, who also share a few new quotes from Coppola himself. “My first goal always is to make a film with all my heart, so I began to realize it would be about love and loyalty in every aspect of human life,” said the director. “Megalopolis echoed these sentiments, in which love was expressed in almost crystalline complexity, our planet in danger and our human family almost in an act of suicide, until becoming a very optimistic film that has faith in the human being to possess...
Featuring Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel towering above the metropolis, the first image comes courtesy from Vanity Fair, who also share a few new quotes from Coppola himself. “My first goal always is to make a film with all my heart, so I began to realize it would be about love and loyalty in every aspect of human life,” said the director. “Megalopolis echoed these sentiments, in which love was expressed in almost crystalline complexity, our planet in danger and our human family almost in an act of suicide, until becoming a very optimistic film that has faith in the human being to possess...
- 4/30/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Kevin Macdonald's High & Low – John Galliano is now showing exclusively on Mubi in many countries.High & Low – John Galliano.What are the limits of forgiveness? Is making a documentary about a disgraced public figure, in which that remorseful person is allowed to try to explain their actions, inherently an act of damage-control propaganda? Or can it be a way of letting them tighten their own noose? Since its premiere at Telluride last September, Kevin Macdonald’s High & Low – John Galliano (2023) has fueled such heated conversations. Leaving many of its inquiries open-ended, this documentary is about neither complete condemnation nor exoneration. Instead, Macdonald tries to make sense of the enigma at his film’s center: a man who does not deny committing a hate crime over a decade ago, but who still claims to have no memory of the events or how he got there.Widely admired for his audacious style and designs,...
- 4/26/2024
- MUBI
There is something about the period of the Napoleonic Wars and the personality of Napoleon Bonaparte himself that keeps world-renowned filmmakers returning to the subject. Maybe it's the aesthetics of the early 19th century and the epic battles of the time. Maybe it's the fascination of the life of the great French general and emperor that ambitious filmmakers are drawn to.
Whatever the reason, each of these films either failed commercially or received mixed reviews from critics. Abel Gance's Napoleon, Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace and Waterloo, Peter Weir's Master and Commander, and of course Ridley Scott's recent Napoleon – despite epic scales, a talented cast and crew, and sometimes even a great script, all of the above films failed in one way or another.
Ridley Scott's new feature, starring Joaquin Phoenix, is both commercially and critically underwhelming. Despite its grandeur, its Rotten Tomatoes score was a...
Whatever the reason, each of these films either failed commercially or received mixed reviews from critics. Abel Gance's Napoleon, Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace and Waterloo, Peter Weir's Master and Commander, and of course Ridley Scott's recent Napoleon – despite epic scales, a talented cast and crew, and sometimes even a great script, all of the above films failed in one way or another.
Ridley Scott's new feature, starring Joaquin Phoenix, is both commercially and critically underwhelming. Despite its grandeur, its Rotten Tomatoes score was a...
- 4/26/2024
- by louise.everitt@startefacts.com (Louise Everitt)
- STartefacts.com
Though festivals and distributors were very excited to sell you a “final” film by Jean-Luc Godard, Fabrice Aragno made clear Phony Wars would not be the last transmission. Continuing Tupac-like beyond-the-grave releases, it’s been announced this year’s Cannes Film Festival will include in their “Events” sidebar the “ultimate film by Jean-Luc Godard,” Scenarios, which I cannot possibly summarize better than their official description and thus:
Scenarios is the title that Jean-Luc Godard chose to give to a final 18-minute gesture, made, literally, the day before his voluntary death. Furthermore, Jean-Luc Godard recorded a 34-minute film in which, mixing still images and moving images, halfway between reading and vision, he presented the Scenarios project .
Worth noting that Scenario was, with Phony Wars, one of two films with which Godard planned to end his career. A project made with single-digit hours left on Earth… well, one’s mind reels at the potential.
Scenarios is the title that Jean-Luc Godard chose to give to a final 18-minute gesture, made, literally, the day before his voluntary death. Furthermore, Jean-Luc Godard recorded a 34-minute film in which, mixing still images and moving images, halfway between reading and vision, he presented the Scenarios project .
Worth noting that Scenario was, with Phony Wars, one of two films with which Godard planned to end his career. A project made with single-digit hours left on Earth… well, one’s mind reels at the potential.
- 4/25/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The Cannes Film Festival’s Classics sidebar celebrates 20 years this year with a lineup of films including a 4K restoration of Wim Wenders’s Palme d’Or winning Paris, Texas, and a debut screening of Ron Howard’s 2024 doc Jim Henson Idea Man.
Wenders and Howard will be on the ground in Cannes, where they will present the films alongside Faye Dunaway, who will present the feature-long doc Faye about her life and career.
Other Cannes Classics screenings will include a 4k restoration of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai to mark the late Japanese filmmaker’s 70th birthday while Frederick Wiseman will present his 1969 documentary Law And Order. Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO Tom Rothman will also attend to screen Charles Vidor’s 1946 film Gilda as part of a 100-year celebration of Columbia Pictures.
The sidebar will also screen Scénario, an 18-minute film by Jean-Luc Godard. The project was...
Wenders and Howard will be on the ground in Cannes, where they will present the films alongside Faye Dunaway, who will present the feature-long doc Faye about her life and career.
Other Cannes Classics screenings will include a 4k restoration of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai to mark the late Japanese filmmaker’s 70th birthday while Frederick Wiseman will present his 1969 documentary Law And Order. Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO Tom Rothman will also attend to screen Charles Vidor’s 1946 film Gilda as part of a 100-year celebration of Columbia Pictures.
The sidebar will also screen Scénario, an 18-minute film by Jean-Luc Godard. The project was...
- 4/25/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
BAFTA Circles Calendar
The British Academy has confirmed the date of the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards, which will now be held on Sunday February. 16.
As per recent scheduling arrangements, the awards — arguably the biggest film awards outside the U.S. — takes place two weeks before the Oscars on March 2, 2025. Regular film festival attendees may note that the BAFTA awards will, once again, be held during the Berlinale, set to run February 13-23, with there likely to be a spike in industry professionals flying back to London on the morning of Feb. 16.
The full timeline and eligibility details for the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards will be announced in due course. Voting will take place over three rounds: longlisting, nominations and winners, by the academy’s global voting film membership which comprises more than 7,800 industry creatives.
The 2024 BAFTA Film Awards, which saw “Oppenheimer” dominate with wins for best film, director and actor, were watched...
The British Academy has confirmed the date of the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards, which will now be held on Sunday February. 16.
As per recent scheduling arrangements, the awards — arguably the biggest film awards outside the U.S. — takes place two weeks before the Oscars on March 2, 2025. Regular film festival attendees may note that the BAFTA awards will, once again, be held during the Berlinale, set to run February 13-23, with there likely to be a spike in industry professionals flying back to London on the morning of Feb. 16.
The full timeline and eligibility details for the 2025 BAFTA Film Awards will be announced in due course. Voting will take place over three rounds: longlisting, nominations and winners, by the academy’s global voting film membership which comprises more than 7,800 industry creatives.
The 2024 BAFTA Film Awards, which saw “Oppenheimer” dominate with wins for best film, director and actor, were watched...
- 4/19/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Albert Dieudonné as Napoleon which 'amazed audiences and critics alike when it premiered at the Paris Opera on 7 April, 1927' Photo: Photoplay January 1925. First turn of the crank at the Boulogne studio. Abel Gance explains the filming set-up to the young Bonaparte (Vladimir Roudenko), surrounded by the technical crew Photo: © La Cinémathèque française An epic of silent cinema Abel Gance’s Napoleon, which has been seen over the years in various restored versions presented by the likes of film historian Kevin Brownlow and director Francis Ford Coppola, with live scores by Carl Davis and Coppola’s father Carmine, has been resurrected in a new guise for a premiere in the Classics section of the Cannes Film Festival.
The first part of the “new” film will be unveiled on May 14 with Napoléon (1st period), in a version resulting from what is described as "a colossal, passionate effort by the Cinémathèque française,...
The first part of the “new” film will be unveiled on May 14 with Napoléon (1st period), in a version resulting from what is described as "a colossal, passionate effort by the Cinémathèque française,...
- 4/19/2024
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The 2024 Cannes Classics sidebar will open with a restored version of French filmmaker Abel Gance’s silent epic Napolean.
A major work of the silent era, Napolean has taken sixteen years to restore. The festival said today that “various sources were used to rediscover the original storyline” of the seven-hour feature, with reels found at the Cinémathèque française, the Cnc, the Cinémathèque de Toulouse and the Cinémathèque de Corse, as well as in Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Luxembourg and New York.
Filmmaker and restoration expert Georges Mourier and his team worked frame-by-frame and reviewed nearly 100 kilometers of film. The festival said Gance’s original editing notes and correspondence with his editor, found at the Bnf, “made it possible to re-edit the film in its original version.”
Celebrated by scholars for its technical and aesthetic innovations, Napolean premiered at the Paris Opera on April 7, 1927, in the presence of French President Gaston Doumergue...
A major work of the silent era, Napolean has taken sixteen years to restore. The festival said today that “various sources were used to rediscover the original storyline” of the seven-hour feature, with reels found at the Cinémathèque française, the Cnc, the Cinémathèque de Toulouse and the Cinémathèque de Corse, as well as in Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Luxembourg and New York.
Filmmaker and restoration expert Georges Mourier and his team worked frame-by-frame and reviewed nearly 100 kilometers of film. The festival said Gance’s original editing notes and correspondence with his editor, found at the Bnf, “made it possible to re-edit the film in its original version.”
Celebrated by scholars for its technical and aesthetic innovations, Napolean premiered at the Paris Opera on April 7, 1927, in the presence of French President Gaston Doumergue...
- 4/18/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Every time a presumed-lost silent film is rediscovered, it’s cause for celebration. When elements were found to restore complete versions of “The Passion of Joan of Arc” and “Metropolis,” the resulting restoration premiere was a major cinematic event. For his part, the silent film historian Kevin Brownlow told me he thinks a treasure trove of lost silents is just awaiting rediscovery in the archives of the Cinemateca de Cuba.
One major new find occurred right in the United States, however. Filmmaker Gary Huggins was hoping to buy a celluloid reel for a cartoon as part of the auction of films an Omaha-based distributor had held, after the distributor folded. He had to purchase a number of other films as well in order to get the one he wanted, and among those other titles? A presumed-lost 1923 movie with silent film megastar Clara Bow called “The Pill Pounder.”
A fun broadcast...
One major new find occurred right in the United States, however. Filmmaker Gary Huggins was hoping to buy a celluloid reel for a cartoon as part of the auction of films an Omaha-based distributor had held, after the distributor folded. He had to purchase a number of other films as well in order to get the one he wanted, and among those other titles? A presumed-lost 1923 movie with silent film megastar Clara Bow called “The Pill Pounder.”
A fun broadcast...
- 3/10/2024
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Kevin Macdonald’s High & Low: John Galliano is another hagiography in an increasingly long list of public relations exercises masquerading as substantial fashion profiles. Except this documentary is a more perverse exercise in self-celebration than its predecessors, as it shamelessly announces from the very start that it’s an attempt at atonement for disgraced designer John Galliano, who was widely condemned in 2011 for racist and antisemitic rants.
High & Low opens with the case that triggered Galliano’s public downfall, all but promising that it will confront his demons head on and leave no stone unturned. Instead, it enlists Galliano’s high-profile friends and former colleagues—among them Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Penélope Cruz, Charlize Theron, and, of course, Anna Wintour—to make the case that it wasn’t really “John” talking at the Paris café La Perle when he used expressions such as “fucking ugly Jewish bitch...
High & Low opens with the case that triggered Galliano’s public downfall, all but promising that it will confront his demons head on and leave no stone unturned. Instead, it enlists Galliano’s high-profile friends and former colleagues—among them Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Penélope Cruz, Charlize Theron, and, of course, Anna Wintour—to make the case that it wasn’t really “John” talking at the Paris café La Perle when he used expressions such as “fucking ugly Jewish bitch...
- 3/3/2024
- by Diego Semerene
- Slant Magazine
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHard Truths.Mike Leigh’s forthcoming Hard Truths will reunite him with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, star of Secrets and Lies (1996). It will be the British director’s first film set in the present day since Another Year (2010).Jia Zhangke has divulged some details of We Shall Be All, now in the early stages of post-production. In production off and on since 2001, the film will be his first feature since Ash Is Purest White (2018). “I travelled with actors and a cameraman to shoot, without a script, without any obvious story,” the director told Variety. “This is a work of fiction, but I have applied many documentary methods.”Robert Bresson’s rarely seen Four Nights of a Dreamer is being restored by MK2 Films, set for a spring release.
- 2/28/2024
- MUBI
One of the long-awaited crown jewels of silent cinema will be seen in its full glory soon. For nearly two decades work has been underway to restore Abel Gance’s 1927 epic Napoleon to as close as possible to its “Apollo version,” a seven-hour cut that screened at the Apollo Theatre in Paris in 1927. As led by Georges Mourier and backed by Cinémathèque Française, with financing from Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée and Netflix, among others, this definitive version will now premiere this summer in Paris.
This new version will hold its world premiere across two evenings on July 4 and 5 at the Seine Musicale, located in the western suburbs of Paris, according to a news release (with a hat tip to our friend Peter Labuza). This special screening will feature a new live score by over 250 musicians from the National Orchestra of France, the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra,...
This new version will hold its world premiere across two evenings on July 4 and 5 at the Seine Musicale, located in the western suburbs of Paris, according to a news release (with a hat tip to our friend Peter Labuza). This special screening will feature a new live score by over 250 musicians from the National Orchestra of France, the Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
“We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces,” proclaimed former silent film queen Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in Billy Wilder’s 1950 masterwork “Sunset Boulevard.” One of the greatest faces of the era belonged to French actor Albert Dieudonne who starred in Abel Gance’s breathtaking 1927 epic “Napoleon.” With this dark eyes, distinct nose and rock star style hair, Dieudonne channels the infamous French military leader and emperor who conquered most of Europe in the early 19th century until his disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia. Exiled to Elba in 1814, he emerged once again and suffered a massive defeat at Waterloo in 1815. He died in exile six years later at the age of 51.
Dieudonne commands the 5 ½ hour film restored by Kevin Brownlow which features the jaw-dropping triptych finale that is as exciting now as it was 96 years ago. BFI states that the film is “monumental and visionary, the story’s chapters play out...
Dieudonne commands the 5 ½ hour film restored by Kevin Brownlow which features the jaw-dropping triptych finale that is as exciting now as it was 96 years ago. BFI states that the film is “monumental and visionary, the story’s chapters play out...
- 12/1/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Top: Napoleon (Gaumont), Middle: Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Orion Pictures), Bottom: Napoleon Bunny-Part (Warner Bros. Pictures)Graphic: The A.V. Club
Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 21, 1821, but the iconic French emperor has lived on (and on and on) in numerous movies and television shows. Esteemed director Ridley Scott, who...
Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 21, 1821, but the iconic French emperor has lived on (and on and on) in numerous movies and television shows. Esteemed director Ridley Scott, who...
- 11/24/2023
- by Ian Spelling
- avclub.com
Terry Camilleri Photo: Terry Camilleri, Screenshot: Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Joaquin Phoenix may be the latest actor to play Napoleon Bonaparte, but he certainly isn’t the first (nor will he be the last). Of all the people who’ve played the French emperor, from Marlon Brando to Verne Troyer,...
Joaquin Phoenix may be the latest actor to play Napoleon Bonaparte, but he certainly isn’t the first (nor will he be the last). Of all the people who’ve played the French emperor, from Marlon Brando to Verne Troyer,...
- 11/23/2023
- by Matt Schimkowitz
- avclub.com
“All art is autobiographical,” Federico Fellini once said. “The pearl is the oyster’s autobiography.” No one would accuse Napoleon, Ridley Scott’s two-and-a-half-hour epic (that’s the theatrical cut’s running time, mind you; there’s a four-hour version waiting in the wings as well) about the French dictator’s rise and fall, of being thinly veiled autofiction in period dress. You sure as hell wouldn’t call it a pearl, either. Starting with the French revolution and ending with Monsieur Bonaparte’s no-bang-all-whimper exit from this mortal coil,...
- 11/21/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Ridley Scott has never been one to take kindly to harsh criticism. Now, Ridley Scott is defending his latest film, Napoleon, from Bonaparte’s home country, France.
In response to the apparent wealth of French critics targeting Napoleon, Ridley Scott seemed to take a swipe at the country as a whole, saying, “The French don’t even like themselves…The audience that I showed it to in Paris, they loved it.” Regarding negativity, the BBC cited Le Figaro’s review that said “Barbie and Ken under the Empire”, while French GQ said the moment that featured French soldiers — with clearly Americanized accents — shouting “Vive La France” was “deeply clumsy, unnatural and unintentionally funny.”
When the BBC asked Ridley Scott if he had any words about those who are actively criticizing Napoleon’s historical accuracy, the director stated, “You really want me to answer that?… it will have a bleep in it.
In response to the apparent wealth of French critics targeting Napoleon, Ridley Scott seemed to take a swipe at the country as a whole, saying, “The French don’t even like themselves…The audience that I showed it to in Paris, they loved it.” Regarding negativity, the BBC cited Le Figaro’s review that said “Barbie and Ken under the Empire”, while French GQ said the moment that featured French soldiers — with clearly Americanized accents — shouting “Vive La France” was “deeply clumsy, unnatural and unintentionally funny.”
When the BBC asked Ridley Scott if he had any words about those who are actively criticizing Napoleon’s historical accuracy, the director stated, “You really want me to answer that?… it will have a bleep in it.
- 11/19/2023
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
A chyron that appears at the end of “Napoleon” — after two and a half hours of turgid, grime-encrusted spectacle — informs that France’s self-anointed emperor oversaw 61 battles, listing the six that director Ridley Scott opted to stage for our benefit … or for his own glory. The director’s motives are unclear, much like those of Napoleon Bonaparte, as played by Joaquin Phoenix, who gives a mumbly and oddly anti-charismatic performance as the figure — short, slender and something of an outsider, owing to his Corsican birth — who came to rule France after the revolution.
Here, from the master of the modern epic, comes an undeniably impressive technical achievement: a bombastic old-school “great man” movie of the sort that dominated Hollywood in the late ’50s and early ’60s. But times are not the same, and though Scott is wise to which way the wind blows (he demonstrated as much in his underrated...
Here, from the master of the modern epic, comes an undeniably impressive technical achievement: a bombastic old-school “great man” movie of the sort that dominated Hollywood in the late ’50s and early ’60s. But times are not the same, and though Scott is wise to which way the wind blows (he demonstrated as much in his underrated...
- 11/15/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Numerous times in Napoleon, the mist settles over wintry landscapes, delicately summoning visual echoes of The Duellists, the 1977 debut feature set during the same period that put Ridley Scott on the map. Then there are muscular, large-scale scenes of warfare more characteristic of the veteran director’s later work, notably the Battle of Austerlitz, where cannon fire from Bonaparte’s army sends Austrian and Russian troops plunging to icy deaths in a frozen lake, its water stained with blood. But for all its brawn and atmosphere and robustly choreographed combat, this is a distended historical tapestry too sprawling to remain compelling, particularly when its focus veers away from the central couple.
Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in the title role is as eccentric as any the mercurial actor has given, even if his tics don’t always seem entirely grounded in character. But it’s when he’s onscreen with Vanessa Kirby as Josephine,...
Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in the title role is as eccentric as any the mercurial actor has given, even if his tics don’t always seem entirely grounded in character. But it’s when he’s onscreen with Vanessa Kirby as Josephine,...
- 11/15/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Criterion Channel is closing the year out with a bang––they’ve announced their December lineup. Among the highlights are retrospectives on Yasujiro Ozu (featuring nearly 40 films!), Ousmane Sembène, Alfred Hitchcock (along with Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut), and Parker Posey. Well-timed for the season is a holiday noir series that includes They Live By Night, Blast of Silence, Lady in the Lake, and more.
Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.
See the lineup below and learn more here.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988
An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...
Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.
See the lineup below and learn more here.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988
An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...
- 11/13/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
We’ve heard of filmmaking being compared to scaling Mt. Everest and going to war, but we’re pretty sure comparing it to building a Lego set is a new one. But that’s just what Ridley Scott has done, saying his upcoming Napoleon has been one “ridiculously challenging” set of pieces. Now, can we get a Battle of Waterloo set pitched on Lego Ideas?
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Ridley Scott said Napoleon has been one of his most daunting directorial outings, touching on one of the aforementioned similes. “These kinds of films are like climbing a mountain,…At the ground level, the peak looks a long way off. But as you climb up the hill with your partners in this ridiculously challenging Lego kit of information you’re trying to put together, sometimes pieces don’t fit and you’re already at 20,000 feet.” Still, that’s just part of what he does.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Ridley Scott said Napoleon has been one of his most daunting directorial outings, touching on one of the aforementioned similes. “These kinds of films are like climbing a mountain,…At the ground level, the peak looks a long way off. But as you climb up the hill with your partners in this ridiculously challenging Lego kit of information you’re trying to put together, sometimes pieces don’t fit and you’re already at 20,000 feet.” Still, that’s just part of what he does.
- 10/2/2023
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
With guild agreements being signed and production ramping up, Hollywood hopefully awaits a moment of youthful innovation.
Oops: The most newsworthy films set for imminent release are directed by filmmakers in their 80s – grizzled veterans who understand their muscle but, like the neophytes, are perplexed by the chaotic landscape.
Will this become a Back to the Future moment?
Ageism debates about Biden (80) and Trump (77) may prompt political headlines, but it’s not intruding on either The Golden Bachelor (Gerry Turner is 72) or the movie release date calendar.
Still, talk to Michael Mann (Ferrari), Ridley Scott (Napoleon) or Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) and you won’t encounter the sort of “we own the system” bluster held by the old-time studio directors. Behind them is an even older lineup of vintage filmmakers: Woody Allen (87) and Roman Polanski (90), whose movies await release dates, and Francis Coppola (84), who would welcome distribution...
Oops: The most newsworthy films set for imminent release are directed by filmmakers in their 80s – grizzled veterans who understand their muscle but, like the neophytes, are perplexed by the chaotic landscape.
Will this become a Back to the Future moment?
Ageism debates about Biden (80) and Trump (77) may prompt political headlines, but it’s not intruding on either The Golden Bachelor (Gerry Turner is 72) or the movie release date calendar.
Still, talk to Michael Mann (Ferrari), Ridley Scott (Napoleon) or Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) and you won’t encounter the sort of “we own the system” bluster held by the old-time studio directors. Behind them is an even older lineup of vintage filmmakers: Woody Allen (87) and Roman Polanski (90), whose movies await release dates, and Francis Coppola (84), who would welcome distribution...
- 9/28/2023
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
Jean Boht, who played the iron-fisted matriarch Nellie Boswell on every episode of the 1986-91 BBC sitcom Bread, has died. She was 91.
Boht died Tuesday, her family announced, saying that she “had been battling vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease with the indefatigable spirit for which she was both beloved and renowned.”
She had been living in Denville Hall, a home in London for actors and other members of the entertainment industry.
Her husband of 52 years, Carl Davis, who composed the scores for The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Abel Gance’s epic 1927 silent film Napoléon, died six weeks ago after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
Jean Boht (1932-2023)
It is with overwhelming sadness that we must announce that Jean Boht passed away yesterday Tuesday 12 September. Jean had been battling Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease with the indefatigable spirit for which she was both beloved and renowned. pic.twitter.com/ytNC...
Boht died Tuesday, her family announced, saying that she “had been battling vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease with the indefatigable spirit for which she was both beloved and renowned.”
She had been living in Denville Hall, a home in London for actors and other members of the entertainment industry.
Her husband of 52 years, Carl Davis, who composed the scores for The French Lieutenant’s Woman and Abel Gance’s epic 1927 silent film Napoléon, died six weeks ago after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
Jean Boht (1932-2023)
It is with overwhelming sadness that we must announce that Jean Boht passed away yesterday Tuesday 12 September. Jean had been battling Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease with the indefatigable spirit for which she was both beloved and renowned. pic.twitter.com/ytNC...
- 9/14/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Google “forgiving John Galliano.” I’ll wait.
That’s quite a list of headlines, huh? “How Fashion Forgave John Galliano.” “Why Won’t People Forgive John Galliano?” “Should John Galliano Be Forgiven?” “Can We Forgive John Galliano Already?” Those are just within the first five results.
With hindsight, the-then Dior creative director was the first to really feel the brunt of today’s so-called “cancel culture” — and with good reason. His comments from December 2010 at Parisian Cafe La Perle, captured via smartphone in a way that vulgar remarks could not have been beforehand and released only a couple months later after yet another altercation, were truly vile. He spoke about his love of Hitler, his hatred of Jews, and his seeming approval of the Holocaust.
What Kevin Macdonald’s riveting, empathetic documentary “High & Low: John Galliano” goes to show is that the one person who really doesn’t remember those comments is…...
That’s quite a list of headlines, huh? “How Fashion Forgave John Galliano.” “Why Won’t People Forgive John Galliano?” “Should John Galliano Be Forgiven?” “Can We Forgive John Galliano Already?” Those are just within the first five results.
With hindsight, the-then Dior creative director was the first to really feel the brunt of today’s so-called “cancel culture” — and with good reason. His comments from December 2010 at Parisian Cafe La Perle, captured via smartphone in a way that vulgar remarks could not have been beforehand and released only a couple months later after yet another altercation, were truly vile. He spoke about his love of Hitler, his hatred of Jews, and his seeming approval of the Holocaust.
What Kevin Macdonald’s riveting, empathetic documentary “High & Low: John Galliano” goes to show is that the one person who really doesn’t remember those comments is…...
- 9/2/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
2023 Festival dedicated to founders Tom Luddy, Bill Pence, Stella Pence, James Card.
Telluride Film Festival has announced its 2023 50th anniversary line-up with Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall, and Steve McQueen’s Occupied City on the roster.
The selection, which will play in the Colorado Rockies locale from August 31 to September 4, includes Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes sensation The Zone Of Interest, Pablo Larrain’s El Conde, Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel, George C. Wolfe’s Rustin, Nyad from Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin,...
Telluride Film Festival has announced its 2023 50th anniversary line-up with Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall, and Steve McQueen’s Occupied City on the roster.
The selection, which will play in the Colorado Rockies locale from August 31 to September 4, includes Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders, Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes sensation The Zone Of Interest, Pablo Larrain’s El Conde, Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel, George C. Wolfe’s Rustin, Nyad from Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin,...
- 8/30/2023
- ScreenDaily
Following Main Slate and Spotlight, the 61st New York Film Festival has unveiled its Revivals lineup, featuring new restorations of classic and overlooked films. Highlights include Manoel de Oliveira’s Abraham’s Valley, Jean Renoir‘s The Woman on the Beach, Bahram Beyzaie’s The Stranger and the Fog, Abel Gance’s La Roue, Paul Vecchiali’s The Strangler, Lee Grant’s Tell Me a Riddle, Nancy Savoca’s Household Saints, Horace Ové’s Pressure, and more.
“This year’s edition of Revivals is a thrilling showcase of cinema history, packed with groundbreaking discoveries and long unseen classics alike, all in outstanding restorations,” said Florence Almozini, Senior Director of Programming at Film at Lincoln Center and NYFF Revivals Programmer. “We never cease to be amazed at the lasting influence of these cinematic gems on our collective sense of cinema, with the way they have tackled cultural, societal, or political issues with such modernity and artistry.
“This year’s edition of Revivals is a thrilling showcase of cinema history, packed with groundbreaking discoveries and long unseen classics alike, all in outstanding restorations,” said Florence Almozini, Senior Director of Programming at Film at Lincoln Center and NYFF Revivals Programmer. “We never cease to be amazed at the lasting influence of these cinematic gems on our collective sense of cinema, with the way they have tackled cultural, societal, or political issues with such modernity and artistry.
- 8/21/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Carl Davis, who composed the scores for The French Lieutenant’s Woman, the BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice and perhaps most famously Abel Gance’s epic 1927 silent film Napoléon, has died. He was 86.
Davis died Thursday after suffering a brain hemorrhage, his family announced.
“We are so proud that Carl’s legacy will be his astonishing impact on music,” they wrote on Twitter. “A consummate all-round musician, he was the driving force behind the reinvention of the silent movie for this generation, and he wrote scores for some of the most-loved and remembered British television dramas.”
Born in Brooklyn but living in the U.K. since 1961, Davis was hired by documentarians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill to create music for the 13-hour 1980 miniseries Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film and for Napoléon.
“My first score for a silent movie was Napoleon,” he said in 2010. “Five hours of it! It...
Davis died Thursday after suffering a brain hemorrhage, his family announced.
“We are so proud that Carl’s legacy will be his astonishing impact on music,” they wrote on Twitter. “A consummate all-round musician, he was the driving force behind the reinvention of the silent movie for this generation, and he wrote scores for some of the most-loved and remembered British television dramas.”
Born in Brooklyn but living in the U.K. since 1961, Davis was hired by documentarians Kevin Brownlow and David Gill to create music for the 13-hour 1980 miniseries Hollywood: A Celebration of the American Silent Film and for Napoléon.
“My first score for a silent movie was Napoleon,” he said in 2010. “Five hours of it! It...
- 8/3/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Carl Davis, the composer known for his BAFTA-winning score for “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” (1981), died of a brain hemorrhage on Thursday. He was 86.
Davis’ family issued a statement on social media, writing: “We are so proud that Carl’s legacy will be his astonishing impact on music. A consummate all-round musician, he was the driving force behind the reinvention of the silent movie for this generation and he wrote scores for some of the most loved and remembered British television dramas.”
Born in New York, Davis co-authored revue “Diversions” (1959), which won an off-Broadway Emmy and featured at the 1961 Edinburgh Festival. Davis moved to the U.K. in 1961 and was commissioned by the BBC to compose music for “That Was the Week That Was.” Subsequent work included BBC’s anthology play series “The Wednesday Play” (1964-70) and “Play for Today” (1970-84).
Davis then composed for several iconic British television shows, including...
Davis’ family issued a statement on social media, writing: “We are so proud that Carl’s legacy will be his astonishing impact on music. A consummate all-round musician, he was the driving force behind the reinvention of the silent movie for this generation and he wrote scores for some of the most loved and remembered British television dramas.”
Born in New York, Davis co-authored revue “Diversions” (1959), which won an off-Broadway Emmy and featured at the 1961 Edinburgh Festival. Davis moved to the U.K. in 1961 and was commissioned by the BBC to compose music for “That Was the Week That Was.” Subsequent work included BBC’s anthology play series “The Wednesday Play” (1964-70) and “Play for Today” (1970-84).
Davis then composed for several iconic British television shows, including...
- 8/3/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Carl Davis, an American-born conductor and composer who had lived in the UK since 1961, has died in Oxford. He was 86.
BAFTA-winner Davis composed music for more than 100 TV programs, created new scores for the concert performance of silent movies, and wrote many ballet and concert works.
He was best known for his work on hit BBC TV series Pride & Prejudice (1995), starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, and movies including The French Lieutenant’s Woman (for which he won a BAFTA), starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, and Florence Foster Jenkins, also starring Streep.
Davis, who was born in Brooklyn in 1936, also provided the original music for popular UK documentary history series The World at War (1973) for Thames Television and conducted the BBC’s theme song for their coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
In the late 1970s, Davis was commissioned to create music for a restored version of Abel Gance’s silent epic Napoleon.
BAFTA-winner Davis composed music for more than 100 TV programs, created new scores for the concert performance of silent movies, and wrote many ballet and concert works.
He was best known for his work on hit BBC TV series Pride & Prejudice (1995), starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, and movies including The French Lieutenant’s Woman (for which he won a BAFTA), starring Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons, and Florence Foster Jenkins, also starring Streep.
Davis, who was born in Brooklyn in 1936, also provided the original music for popular UK documentary history series The World at War (1973) for Thames Television and conducted the BBC’s theme song for their coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
In the late 1970s, Davis was commissioned to create music for a restored version of Abel Gance’s silent epic Napoleon.
- 8/3/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Abel Gance’s first sound film is among the most notorious what-ifs of cinema alongside The Magnificent Ambersons and much of Erich von Stroheim’s filmography. The version that was released in theaters back in 1931 and which survives today represents a tattered remnant of its maker’s original vision: a three-hour opus intended to spread a message of world unity and pacifism as Gance’s final word on the aftershocks and moral lessons of World War I. But producers immediately took out the pruning shears, reducing the film to half its intended length and, in the process, muddying its bold, operatic themes.
Compared to Gance’s towering silent epics, End of the World cannot help but feel like a curio. Still, it’s as if Gance knew the path that the film would take, as the first images of The End of the World consist of the director himself, as protagonist Jean Novalic,...
Compared to Gance’s towering silent epics, End of the World cannot help but feel like a curio. Still, it’s as if Gance knew the path that the film would take, as the first images of The End of the World consist of the director himself, as protagonist Jean Novalic,...
- 7/14/2023
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
“Success is the most convincing talker in the world,” Napoleon Bonaparte once said. And a really successful trailer can sell you on a movie even in the midst of an extremely crowded awards season. Witness the first trailer for “Napoleon,” Ridley Scott’s long-gestating epic about the French emperor, who conquered most of Europe in the early 19th century. Watch it below.
Starring Joaquin Phoenix as the general turned dictator, the film promises an epic scale like we haven’t seen from Scott in some time. Perhaps not since “Kingdom of Heaven,” or even his last pairing with Phoenix, 2000’s “Gladiator.” There are massive armies arrayed in battle, jeering crowds set to witness Marie Antoinette’s execution during the Reign of Terror, and even the pyramids being used for target practice — yes, something that Bonaparte, a Corsican who rose from nothing to be the most all-powerful figure in Europe in centuries,...
Starring Joaquin Phoenix as the general turned dictator, the film promises an epic scale like we haven’t seen from Scott in some time. Perhaps not since “Kingdom of Heaven,” or even his last pairing with Phoenix, 2000’s “Gladiator.” There are massive armies arrayed in battle, jeering crowds set to witness Marie Antoinette’s execution during the Reign of Terror, and even the pyramids being used for target practice — yes, something that Bonaparte, a Corsican who rose from nothing to be the most all-powerful figure in Europe in centuries,...
- 7/10/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Tom Luddy wasn’t famous exactly. But he had a huge impact on film culture via Uc Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive in the ’60s and the Telluride Film Festival in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and up to his death in February at age 79. And while he was based in the Bay Area, a theater full of Luddy-philes from both coasts turned up for his tribute at New York’s packed Paris Theater on April 15. They represented the cross-cultural network that Luddy created over decades of introducing people, sharing his favorite film gems, and luring folks to Telluride by inviting their films or bringing them in as guest directors (like Stephen Sondheim or Salman Rushdie) or tributees (like Athol Fugard or Michael Powell). Once they came, they usually came back.
Five of the stalwarts in the Luddy family, who have supported the festival on the Telluride board of directors and in other ways,...
Five of the stalwarts in the Luddy family, who have supported the festival on the Telluride board of directors and in other ways,...
- 4/16/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
This year, all the Oscar-contending directors are nominated for original screenplay: the Daniels, Todd Field, Martin McDonagh, Ruben Östlund and Steven Spielberg (writing with Tony Kushner).
This is the first time it’s happened in AMPAS history.
The only year that came close was 2017, when all five helmers had written or co-written their scripts, though they didn’t all get writing noms.
So here’s Film History 101.
In Hollywood lore, Preston Sturges is often credited as the first scribe to become a hyphenate, as writer-director of the 1940 “The Great McGinty.” But as with all Hollywood “facts,” there is only an element of truth here.
In the next few years, he was joined by some heavyweights: Orson Welles (“Citizen Kane”) and John Huston (“The Maltese Falcon”) in 1941; Leo McCarey (co-writer of “Going My Way”); Billy Wilder (writing with Raymond Chandler) for “Double Indemnity” in 1944; and Joseph L. Mankiewicz (“Dragonwyck”), 1946.
However, a writer-director wasn’t an innovation.
This is the first time it’s happened in AMPAS history.
The only year that came close was 2017, when all five helmers had written or co-written their scripts, though they didn’t all get writing noms.
So here’s Film History 101.
In Hollywood lore, Preston Sturges is often credited as the first scribe to become a hyphenate, as writer-director of the 1940 “The Great McGinty.” But as with all Hollywood “facts,” there is only an element of truth here.
In the next few years, he was joined by some heavyweights: Orson Welles (“Citizen Kane”) and John Huston (“The Maltese Falcon”) in 1941; Leo McCarey (co-writer of “Going My Way”); Billy Wilder (writing with Raymond Chandler) for “Double Indemnity” in 1944; and Joseph L. Mankiewicz (“Dragonwyck”), 1946.
However, a writer-director wasn’t an innovation.
- 3/3/2023
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Tom Luddy, the co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival and a longtime producer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios, died on Monday after a prolonged illness. He was 79.
His death comes on the verge of the festival’s 50th anniversary, as Telluride planned to salute the man responsible for establishing the Colorado gathering as a critical launchpad for international cinema. Luddy was shrewd cinephile with a daunting grasp of film history that informed his sharp opinions about the medium, much of which played a role in the unique nature of the Telluride community.
The festival drew crowds of major directors and industry insiders in tandem with amateur movie lovers attracted to the same welcoming environment he created for anyone who shared his passion for the movies. For many Telluride devotees, Luddy was its biggest draw — someone as emblematic of cinema’s global presence as the directors he championed.
As...
His death comes on the verge of the festival’s 50th anniversary, as Telluride planned to salute the man responsible for establishing the Colorado gathering as a critical launchpad for international cinema. Luddy was shrewd cinephile with a daunting grasp of film history that informed his sharp opinions about the medium, much of which played a role in the unique nature of the Telluride community.
The festival drew crowds of major directors and industry insiders in tandem with amateur movie lovers attracted to the same welcoming environment he created for anyone who shared his passion for the movies. For many Telluride devotees, Luddy was its biggest draw — someone as emblematic of cinema’s global presence as the directors he championed.
As...
- 2/14/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Tom Luddy, the understated co-founder and artistic director of the Telluride Film Festival who championed world cinema, spotlighted overlooked gems and saluted legends during his near half-century run with the event, has died. He was 79.
Luddy died peacefully Monday in Berkeley, California, after a long illness, Telluride senior vp public relations Shannon Mitchell told The Hollywood Reporter.
“The world has lost a rare ingredient that we’ll all be searching for, for some time,” Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger said in a statement. “I would sometimes find myself feeling sad for those who didn’t get to know Tom Luddy properly. He had a sphinx-like quality that took a little time to get around, for some.
“But once you knew him, you were welcomed into a kingdom of art, history, intelligence, humor and joie de vivre that you knew you couldn’t be without. He made life richer. Magical. He...
Luddy died peacefully Monday in Berkeley, California, after a long illness, Telluride senior vp public relations Shannon Mitchell told The Hollywood Reporter.
“The world has lost a rare ingredient that we’ll all be searching for, for some time,” Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger said in a statement. “I would sometimes find myself feeling sad for those who didn’t get to know Tom Luddy properly. He had a sphinx-like quality that took a little time to get around, for some.
“But once you knew him, you were welcomed into a kingdom of art, history, intelligence, humor and joie de vivre that you knew you couldn’t be without. He made life richer. Magical. He...
- 2/14/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tom Luddy, co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival and producer of numerous films for Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios, died February 13 at a nursing home in Berkeley, CA, where he had been under care for dementia. He was 79.
The festival announced Luddy’s death this morning. The news comes two months after the death of another Telluride co-founder, Bill Pence.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Bill Pence Dies: Telluride Film Festival Co-Founder Was 82 Related Story Telluride Review: Werner Herzog's 'Theater Of Thought'
“The world has lost a rare ingredient that we’ll all be searching for, for some time,” said Julie Huntsinger, executive director of the Telluride Film Festival. “I would sometimes find myself feeling sad for those who didn’t get to know Tom Luddy properly. He had a Sphinxlike quality that took a little time to get around, for some.
The festival announced Luddy’s death this morning. The news comes two months after the death of another Telluride co-founder, Bill Pence.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Bill Pence Dies: Telluride Film Festival Co-Founder Was 82 Related Story Telluride Review: Werner Herzog's 'Theater Of Thought'
“The world has lost a rare ingredient that we’ll all be searching for, for some time,” said Julie Huntsinger, executive director of the Telluride Film Festival. “I would sometimes find myself feeling sad for those who didn’t get to know Tom Luddy properly. He had a Sphinxlike quality that took a little time to get around, for some.
- 2/14/2023
- by Todd McCarthy and Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix’s complex relationship with the French cinema world took another twist on Monday as the streamer said it was bolstering its support of the Cinemathèque Française to become a major sponsor of the institution over a three-year period.
The streamer has collaborated with the cinematheque since 2018, notably sponsoring the restoration of Abel Gance’s 1927 classic Napoleon in 2019 and showcasing its own originals such as Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery in the institution’s iconic Henri Langlois auditorium.
Under the new accord, Netflix will sponsor several Cinémathèque operations, including film programming and masterclasses, the Toute La Mémoire du Monde Festival (March 8-12) and its youth-focused Ma Petite Cinémathèque program.
The platform will also get behind the institution’s temporary exhibitions with curated online programs, kicking off with current show Top Secret: Film & Espionage and followed by Romy Schneider (March 16 to July 30) and the cinémathèque’s major Agnès Varda Viva Varda!
The streamer has collaborated with the cinematheque since 2018, notably sponsoring the restoration of Abel Gance’s 1927 classic Napoleon in 2019 and showcasing its own originals such as Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery in the institution’s iconic Henri Langlois auditorium.
Under the new accord, Netflix will sponsor several Cinémathèque operations, including film programming and masterclasses, the Toute La Mémoire du Monde Festival (March 8-12) and its youth-focused Ma Petite Cinémathèque program.
The platform will also get behind the institution’s temporary exhibitions with curated online programs, kicking off with current show Top Secret: Film & Espionage and followed by Romy Schneider (March 16 to July 30) and the cinémathèque’s major Agnès Varda Viva Varda!
- 2/6/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated: Sony Pictures Classics co-president Tom Bernard, in a phone interview with IndieWire, said the following about Bill Pence: “[I’ve been going to Telluride] since 1978. Bill Pence was one of the pioneers of repertory cinema. That led to the festival. He had a chain of theaters all across the west, he’d bicycle repertory prints. He’d find archive program stuff no one had heard about for years, the [other theaters] would follow his lead, his festival turned into the ultimate repertory theater in his wild dreams. They put this thing together. Always at Telluride you’d see the best prints out of the archives, it was one of the treats of going there. Bill curated that; one of the roots of the festival was Bill Pence’s love of films and older cinema.
“I remember one year that stands out: Bill had original prints of Hitchcock movies that nobody could get and be able to...
“I remember one year that stands out: Bill had original prints of Hitchcock movies that nobody could get and be able to...
- 12/29/2022
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
French filmmaker Jean-Marie Straub, who was one half of the radical, arthouse filmmaking duo Straub-Huillet with his late wife Danièle Huillet, has died at the age of 89 in Switzerland.
Straub, who hailed from the industrial northeastern French city of Metz, moved to Paris as a student in the 1950s, where he first met Huillet.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery Related Story Future Of TF1, M6 & France Télévisions' Joint Streaming Platform Salto Hangs In The Balance Related Story Jason David Frank Dies: 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' Star Was 49
The pair were involved in the city’s legendary film scene of the time with Straub contributing to the Cahiers du Cinema and becoming friends with then-co-editor Francois Truffaut.
Like many of the film journal’s contributors, Straub moved into filmmaking, working as an assistant to the likes of Jacques Rivette, Abel Gance, Jean Renoir and Robert Bresson.
The...
Straub, who hailed from the industrial northeastern French city of Metz, moved to Paris as a student in the 1950s, where he first met Huillet.
Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery Related Story Future Of TF1, M6 & France Télévisions' Joint Streaming Platform Salto Hangs In The Balance Related Story Jason David Frank Dies: 'Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' Star Was 49
The pair were involved in the city’s legendary film scene of the time with Straub contributing to the Cahiers du Cinema and becoming friends with then-co-editor Francois Truffaut.
Like many of the film journal’s contributors, Straub moved into filmmaking, working as an assistant to the likes of Jacques Rivette, Abel Gance, Jean Renoir and Robert Bresson.
The...
- 11/21/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
French film great Jean-Louis Trintignant, best known for his roles in “A Man and a Woman,” “Z,” and “The Conformist,” died Friday. He was 91.
Trintignant died at his home in southern France, his wife, Marianne, and agent told the Agence France-Presse.
Trintignant was more recently known for roles in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Red” and for starring opposite Emmanuelle Riva in Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” winner of the 2013 Oscar for best foreign film.
Taciturn and enigmatic, the “reluctant” actor, who came by his profession by accident and several times announced he was quitting, returned time and again to appear in more than 100 films and achieve international stardom over of a period of more than 40 years working with some of the world’s great directors including Claude Chabrol, Abel Gance, Bernardo Bertolucci, Costa-Gavras, Ettore Scola and Francois Truffaut, as well as Kieslowski and Haneke.
Though he claimed to prefer racing cards, he once told an interviewer,...
Trintignant died at his home in southern France, his wife, Marianne, and agent told the Agence France-Presse.
Trintignant was more recently known for roles in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Red” and for starring opposite Emmanuelle Riva in Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” winner of the 2013 Oscar for best foreign film.
Taciturn and enigmatic, the “reluctant” actor, who came by his profession by accident and several times announced he was quitting, returned time and again to appear in more than 100 films and achieve international stardom over of a period of more than 40 years working with some of the world’s great directors including Claude Chabrol, Abel Gance, Bernardo Bertolucci, Costa-Gavras, Ettore Scola and Francois Truffaut, as well as Kieslowski and Haneke.
Though he claimed to prefer racing cards, he once told an interviewer,...
- 6/17/2022
- by Richard Natale
- Variety Film + TV
Jean-Louis Trintignant is dead at 91. The French actor assembled as diverse a career as any film performer of the second half of the 20th century, with a 60-year output that all but came to define arthouse cinema.
Just in the past decade, he broke cinephiles’ hearts with his devastating turn in Michael Haneke’s 2012 film “Amour,” in which he played a husband caring for his Alzheimer’s-suffering wife. Playing his spouse in that film was Emmanuelle Riva, herself one of the pioneering actors of the French New Wave. Their collaboration was perhaps the last truly great one of Trintignant’s career, in which so many partnerships resulted in deeply emotional artistry. Trintignant followed up “Amour” with another Haneke film, 2017’s “Happy End.”
Trintignant was an actor with matinee idol looks in his youth, but he always put the work before his own vanity. Just look at a fraction of the...
Just in the past decade, he broke cinephiles’ hearts with his devastating turn in Michael Haneke’s 2012 film “Amour,” in which he played a husband caring for his Alzheimer’s-suffering wife. Playing his spouse in that film was Emmanuelle Riva, herself one of the pioneering actors of the French New Wave. Their collaboration was perhaps the last truly great one of Trintignant’s career, in which so many partnerships resulted in deeply emotional artistry. Trintignant followed up “Amour” with another Haneke film, 2017’s “Happy End.”
Trintignant was an actor with matinee idol looks in his youth, but he always put the work before his own vanity. Just look at a fraction of the...
- 6/17/2022
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Nestled in a former theater whose facade was sculpted by Auguste Renoir, the Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé is dedicated to the preservation, restoration and promotion of film heritage belonging to historical French production company and exhibitor Pathé.
Named after the company’s co-chairman, Jérôme Seydoux, the institution is a nonprofit organization founded in 2006. Designed by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano, the shell-shaped building opened to the public in 2014 and is home to the only cinema theater in France dedicated to silent movies. Two films are screened there every day to live music.
“When we received Pathé’s silent movie catalog in 2015, my husband and I decided to show these movies from around the world because we believe very strongly in the transmission of film heritage,” says the foundation’s president, Sophie Seydoux, the wife of Jérôme.
The foundation also houses 125 years of historical archives, including thousands of posters, catalogs and movie scripts,...
Named after the company’s co-chairman, Jérôme Seydoux, the institution is a nonprofit organization founded in 2006. Designed by renowned Italian architect Renzo Piano, the shell-shaped building opened to the public in 2014 and is home to the only cinema theater in France dedicated to silent movies. Two films are screened there every day to live music.
“When we received Pathé’s silent movie catalog in 2015, my husband and I decided to show these movies from around the world because we believe very strongly in the transmission of film heritage,” says the foundation’s president, Sophie Seydoux, the wife of Jérôme.
The foundation also houses 125 years of historical archives, including thousands of posters, catalogs and movie scripts,...
- 5/10/2022
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
The lasting horror of war is the blight it leaves on the lives of those left behind. Early sound pictures tried to deal with the guilt and pain of WW1, and the great Ernst Lubitsch took time out from romantic comedies and musicals for this very grim rumination on lies and responsibility. A French soldier decides to contact the family of a German he killed in the trenches; with no clear purpose or plan, he’s apt to make things worse for everybody. Lionel Barrymore and Nancy Carroll are wonderful, but you’ll choke up in the scenes with the German mother, played by Louise Carter. The film is best known for its opening montage, in which Lubitsch openly attacks the hypocrisy of militarist patriotism. It’s an exceedingly effective, non-hysterical piece of anti-war filmmaking.
Broken Lullaby
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / The Man I Killed / Street...
Broken Lullaby
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 76 min. / The Man I Killed / Street...
- 3/29/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Congratulations to our User 5 for the best accuracy score of 74.07% when predicting the 2022 BAFTA Awards film nominations on Thursday morning. He is just ahead of seven other people — Abel Gance, Orestes, micaf22, enderstoi, lolo’s, Lucas and tonygzzwagner — tied at 72.22% and has a great point score of 28,108 by using the two Super Bets (500 points each) wisely.
Almost 2,300 people worldwide predicted these British movie nominees for 10 categories. Our top scorer got 40 out of 54 nomination slots correct, with some difficult choices like “After Love” and “Titane” for Best Director, Joanna Scanlan (“After Love”) for Best Actress and Mahershala Ali (“Swan Song”) and Adeel Akhtar (“Ali and Ava”) for Best Actor.
SEE2022 BAFTAs: Full list of nominations
You can see how your score compares to all others in our leaderboard rankings of all contestants, which also includes links to see each participant’s predictions. To see your own scores, go to the User...
Almost 2,300 people worldwide predicted these British movie nominees for 10 categories. Our top scorer got 40 out of 54 nomination slots correct, with some difficult choices like “After Love” and “Titane” for Best Director, Joanna Scanlan (“After Love”) for Best Actress and Mahershala Ali (“Swan Song”) and Adeel Akhtar (“Ali and Ava”) for Best Actor.
SEE2022 BAFTAs: Full list of nominations
You can see how your score compares to all others in our leaderboard rankings of all contestants, which also includes links to see each participant’s predictions. To see your own scores, go to the User...
- 2/3/2022
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Prisoners of the Ghostland screenwriter/producer Reza Sixo Safai joins hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss his wildest cinematic experiences.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Infested (2002)
The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Hollywood Boulevard (1976) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary
Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary
Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)
Mandy (2018)
Candy (1968) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary
S.O.B. (1981)
The Shining (1980) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary
Robin Hood (1973)
The Story of Robin Hood (1952)
Modern Times (1936)
The Kid (1921)
The Deer (1974)
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Qeysar (1969)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Warriors (1979)
New Jack City (1991)
Colors (1988)
The Whip And The Body (1963)
Blow Out (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Porky’s (1981)
Cinema Paradiso (1988) – Glenn Erickson’s Region B Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review
Circumstance (2011)
Ninja 3: The Domination (1984)
Flashdance (1983)
Debbie...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Infested (2002)
The Howling (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings
Hollywood Boulevard (1976) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary
Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952) – Joe Dante’s trailer commentary
Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)
Mandy (2018)
Candy (1968) – Glenn Erickson’s trailer commentary
S.O.B. (1981)
The Shining (1980) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary
Robin Hood (1973)
The Story of Robin Hood (1952)
Modern Times (1936)
The Kid (1921)
The Deer (1974)
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary
Qeysar (1969)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The Warriors (1979)
New Jack City (1991)
Colors (1988)
The Whip And The Body (1963)
Blow Out (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Porky’s (1981)
Cinema Paradiso (1988) – Glenn Erickson’s Region B Blu-ray review, Glenn Erickson’s 4K Blu-ray review
Circumstance (2011)
Ninja 3: The Domination (1984)
Flashdance (1983)
Debbie...
- 11/9/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Netflix has unveiled its plan to host a retrospective of nine original movies, including Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” at the French Cinematheque in Paris and the Lumiere Institute in Lyon in December.
Called the Netflix Film Club, the event will take place Dec. 7-14 and will comprise screenings of six movies that launched on the streamer earlier this year. Besides “The Power of the Dog,” these include Kornél Mundruczó’s “Pieces of a Woman,” Sam Levinson’s “Malcolm & Marie,” Jeymes Samuel’s “The Harder They Fall,” Antoine Fuqua’s “The Guilty,” and Rebecca Hall’s “Passing,” as well as three anticipated movies that have not yet bowed on Netflix: Adam Mckay’s Don’t Look Up,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God,” and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter.”
Netflix was initially planning to organize commercial screenings in theaters in several cities across France but...
Called the Netflix Film Club, the event will take place Dec. 7-14 and will comprise screenings of six movies that launched on the streamer earlier this year. Besides “The Power of the Dog,” these include Kornél Mundruczó’s “Pieces of a Woman,” Sam Levinson’s “Malcolm & Marie,” Jeymes Samuel’s “The Harder They Fall,” Antoine Fuqua’s “The Guilty,” and Rebecca Hall’s “Passing,” as well as three anticipated movies that have not yet bowed on Netflix: Adam Mckay’s Don’t Look Up,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God,” and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter.”
Netflix was initially planning to organize commercial screenings in theaters in several cities across France but...
- 10/29/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Swiss national film archive Cinémathèque Suisse is finishing up a new restoration of Hans Trommer and Valerien Schmidely’s 1941 romantic drama “Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe” (“Romeo and Julia in the Village”), considered one of Switzerland’s best films of all time.
It is one of a number of recent restorations carried out or made possible by the film archive, which recently opened its impressive new Research and Archive Center in Penthaz, equipped with a film digitization lab and a vast storage facility.
“Romeo and Julia in the Village” is particularly significant for the Cinémathèque Suisse. “It was totally unsuccessful when first released, but it is considered one of the best, if not the best Swiss film,” says Cinémathèque Suisse director Frédéric Maire. “We wanted to restore it for a long time but it was very difficult to find all the necessary elements because the original negative was recut...
It is one of a number of recent restorations carried out or made possible by the film archive, which recently opened its impressive new Research and Archive Center in Penthaz, equipped with a film digitization lab and a vast storage facility.
“Romeo and Julia in the Village” is particularly significant for the Cinémathèque Suisse. “It was totally unsuccessful when first released, but it is considered one of the best, if not the best Swiss film,” says Cinémathèque Suisse director Frédéric Maire. “We wanted to restore it for a long time but it was very difficult to find all the necessary elements because the original negative was recut...
- 10/16/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Above: Poster by Frank Stella for the 9th New York Film Festival.Compared to the 32 films in the main slate of this year’s New York Film Festival, not to mention the seemingly hundreds of others playing in sidebars, the 1971 edition of the NYFF, half a century ago, was a lean affair. With only 18 films, down from 78 just four years earlier, the ninth edition of the NYFF was, according to its director Richard Roud, a “belt-tightening festival, a year of consolidation.” In fact, the financially strapped festival almost didn’t take place that year. A New York Times article published midway through the event mentions that “outside the 984-seat Vivian Beaumont Theater, there is only one poster announcing the festival [one assumes it was the beautiful Frank Stella poster above] that is quietly and modestly taking place inside.” A far cry from the glorious phalanx of digital billboards currently beaming outside Alice Tully Hall and the Elinor Bunin Center.The...
- 10/6/2021
- MUBI
As Sheffield Doc Fest wrapped its first online edition, we spoke with one of the most promising filmmakers to emerge from that discipline in recent years. With just two titles released, Parisian director Julien Faraut has become quietly synonymous with finding new and surprising territory in one of documentary cinema’s most hackneyed genres: the sports documentary.
In The Realm of Perfection came like a breath of fresh air in 2018; his latest continues the trend. Again working with footage from the National Institute of Sport, where he continues to work as an archivist, The Witches of the Orient tells the story of the 1964 Japanese Women’s Olympic volleyball team and the television anime they would later inspire–two distinct threads Faraut weaves into something hypnotic. As the film arrives in the U.S. read our conversation below.
The Film Stage: I read a nice line recently from Marc Nemcik. He said,...
In The Realm of Perfection came like a breath of fresh air in 2018; his latest continues the trend. Again working with footage from the National Institute of Sport, where he continues to work as an archivist, The Witches of the Orient tells the story of the 1964 Japanese Women’s Olympic volleyball team and the television anime they would later inspire–two distinct threads Faraut weaves into something hypnotic. As the film arrives in the U.S. read our conversation below.
The Film Stage: I read a nice line recently from Marc Nemcik. He said,...
- 7/10/2021
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.