Kevin B. Lee (left) in conversation with Tsai Ming-liang.Even though he didn't have a new film to premiere, Tsai Ming-liang was the guest of honor at this year's Locarno Film Festival. Tsai received the Pardo alla carriera achievement award at the Piazza Grande; was the subject of Moving Portraits, an exhibition at the Il Rivellino gallery; presented a screening of his 2020 film Days; and delivered several talks and masterclasses. One such talk was “On the Future of Cinema”: the centerpiece of a Locarno Film Festival initiative exploring the medium’s technological and cultural transformations. The face of Locarno’s Future of Cinema programming is the scholar, media artist, and critic Kevin B. Lee. A prolific video essayist, Lee has produced over 350 works of audiovisual criticism, and with his award-winning Transformers: The Premake (2014), he introduced and popularized the “desktop documentary” format. Unfolding as a real-time screen recording of Lee’s MacBook,...
- 10/26/2023
- MUBI
Festival to pay tribute to work of the Taiwanese director.
Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang is to receive the Pardo Alla Carriera at the 76th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, which runs from August 3-13.
The festival will pay tribute to Tsai’s achievements in film and contemporary art with a screening of Days (2020), plus an exhibition of his experimental works including Transformation (2012), Your Face (2018) and The Tree (2021).
Tsai will also be at the centre of a panel conversation on the future of cinema moderated by Kevin B. Lee, Locarno Film Festival professor for the future of cinema and the...
Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang is to receive the Pardo Alla Carriera at the 76th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, which runs from August 3-13.
The festival will pay tribute to Tsai’s achievements in film and contemporary art with a screening of Days (2020), plus an exhibition of his experimental works including Transformation (2012), Your Face (2018) and The Tree (2021).
Tsai will also be at the centre of a panel conversation on the future of cinema moderated by Kevin B. Lee, Locarno Film Festival professor for the future of cinema and the...
- 6/20/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWill-o'-the-Wisp.The New York Film Festival has revealed the lineup for their Currents section, dedicated to films "testing and stretching the possibilities of the medium." The program includes new films from João Pedro Rodrígues, Ashley McKenzie, Bertrand Bonello, Helena Wittmann, and more. This year's crop of Revivals was also unveiled, featuring the highly anticipated restoration of Jean Eustache's The Mother and the Whore.61 films will be preserved through funding from The National Film Preservation Foundation. Grant recipients include the 1921 mystery-western Trailin’—starring Tom Mix, considered the first on-screen cowboy—and The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy (1980), one of two feature films Kathleen Collins completed before her premature death.Cinema company Cineworld, owner of the Picturehouse chain in the UK and Regal Cinemas in the US, could be facing imminent bankruptcy, per recent reports.
- 8/23/2022
- MUBI
For the tenth time in 11 years, the Locarno Film Festival is hosting 10 international film critics from various stages of development during the 10 days of the A-list Swiss festival.
Coming from places as far from the Swiss resort town as Bangalore, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and Jakarta, and from an even more varied matrix of backgrounds, disciplines, writing styles, and interests, participants in the anniversary edition of the Critics Academy will have the chance to interact face-to-face with a wealth of major critics, programmers, and filmmakers in attendance at Locarno.
Returning after one aborted edition in the first year of the pandemic and another for which there was no public call for applications, Locarno’s incubator for aspiring professional critics takes place once again in the midst of an extraordinarily trying moment both for the art and commerce of cinema but also, perhaps even more acutely, for writing about it.
While...
Coming from places as far from the Swiss resort town as Bangalore, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro and Jakarta, and from an even more varied matrix of backgrounds, disciplines, writing styles, and interests, participants in the anniversary edition of the Critics Academy will have the chance to interact face-to-face with a wealth of major critics, programmers, and filmmakers in attendance at Locarno.
Returning after one aborted edition in the first year of the pandemic and another for which there was no public call for applications, Locarno’s incubator for aspiring professional critics takes place once again in the midst of an extraordinarily trying moment both for the art and commerce of cinema but also, perhaps even more acutely, for writing about it.
While...
- 8/5/2022
- by Christopher Small
- Variety Film + TV
Vienna-based sales company Square Eyes has acquired Tomasz Wolski’s Polish animated documentary “1970,” which picked up the Special Jury Award at this year’s Swiss doc fest Visions du Réel.
The stop-motion animated pic, which is screening at the Krakow Film Festival, chronicles the increasingly violent efforts by Poland’s communist leaders to end widespread demonstrations over rising prices of food and other everyday items.
Square Eyes also recently added Chloé Galibert-Laîné and Kevin B. Lee’s German-French documentary work “Bottled Songs 1-4,” a collection of shorts that follow the directors’ investigation of online jihadist propaganda and how media-savvy groups like Isis make effective use of stylistic devices drawn from Hollywood blockbusters.
“Bottled Songs 1-4” is screening at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Harbour section.
Likewise unspooling at IFFR is Square Eyes’ Dutch doc “A Man and a Camera” by Guido Hendrikx. The pic offers a silent tour of Dutch front doors,...
The stop-motion animated pic, which is screening at the Krakow Film Festival, chronicles the increasingly violent efforts by Poland’s communist leaders to end widespread demonstrations over rising prices of food and other everyday items.
Square Eyes also recently added Chloé Galibert-Laîné and Kevin B. Lee’s German-French documentary work “Bottled Songs 1-4,” a collection of shorts that follow the directors’ investigation of online jihadist propaganda and how media-savvy groups like Isis make effective use of stylistic devices drawn from Hollywood blockbusters.
“Bottled Songs 1-4” is screening at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Harbour section.
Likewise unspooling at IFFR is Square Eyes’ Dutch doc “A Man and a Camera” by Guido Hendrikx. The pic offers a silent tour of Dutch front doors,...
- 6/3/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Event will include the launch of the festival’s newest and largest programme, Harbour.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first titles for its summer event, which has shifted to a hybrid format due as the pandemic continues.
The celebration of the festival’s 50th anniversary was due to run as a physical series of screenings and events from June 2-6, complementing the online-only edition of IFFR that took place in February.
It will now be presented as a hybrid event, with a film programme that will be available online in the Netherlands and physically in Rotterdam, as...
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first titles for its summer event, which has shifted to a hybrid format due as the pandemic continues.
The celebration of the festival’s 50th anniversary was due to run as a physical series of screenings and events from June 2-6, complementing the online-only edition of IFFR that took place in February.
It will now be presented as a hybrid event, with a film programme that will be available online in the Netherlands and physically in Rotterdam, as...
- 4/15/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Siân Heder's Coda (2021). The winners of this year's Sundance Film Festival have been announced, with Siân Heder's Coda and Questlove's Summer of Soul sweeping the top prizes. Chloé Zhao's Nomadland, David Fincher's Mank, and Jason Woliner's Borat Subsequent Moviefilm lead the Golden Globe film nominations, also announced today. See more hereThe international jury of the 71st Berlinale includes six previous winners of the Golden Bear: Mohammad Rasoulof, Nadav Lapid, Adina Pintilie, Ildikó Enyedi, Gianfranco Rosi and, finally, Jasmila Žbanić. The festival's industry event will be taking place March 1-5, with a "summer special" taking place in June. More information has emerged regarding Tilda Swinton and Joanna Hogg's next collaboration, The Eternal Daughter. Executive-produced by Martin Scorsese and filmed in Wales during lockdown, the film follows a middle-aged daughter and...
- 2/3/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSLuther Price's Sodom (1989)Experimental filmmaker Luther Price, best known for his reappropriation of found footage into vivid, often graphic and controversial painted images, has died. A number of available films, as well as a Q&a with Price, can be found here.Kirill Serebrennikov is set to direct a limited series based on the life of Andrei Tarkovsky. Due to the impact of the ongoing health crisis, the dates for next year's Oscars and BAFTA ceremonies have been pushed to April of 2021. Recommended VIEWINGThe official trailer for House of Hummingbird, Kim Bora's portrait of youth in 1990's Korea. Read our interview with Kim here.For GQ, martial artist Scott Adkins thoroughly breaks down fight scenes from movies like Ip Man, The Bourne Supremacy, and Rush Hour.A new short by David Lynch, The Story of a Small Bug,...
- 6/17/2020
- MUBI
Winners include Bulgarian-Greek comedy ‘The Father’ and Jan-Ole Gerster’s ‘Lara’.
Bulgarian-Greek comedy The Father won the Grand Prix - Crystal Globe at the 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 28 – July 6), which closed yesterday with its annual awards ceremony.
Scroll down for full list of winners
Directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, The Father was selected by grand jury comprising Annemarie Jacir, Štěpán Hulík, Sergei Loznitsa, Angeliki Papoulia and Charles Tesson. The Crystal Globe comes with $25,000 prize money.
The film tells the story of a middle-aged man (Ivan Barnev) attempting to stop his widowed...
Bulgarian-Greek comedy The Father won the Grand Prix - Crystal Globe at the 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 28 – July 6), which closed yesterday with its annual awards ceremony.
Scroll down for full list of winners
Directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, The Father was selected by grand jury comprising Annemarie Jacir, Štěpán Hulík, Sergei Loznitsa, Angeliki Papoulia and Charles Tesson. The Crystal Globe comes with $25,000 prize money.
The film tells the story of a middle-aged man (Ivan Barnev) attempting to stop his widowed...
- 7/7/2019
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Moldovan director Eugen Marian’s debut feature film project “Pigeon’s Milk,” and Iranian filmmaker Afsaneh Salari’s documentary project “The Silhouettes” picked up Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s Works in Progress prizes Tuesday.
In “Pigeon’s Milk,” a teenager in a remote Moldovan village plans to run away with a friend, but as he plots his revenge against the people who have wronged him, the escape plot threatens to go awry. Roman Borisevich, Alexander Kushaev and Anna Shalashina of Russia’s Koktebel Film Company are producing.
The jury commented: “With strong cinematic language, this first-time filmmaker offers a visual and harmonious world through a story with resonance, announcing a unique voice from a country we do not see much cinema from.”
“The Silhouettes” centers on Taghi, an engineering student in Iran whose parents fled war-torn Afghanistan. As Afghans are only allowed to have manual-labor jobs in Iran, Taghi...
In “Pigeon’s Milk,” a teenager in a remote Moldovan village plans to run away with a friend, but as he plots his revenge against the people who have wronged him, the escape plot threatens to go awry. Roman Borisevich, Alexander Kushaev and Anna Shalashina of Russia’s Koktebel Film Company are producing.
The jury commented: “With strong cinematic language, this first-time filmmaker offers a visual and harmonious world through a story with resonance, announcing a unique voice from a country we do not see much cinema from.”
“The Silhouettes” centers on Taghi, an engineering student in Iran whose parents fled war-torn Afghanistan. As Afghans are only allowed to have manual-labor jobs in Iran, Taghi...
- 7/3/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
‘Pigeon’s Milk’ won the top €100,000 prize.
Pigeon’s Milk, a Russia-Moldovia co-production directed by debut Moldovan filmmaker Eugen Maryan, won the Works in Progress award of the Eastern Promises industry section of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this year.
The award is worth €100,000 in post-production services, including a cash prize of €10,000 from Germany’s Barrandov Studios.
“The film tells the story of a 16 year- old boy who lives in the unique location of Transnistria,” explained the film’s co-producer Anna Shalashina of Russia’s Rock Films. “The area claimed its independence from Moldova in 1992 but it’s not...
Pigeon’s Milk, a Russia-Moldovia co-production directed by debut Moldovan filmmaker Eugen Maryan, won the Works in Progress award of the Eastern Promises industry section of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this year.
The award is worth €100,000 in post-production services, including a cash prize of €10,000 from Germany’s Barrandov Studios.
“The film tells the story of a 16 year- old boy who lives in the unique location of Transnistria,” explained the film’s co-producer Anna Shalashina of Russia’s Rock Films. “The area claimed its independence from Moldova in 1992 but it’s not...
- 7/3/2019
- by Laurence Boyce
- ScreenDaily
The Sundance Institute today announced the four filmmakers and six grantees who comprise the 2018 Art of Nonfiction program. Launched in 2018, Art of Nonfiction is the Institutes’s program “working at the vanguard of inventive artistic practice in story, craft and form.” This year’s Art of Nonfiction Fellows are Deborah Stratman, Natalia Almada, Sam Green and Sky Hopinka. Grantees are Jem Cohen, Kevin Jerome Everson, Kevin B. Lee and Chloé Galibert-Laîné, Latoya Ruby Frazier and Leilah Weinraub. “This year’s cohort reflects our continuing desire to explore the space in between,” said Tabitha Jackson, Director of the Documentary Film Program, in […]...
- 10/23/2018
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The Sundance Institute today announced the four filmmakers and six grantees who comprise the 2018 Art of Nonfiction program. Launched in 2018, Art of Nonfiction is the Institutes’s program “working at the vanguard of inventive artistic practice in story, craft and form.” This year’s Art of Nonfiction Fellows are Deborah Stratman, Natalia Almada, Sam Green and Sky Hopinka. Grantees are Jem Cohen, Kevin Jerome Everson, Kevin B. Lee and Chloé Galibert-Laîné, Latoya Ruby Frazier and Leilah Weinraub. “This year’s cohort reflects our continuing desire to explore the space in between,” said Tabitha Jackson, Director of the Documentary Film Program, in […]...
- 10/23/2018
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The Sundance Institutes’ Art of the Nonfiction Program today announced its 2018 fellows and grantees. Launched in 2016 to creatively and financially support filmmakers “exploring inventive artistic practice in story, craft and form,” the program is unusual in that it supports filmmakers and their process, rather than specific projects.
The 2018 Art of Nonfiction Fellows are: Deborah Stratman, Natalia Almada, Sam Green, and Sky Hopinka; biographies at the end of this article. These fellows receive an unrestricted, year-long grant tailored to their creative aspirations and challenges.
The 2018 Art of Nonfiction Fund Grantees are Jem Cohen, Kevin Jerome Everson, Kevin B. Lee and Chloé Galibert-Laîné, Latoya Ruby Frazier, and Leilah Weinraub. Each grantee is in the early stages of developing new work. These artists will have access to a range of Sundance Institute programs and opportunities open only to alumni, as well as ongoing strategic and creative support from the Documentary Film Program.
The 2018 Art of Nonfiction Fellows are: Deborah Stratman, Natalia Almada, Sam Green, and Sky Hopinka; biographies at the end of this article. These fellows receive an unrestricted, year-long grant tailored to their creative aspirations and challenges.
The 2018 Art of Nonfiction Fund Grantees are Jem Cohen, Kevin Jerome Everson, Kevin B. Lee and Chloé Galibert-Laîné, Latoya Ruby Frazier, and Leilah Weinraub. Each grantee is in the early stages of developing new work. These artists will have access to a range of Sundance Institute programs and opportunities open only to alumni, as well as ongoing strategic and creative support from the Documentary Film Program.
- 10/23/2018
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
A Room with a Coconut ViewThe so-called ‘desktop movie,’ a film visually told predominantly or entirely through the setup of a computer screen, has had a couple of high-profile examples over the last few years. Among these are Nacho Vigalondo’s Open Windows (2014), Patrick Cederberg and Walter Woodman’s short Noah (2013), and, most notably in terms of mainstream success, Levan Gabriadze’s Unfriended (2014). 2018 would seem to be a major year for the genre, if you can call it a genre just yet, with the wide release of sequel Unfriended: Dark Web, Timur Bekmambetov’s Profile playing festivals, and now the release, through Sony, of Aneesh Chaganty’s Searching. It is worth noting that Bekmambetov also produced the two of those 2018 titles he didn’t direct, so there’s at least one benefactor devoted to making the form catch on. With the exception of something like Kevin B. Lee’s essay...
- 8/15/2018
- MUBI
1I will simply invert Rodin’s remark (he was, in fact, speaking of Muybridge’s work) to read thus: “It is the photograph which is truthful, and the artist who lies, for in reality time does stop.” —Hollis FramptonAfter the release of Abbas Kiarostami’s Life and Nothing More (1992), Jean-Luc Godard famously claimed that “Cinema begins with Griffith and ends with Kiarostami”. While the initial statement was made in 1992, we could not know where “cinema ends” until Kiarostami made his final movie. In 2017, his final movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, completed posthumously. The title: 24 Frames. Like any truly great critic, Godard’s claims were not only for the present, but for the future of cinema, and its risk was in not knowing how Kiarostami’s oeuvre would end. Now we know how it ends, and we can think what this ending means. Writing on Birth of a Nation (1915) Neil Bahadur dissects how,...
- 2/5/2018
- MUBI
By Jacob Oller
The role of the First Lady slips in and out of importance depending on media savvy. ssayist Kevin B. Lee tackles an underseen technique in his video inspired by Jackie: the desktop view. A video documenting the growing influence of media on the position of First Lady and vice-versa should embrace its own heightened, technologically-aided […]
The article From ‘Jackie’ to Melania: Media, Performance, and the First Ladies appeared first on Film School Rejects.
The role of the First Lady slips in and out of importance depending on media savvy. ssayist Kevin B. Lee tackles an underseen technique in his video inspired by Jackie: the desktop view. A video documenting the growing influence of media on the position of First Lady and vice-versa should embrace its own heightened, technologically-aided […]
The article From ‘Jackie’ to Melania: Media, Performance, and the First Ladies appeared first on Film School Rejects.
- 9/20/2017
- by Jacob Oller
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
We celebrate the experimental cinema legend for her centennial.
This Saturday is the 100th anniversary of Maya Deren’s birth, making it a time to honor the filmmaker, her work, and her significance and legacy within not just the arena of experimental cinema but film history in general. Regardless of the surreal, poetic content of her films, which include Meshes of the Afternoon (with husband Alexander Hammid) and At Land, she’s important as a pioneer and theorist of independent film. It’s mostly through the latter that we can find her filmmaking advice and lessons, all of them more than 50 years old but still relevant to aspiring cinema artists today. Here are six of the tips, collected from her writings, lectures, and interviews:
1. Amateur Filmmaking is for Lovers
If you’re looking for advice on breaking into Hollywood, Deren’s tips are not for you. She was a big proponent of “amateur” filmmaking, which...
This Saturday is the 100th anniversary of Maya Deren’s birth, making it a time to honor the filmmaker, her work, and her significance and legacy within not just the arena of experimental cinema but film history in general. Regardless of the surreal, poetic content of her films, which include Meshes of the Afternoon (with husband Alexander Hammid) and At Land, she’s important as a pioneer and theorist of independent film. It’s mostly through the latter that we can find her filmmaking advice and lessons, all of them more than 50 years old but still relevant to aspiring cinema artists today. Here are six of the tips, collected from her writings, lectures, and interviews:
1. Amateur Filmmaking is for Lovers
If you’re looking for advice on breaking into Hollywood, Deren’s tips are not for you. She was a big proponent of “amateur” filmmaking, which...
- 4/26/2017
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveriesNEWSJohn Huston, Orson Welles and Peter Bogdanovich on the set of The Other Side of the WindWe're still holding our breath, but it looks like we may all get to see Orson Welles' beleaguered film project The Other Side of the Wind, to be released in some fashion by Netflix.The Tribeca Film Festival, running April 17 - 30, has announced its full lineup. Robert Osborne, Turner Classic Movies host and defacto representative in the United States for the appreciation of older films, has died at the age of 84. With his passing, the number of venerable, welcoming advocates for classic cinema is dropping precariously low.Recommended VIEWINGThe proof is the pudding: Director Terrence Malick actually participated in a public, recorded conversation! He was at SXSW to promote his new film, Austin-set Song to Song, and took place in a discussion with Richard Linklater...
- 3/14/2017
- MUBI
One of the most critically acclaimed films from last year, “Jackie,” reminded audiences of the politics of our country’s past, when in our current times contemporary politics seem inescapable. This connection between past and present is made tangible in Kevin B. Lee’s short documentary “Not Another Camelot,” which showcases every First Lady from Jackie Kennedy to our current lady of the White House, Melania Trump.
Read More: ‘Jackie’ Review: Pablo Larrain’s Experimental Jackie Kennedy Biopic Is a Unique Triumph – Venice Film Festival
Lee utilizes clips of interviews and public appearances to convey the ideologies and personalities of the First Ladies, highlighting how the role of the First Lady has evolved over the years. The documentary also demonstrates how our media has transformed in terms of the standards they hold the First Ladies to and the expectations the country has for them. The video also interestingly draws comparisons...
Read More: ‘Jackie’ Review: Pablo Larrain’s Experimental Jackie Kennedy Biopic Is a Unique Triumph – Venice Film Festival
Lee utilizes clips of interviews and public appearances to convey the ideologies and personalities of the First Ladies, highlighting how the role of the First Lady has evolved over the years. The documentary also demonstrates how our media has transformed in terms of the standards they hold the First Ladies to and the expectations the country has for them. The video also interestingly draws comparisons...
- 2/3/2017
- by Michael Gonzalez
- Indiewire
This summer, prolific Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo scored his biggest U.S. hit yet with Right Now, Wrong Then, a Groundhog Day-esque comedy about a man granted the gift we’d all like at some point or another: the opportunity to relive a day and save a bad date. Or something like that: one of the greatest pleasures (in a movie brimming with them) is its lack of explanation as to what is happening, why it’s happening, and if anybody understands that they’re living a previously enacted scenario — or clarification if the scenario even is repeated, for that matter.
Subtle differences between one segment and the other form Right Now, Wrong Then‘s respective narrative paths. Although the two characters’ initial encounters are, to the naked eye, indistinguishable, Kevin B. Lee has created a side-by-side breakdown of the sequences that can only lend further appreciation to Hong’s strange project.
Subtle differences between one segment and the other form Right Now, Wrong Then‘s respective narrative paths. Although the two characters’ initial encounters are, to the naked eye, indistinguishable, Kevin B. Lee has created a side-by-side breakdown of the sequences that can only lend further appreciation to Hong’s strange project.
- 12/15/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
For a while now, people have been coming around to the fact that Kristen Stewart is an exceptionally gifted actor. This has much to do with the fact that her post-“Twilight” body of work has skewed heavily toward the art-house crowd, a trend culminating this year with four different movies: Woody Allen’s “Café Society,” Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women,” Olivier Assayas’ “Personal Shopper” and Ang Lee’s “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.” Kevin B. Lee, one of the most prominent voices in the video-essay field, has gone so far as to declare 2016 “The Year of Kristen Stewart” for Fandor.
Read More: Kristen Stewart Talks Directing Her First Film: ‘I’ve Never Been Happier Doing Anything’
It isn’t just Lee who’s taken notice of Stewart recently; nor, for that matter, is it her legions of Twitter fans who, in one of the strangest and most consistent of social-media phenomena,...
Read More: Kristen Stewart Talks Directing Her First Film: ‘I’ve Never Been Happier Doing Anything’
It isn’t just Lee who’s taken notice of Stewart recently; nor, for that matter, is it her legions of Twitter fans who, in one of the strangest and most consistent of social-media phenomena,...
- 10/12/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture: Video List of the Day: With the Toronto International Film Festival kicking off today, Kevin B. Lee and Fandor Keyframe present a countdown of the best Tiff premieres of the past decade: Cosplay of the Day: One of the best cosplayers of this year's Dragon Con mashed up two favorite superhero movie characters of 2016, Deadpool and Suicide Squad's Harley Quinn (via Collider): Supercut of the Day: We've seen enough Batman movie kill counts, so now it's time for love with this supercut of all 60 of his kisses on the big screen (via io9): Vintage Image of the Day: Peter Sellers, who was born on this day in 1925, looks...
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- 9/9/2016
- by Christopher Campbell
- Movies.com
Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture: Cast Reunion of the Day: 22 Vision reunited all the Lost Boys from Steven Spielberg's Hook for the movie's 25th anniversary this year and Entertainment Weekly covered the occasion: Star Wars of the Day: This mashup of Olympic swimming icon Michael Phelps and Revenge of the Sith is just perfect: pic.twitter.com/x3i7KW7yG7 — Kyle Hill (@Sci_Phile) August 10, 2016 Video List of the Day: Also relevant to the Olympics is this look at the best fake sports in movies from Kevin B. Lee for Fandor Keyframe: Trailer Parody of the Day: We have a while before Justice League comes...
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- 8/11/2016
- by Christopher Campbell
- Movies.com
Can we please stop fetishizing Margot Robbie? Because this summer has been fucking excruciating. I had hoped that Suicide Squad would be a counter to that hideous, incoherent Vanity Fair profile of her. The piece reduced a crazy talented and by-all-accounts hardworking woman to a bizarre metaphor about Australia, but at least it looked like she was going to have her comeuppance when she appeared as Harley Quinn in the DC blockbuster. Alas, the movie can’t take its mind off her ass long enough for her performance to acquire any range.
And that’s the Robbie conundrum. She’s constantly turning in exciting work, proving her abilities as an actress, and yet she is perpetually portrayed as an object to be obtained and/or leered at. Her sexiness is viewed as something she has to overcome, as indicated by a recent video essay by Kevin B. Lee on Fandor...
And that’s the Robbie conundrum. She’s constantly turning in exciting work, proving her abilities as an actress, and yet she is perpetually portrayed as an object to be obtained and/or leered at. Her sexiness is viewed as something she has to overcome, as indicated by a recent video essay by Kevin B. Lee on Fandor...
- 8/5/2016
- by Esther Zuckerman
- avclub.com
Ever since blowing audiences away with her firecracker debut in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf Of Wall Street,” Margot Robbie has been working full force, climbing the ranks thanks to her magnetic screen presence to become one of the best and hardest working actresses working today. This summer is a career milestone for the 26-year-old Aussie, as she officially becomes a blockbuster headliner with roles in both “The Legend Of Tarzan” and the upcoming “Suicide Squad,” in theaters Friday.
Read More: Margot Robbie Hoping to Find More Roles Where Her ‘Relationship With a Male Character’ Isn’t The Focal Point
Robbie’s blockbuster career is clearly just getting started (her performance as Harley Quinn in “Squad” is about the only saving grace critics can think of for the movie), but her rise to empowered actress is already the subject of a new video essay from Fandor’s Kevin B. Lee.
Read More: Margot Robbie Hoping to Find More Roles Where Her ‘Relationship With a Male Character’ Isn’t The Focal Point
Robbie’s blockbuster career is clearly just getting started (her performance as Harley Quinn in “Squad” is about the only saving grace critics can think of for the movie), but her rise to empowered actress is already the subject of a new video essay from Fandor’s Kevin B. Lee.
- 8/3/2016
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
In his newest video essay, Kevin B. Lee breaks down how the Bourne series has changed the style of film fighting as the series continued. As he notes in a supplementary essay at Fandor, “At times it feels like a hodgepodge of fight shots dropped in random, non-linear order—something approaching an impressionist abstraction of action filmmaking. So it was somewhat of a revelation that, upon taking a fight scene from The Bourne Ultimatum and slowing it down to half speed, I could actually discern that one split-second shot from a fight linked up rather well with the next, in a spatially coherent linear sequence.”...
- 8/1/2016
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture: Franchise Recap of the Day: With Jason Bourne out this week, Kevin B. Lee looks at the first three Bourne movies to show how action movies evolved in just five years (via Fandor Keyframe): Actor in the Spotlight: Meanwhile, Matt Damon has evolved, too, and Burger Fiction has the montage to showcase his development: Classic Movie Poster of the Day: In honor of artist Jack Davis, who died today at age 91, here's one of his greatest movie posters, for The Long Goodbye: Political Propaganda of the Day: Elizabeth Banks put together a video for the Democratic National Convention and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign...
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- 7/28/2016
- by Christopher Campbell
- Movies.com
The female-led “Ghostbusters” has finally arrived in theaters. Since its announcement, the film has been tarnished and criticized by fanboys of the original for its new version involving four women in the lead roles. But before you judge the reboot, a new video essay by Kevin B. Lee wants you to take a look at how the original 1984 action flick depicted women and if you find anything sexist about it.
“The new ‘Ghostbusters’ movie was hit with backlash for its all-female cast because the gender-switching is supposedly not true to the original,” states the opening lines in the video. “It got us wondering: What roles did women have in the 1984 version?”
Read More: The Onion Reviews ‘Ghostbusters,’ a Reminder That the Souls of All Sinners Should ‘Suffer Forever’
The four-minute video takes a look at the six most important female roles in the original film starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd,...
“The new ‘Ghostbusters’ movie was hit with backlash for its all-female cast because the gender-switching is supposedly not true to the original,” states the opening lines in the video. “It got us wondering: What roles did women have in the 1984 version?”
Read More: The Onion Reviews ‘Ghostbusters,’ a Reminder That the Souls of All Sinners Should ‘Suffer Forever’
The four-minute video takes a look at the six most important female roles in the original film starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd,...
- 7/15/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Today in Movie Culture: Women of the Original 'Ghostbusters,' Cutest 'Harry Potter' Cosplay and More
Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture: Video Essay of the Day: For Fandor Keyframe, Kevin B. Lee looks at the main female characters of the original Ghostbusters to prove why women need to take over the franchise: Movie Comparison of the Day: This isn't new but it is relevant to this week's release of the Ghostbusters reboot. Couch Tomato presents 24 reasons why the first Ghostbusters is the same movie as Poltergeist: Weird Promo of the Day: Seth Rogen's upcoming R-rated animated feature Sausage Party is apparently being promoted with costumed characters on local morning shows like this one in Denver (via /Film): Vintage Image of...
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- 7/15/2016
- by Christopher Campbell
- Movies.com
Unless you’re an obsessive of Jacques Rivette, anyone within its wide cast of actors, post-68 France, experimental theater, conspiracy theories, or films that shatter well-established boundaries, Out 1 just sounds intimidating. About 13 hours in length and without a clear plot — or, really, purpose — for its first three-and-a-half, it requires patience that is nevertheless, at a certain point, immediately and overwhelmingly rewarded. If a fake-beard-donning Eric Rohmer serving one of cinema’s great insults doesn’t bring levity, I don’t know what to say.
Out 1 is many things, “great fun” certainly among them when all’s said and done. For proof, look no further than Jean-Pierre Léaud, whose presence is essentially that of an unsupervised child prematurely endowed with paranoia and animal magnetism. (Said Rivette, “Léaud has the suppleness and beauty of movement of some unknown, beautiful beast.”) His presence is highlighted in a new video essay that, as created by Daniel Fairfax and Kevin B. Lee, notes the role of language –“Snnnnark.” “Boo… jum!” “Équipage, équipage, équipage, équipage, équipage, équipage, équipage, équipage.” — and paranoia within the film’s later portions, particularly one sequence that leaves an impression on anybody who comes across it. There are hours and hours’ worth of visual studies one can do, and this captures much of Out 1‘s magic over a handful of minutes.
See it below, and stream the entirety of Out 1 from Netflix:...
Out 1 is many things, “great fun” certainly among them when all’s said and done. For proof, look no further than Jean-Pierre Léaud, whose presence is essentially that of an unsupervised child prematurely endowed with paranoia and animal magnetism. (Said Rivette, “Léaud has the suppleness and beauty of movement of some unknown, beautiful beast.”) His presence is highlighted in a new video essay that, as created by Daniel Fairfax and Kevin B. Lee, notes the role of language –“Snnnnark.” “Boo… jum!” “Équipage, équipage, équipage, équipage, équipage, équipage, équipage, équipage.” — and paranoia within the film’s later portions, particularly one sequence that leaves an impression on anybody who comes across it. There are hours and hours’ worth of visual studies one can do, and this captures much of Out 1‘s magic over a handful of minutes.
See it below, and stream the entirety of Out 1 from Netflix:...
- 6/15/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture: Trailer Remake of the Day: Watch the X-Men: Apocalypse trailer recreated using footage from X-Men: The Animated Series (via Live for Films): Supercut of the Day: With another Cannes Film Festival underway, Kevin B. Lee highlights the best from the fest this decade: Cosplay of the Day: If you're going to do a class presentation on cosplay, you might as well be in costume, as Raymond Luna was in this Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice inspired getup (via Fashionably Geek): Tell me. Did you study?! You will!?????? A video posted by ?Raymond Luna ???? (@tonystark626) on May 2, 2016 at 6:11pm Pdt Actor in the...
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- 5/14/2016
- by Christopher Campbell
- Movies.com
Perhaps video essays are like pornography in that, as the saying goes, you know it when you see it. But what distinguishes a video essay from a short film and what are the ground rules for this relatively new form? Finally, how much creative leeway can a video essayist take with a filmmaker’s work without being disrespectful or misrepresentative? These questions arose last month when we published a video essay from Kevin B. Lee, chief video essayist at Fandor, about the spaces in Chantal Akerman’s final documentary, No Home Movie. Initially, Lee edited the video to music. But after receiving some complaints, including from the distributors […]...
- 5/3/2016
- by Paula Bernstein
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Today's roundup on current goings on features a tribute to the work of the "King of Video Essays" (New York Times), Kevin B. Lee in Vienna, plus Stateside events: Wim Wenders's Wrong Move, Chantal Akerman's Là-bas, Lazar Stojanović’s Plastic Jesus, and disparate series devoted to the work of Andrew Noren, Gabriel Mascaro, Vincent Lindon, Saul Levine and Xie Jin. There's also Indian cinema in Austin, Palestinian work in Chicago and a video interview with Joseph Frank, co-director of Sweaty Betty. » - David Hudson...
- 4/15/2016
- Keyframe
Today's roundup on current goings on features a tribute to the work of the "King of Video Essays" (New York Times), Kevin B. Lee in Vienna, plus Stateside events: Wim Wenders's Wrong Move, Chantal Akerman's Là-bas, Lazar Stojanović’s Plastic Jesus, and disparate series devoted to the work of Andrew Noren, Gabriel Mascaro, Vincent Lindon, Saul Levine and Xie Jin. There's also Indian cinema in Austin, Palestinian work in Chicago and a video interview with Joseph Frank, co-director of Sweaty Betty. » - David Hudson...
- 4/15/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
Late last week, we published a video essay from Kevin B. Lee, chief video essayist at Fandor, about the spaces in Chantal Akerman’s final documentary, No Home Movie. Lee estimated that about 70% of the film took place within the walls of the filmmaker’s dying mother Natalia’s apartment. To re-orient himself in Natalia’s apartment, Lee reorganized the footage by room. Initially, he edited the video to music, using Schubert’s Impromptu D. 899 Op. 90 No. 3, not coincidentally the same music used in Michael Haneke’s Amour, which also follows an elderly woman’s demise. But after receiving some complaints, including from the distributors of the film, Lee reassessed […]...
- 4/5/2016
- by Paula Bernstein
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Chantal Akerman’s final film, No Home Movie, takes on a deeper resonance following the Belgian filmmaker’s death in October 2015. The film is a documentary tribute to her dying mother, Natalia a.k.a. Nelly and an exploration of their relationship. As with all of Akerman’s work, there’s a deeply autobiographical element to the film — even more so now that we know it was to be her last. In the above video essay from Fandor, Kevin B. Lee has reorganized the film’s footage by each room in the apartment to emphasize how Akerman explores each space to reflect her relationship with her dying mother. Beginning April 1, No Home Movie […]...
- 3/31/2016
- by Paula Bernstein
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
After the obituaries for its creator and just as a new documentary anchored in its production arrives, Chantal Akerman‘s final work, No Home Movie, is coming to the United States this week in a limited release, courtesy of Icarus Films. One of the best films we saw at last year’s Tiff — as well as a highlight among Nyff’s excellent line-up and a top selection among 2016 offerings seen so far — it’s a tough film, filtered through grief over the director’s mother’s passing (the opening shot alone is one of the greatest expressions of that feeling I’ve ever seen) and fittingly unsparing in its formal construction. If one can tune into its rhythms — none of which are foreign to her output — the experience is immensely rewarding.
As we said in our highly complimentary review, “Removed from anything resembling ostentatious formalism, it fits into what’s...
As we said in our highly complimentary review, “Removed from anything resembling ostentatious formalism, it fits into what’s...
- 3/30/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Kevin B. Lee has been considering the candidates in the major Oscar categories. In this video essay, he breaks down the styles of the five candidates (The Hateful Eight, Sicario, The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road, Carol). The sound’s off as Lee narrates, but he also recommends watching the video silently to focus more on the cinematography. Pressed for time? You can read his essay here.
- 2/4/2016
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Kevin B. Lee has been considering the candidates in the major Oscar categories. In this video essay, he breaks down the styles of the five candidates (The Hateful Eight, Sicario, The Revenant, Mad Max: Fury Road, Carol). The sound’s off as Lee narrates, but he also recommends watching the video silently to focus more on the cinematography. Pressed for time? You can read his essay here.
- 2/4/2016
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The legendary filmmaker has passed away at the age of 87. Here is the Notebook's coverage of Jacques Rivette, over the years:David Phelps on Céline and Julie Go BoatingDaniel Kasman on Don't Touch the Axe, Around a Small Mountain, DuelleGlenn Kenny on Joan the Maid, La religieuseMiriam Bale on Le pont du NordIgnatiy Vishnevetsky on Paris Belongs to UsTed Fendt on Paris s'en vaCristina Álvarez López & Adrian Martin on Out 1 Jonathan Rosenbaum & Kevin B. Lee on Out 1Chris Luscri on Out 1Covadonga G. Lahera & Joel Bocko on Out 1Christopher Small on The Duchess of Langeais, Joan the Maid, Paris Belongs to Us, L'amour fou, Duelle, The Story of Mary and Julien, Céline and Julie Go BoatingAdrian Curry on the posters of Jacques RivetteCarlo Chatrian on (Three Reasons For) Remembering Jacques Rivette...
- 2/3/2016
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Quentin Tarantino likes to be seen as a provocateur. With his eighth flick, “The Hateful Eight,” gearing up to add some mayhem to the holiday movie scene, he has, like always, found himself giving good copy during the press rounds (just the other day, he said Disney was “going out of their way to fuck” him on the release of ‘Hateful Eight’). Similarly, his films have always walked the line between provocative and thoughtful, especially with his depiction of violence and what some call his gratuitous glorification of it. But no matter your feelings on the subject, one thing is certain: Qt doesn’t intend for it to be taken at face value. Read More: What’s Left? Quentin Tarantino Talks The Remaining Movies He Could Make Before Retirement A couple of years back, around the time of the release of “Django Unchained,” Kevin B. Lee put together a video...
- 12/18/2015
- by Gary Garrison
- The Playlist
What defines the unmistakeable cinema of David Lynch? This recent video essay explores this question, using text from David Lynch: The Man from Another Place, the new book by Dennis Lim. “The paradox of the Lynchian sensibility is that it is at once easy to recognize and hard to define,” intones Kevin B. Lee in What is “Lynchian”? over at Fandor Keyframe. From the quaint small towns of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet where darkness lurks beneath the surface to the haunted Los Angeles nightscapes of Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, Lynch’s films find skewed perspectives on familiar settings. Returning to certain indelible images, Lynch has mined the same themes […]...
- 12/16/2015
- by Paula Bernstein
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
What defines the unmistakeable cinema of David Lynch? This recent video essay explores this question, using text from David Lynch: The Man from Another Place, the new book by Dennis Lim. “The paradox of the Lynchian sensibility is that it is at once easy to recognize and hard to define,” intones Kevin B. Lee in What is “Lynchian”? over at Fandor Keyframe. From the quaint small towns of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet where darkness lurks beneath the surface to the haunted Los Angeles nightscapes of Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, Lynch’s films find skewed perspectives on familiar settings. Returning to certain indelible images, Lynch has mined the same themes […]...
- 12/16/2015
- by Paula Bernstein
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Ever wonder how many people have died in Quentin Tarantino films? Or what’s behind the director’s seeming obsession with killing? Kevin B. Lee, Chief Video Essayist at Fandor, has tackled the bloody topic with a video essay on the body count in Tarantino’s films. Note the video’s warning: “the following video contains disturbing imagery of extreme violence and death.” In the text essay that accompanies the video (which you can watch above), Lee explains that he created this video after the release of Tarantino’s last film, Django Unchained, but this is the first time it’s being published (read the essay to understand […]...
- 12/16/2015
- by Paula Bernstein
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Ever wonder how many people have died in Quentin Tarantino films? Or what’s behind the director’s seeming obsession with killing? Kevin B. Lee, Chief Video Essayist at Fandor, has tackled the bloody topic with a video essay on the body count in Tarantino’s films. Note the video’s warning: “the following video contains disturbing imagery of extreme violence and death.” In the text essay that accompanies the video (which you can watch above), Lee explains that he created this video after the release of Tarantino’s last film, Django Unchained, but this is the first time it’s being published (read the essay to understand […]...
- 12/16/2015
- by Paula Bernstein
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Hope you've seen Adam Cook's excellent piece here in Keyframe on Agnès Varda's Jane B. par Agnès V. and Kung-fu Master!, both from 1988, and Kevin B. Lee's video, 33 Jane Bs by Agnès Varda. Today, we gather more reviews, starting with Glenn Kenny in the New York Times: "Of all the filmmakers associated with the French New Wave, Ms. Varda wears the liberties demanded by that alliance most lightly; she never seems to be showing off. Her work always, it appears, derives directly from her way of seeing, and her admiration of Jane Birkin is unequivocal." » - David Hudson...
- 10/18/2015
- Keyframe
Hope you've seen Adam Cook's excellent piece here in Keyframe on Agnès Varda's Jane B. par Agnès V. and Kung-fu Master!, both from 1988, and Kevin B. Lee's video, 33 Jane Bs by Agnès Varda. Today, we gather more reviews, starting with Glenn Kenny in the New York Times: "Of all the filmmakers associated with the French New Wave, Ms. Varda wears the liberties demanded by that alliance most lightly; she never seems to be showing off. Her work always, it appears, derives directly from her way of seeing, and her admiration of Jane Birkin is unequivocal." » - David Hudson...
- 10/18/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
“It’s a great movie,” David Fincher said when it comes to the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. However, the original’s director Niels Arden Oplev didn’t have quite as kind of words when it came to his take getting remade. “The only thing that’s annoying to me is that the Sony PR machine is trying to make their Lisbeth Salander the lead Lisbeth Salander. That’s highly unfair because Noomi [Rapace] has captured this part and it should always be all her.”
A few years down the line and the dust settled, perhaps Oplev proved a point as it’s looking clearer every day that we won’t be getting any Hollywood versions of the sequels. Today now brings a video essay comparing and contrasting the American and Swedish versions. Coming from Keyframe‘s Kevin B. Lee — who did a similar piece for Insomnia — it takes...
A few years down the line and the dust settled, perhaps Oplev proved a point as it’s looking clearer every day that we won’t be getting any Hollywood versions of the sequels. Today now brings a video essay comparing and contrasting the American and Swedish versions. Coming from Keyframe‘s Kevin B. Lee — who did a similar piece for Insomnia — it takes...
- 10/15/2015
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Amid all of the internet’s Kubrick/Anderson/Fincher devotees, few video essayists turn their scalpel toward Cassavetes, perhaps in part because his directing prowess is not so easily distilled. Kevin B. Lee has thus chosen to focus on the opening 14 shots of Cassavetes’ debut Shadows, and how he uses incisive editing and lighting to convey the shifting sentiments in a series of scenes between the two lovers Leila and Tony. Check it out above.
- 9/28/2015
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
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