Exclusive: Greenwich Entertainment has secured U.S. rights to The Melt Goes On Forever: The Life and Times of David Hammons, a new documentary from directors Judd Tully and Harold Crooks. Pic is set to open at the Film Forum in New York City on May 5.
Related Story Roadside Attractions Acquires Emerson Brothers Drama ‘Dreamin’ Wild’ With Casey Affleck, Noah Jupe & Zooey Deschanel Related Story Greenwich Entertainment Takes Na Rights To Director Jennifer Peedom's 'River', Environmental-Themed Documentary Narrated By Willem Dafoe Related Story Greenwich Ent. Acquires Na Rights To 'I Got A Monster,' Documentary On Corrupt Baltimore Police Unit Accused Of Terrorizing Black Community
The Melt Goes On Forever is a portrait of the African American artist and provocateur David Hammons, who emerged as a powerful aesthetic force out of L.A.’s Watts Rebellion in 1965. With his radical work rooted in a deep critique...
Related Story Roadside Attractions Acquires Emerson Brothers Drama ‘Dreamin’ Wild’ With Casey Affleck, Noah Jupe & Zooey Deschanel Related Story Greenwich Entertainment Takes Na Rights To Director Jennifer Peedom's 'River', Environmental-Themed Documentary Narrated By Willem Dafoe Related Story Greenwich Ent. Acquires Na Rights To 'I Got A Monster,' Documentary On Corrupt Baltimore Police Unit Accused Of Terrorizing Black Community
The Melt Goes On Forever is a portrait of the African American artist and provocateur David Hammons, who emerged as a powerful aesthetic force out of L.A.’s Watts Rebellion in 1965. With his radical work rooted in a deep critique...
- 4/3/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Greenwich Entertainment has picked up all rights excluding TV to the documentary Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV, directed and produced by Amanda Kim, which world premiered in U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
The film will launch its U.S. theatrical release at New York’s Film Form on March 24, being distributed in Canada by Films We Like starting on the same date, ahead of its U.S. broadcast premiere on PBS’ American Masters. Dogwoof acquired UK distribution rights and international sales rights outside of Korea in early January, with a distribution deal and streaming partner for the latter territory to be announced shortly.
The doc tells the story of Nam June Paik, a pillar of the American avant-garde in the 20th century, widely regarded as “The George Washington of Video Art,” who coined the phrase “Electronic Superhighway,” and is arguably the most famous Korean artist in modern history.
The film will launch its U.S. theatrical release at New York’s Film Form on March 24, being distributed in Canada by Films We Like starting on the same date, ahead of its U.S. broadcast premiere on PBS’ American Masters. Dogwoof acquired UK distribution rights and international sales rights outside of Korea in early January, with a distribution deal and streaming partner for the latter territory to be announced shortly.
The doc tells the story of Nam June Paik, a pillar of the American avant-garde in the 20th century, widely regarded as “The George Washington of Video Art,” who coined the phrase “Electronic Superhighway,” and is arguably the most famous Korean artist in modern history.
- 1/27/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
It is fair to assume Criterion could plunder the world of licensed film to build an ultimate noir playlist; credit, then, for focusing sharp and nabbing deep cuts. The Criterion Channel’s November / Noirvember program will be headlined by “Fox Noir,” an eight-title program with Otto Preminger deep cut Fallen Angel, three by Henry Hathaway, Siodmak, Dassin, Kazan, and Robert Wise, and while retrospectives of Veronica Lake and John Garfield will bring some canon into the fold, I’m mostly thinking about that potential for discovery.
Following “Free Jazz,” Bob Hoskins, and Joyce Chopra programs, the other big series is a 30-year survey of Sony Pictures Classics: Sally Potter, Satoshi Kon, Panahi, Errol Morris, Almodóvar, Haneke, Mike Leigh, just a murderer’s row. Streaming premieres include 499 and A Night of Knowing Nothing, two recent epitomes of I Wish I Had Seen That; Criterion Editions comprise Cure, Brazil, Sullivan’s Travels,...
Following “Free Jazz,” Bob Hoskins, and Joyce Chopra programs, the other big series is a 30-year survey of Sony Pictures Classics: Sally Potter, Satoshi Kon, Panahi, Errol Morris, Almodóvar, Haneke, Mike Leigh, just a murderer’s row. Streaming premieres include 499 and A Night of Knowing Nothing, two recent epitomes of I Wish I Had Seen That; Criterion Editions comprise Cure, Brazil, Sullivan’s Travels,...
- 10/26/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
If you’re looking to dive into the best of independent and foreign filmmaking, The Criterion Channel has announced their August 2020 lineup. The impressive slate includes retrospectives dedicated to Mia Hansen-Løve, Bill Gunn, Stephen Cone, Terry Gilliam, Wim Wenders, Alain Delon, Bill Plympton, Les Blank, and more.
In terms of new releases, they also have Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau, the fascinating documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, the Kenyan LGBTQ drama Rafiki, and more. There’s also a series on Australian New Wave with films by Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, David Gulpilil, and Peter Weir, as well as one on bad vacations with Joanna Hogg’s Unrelated, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, and more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
25 Ways to Quit Smoking, Bill Plympton, 1989
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Roy Rowland,...
In terms of new releases, they also have Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau, the fascinating documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, the Kenyan LGBTQ drama Rafiki, and more. There’s also a series on Australian New Wave with films by Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, David Gulpilil, and Peter Weir, as well as one on bad vacations with Joanna Hogg’s Unrelated, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, and more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
25 Ways to Quit Smoking, Bill Plympton, 1989
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Roy Rowland,...
- 7/24/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In the heart of Greenwich Village, New York City sits a shop unlike any other. Run by Rick Kelly, Carmine Street Guitars has been building custom made guitars for years. In this quaint documentary, Ron Mann takes the audiences into the heart of Kelly’s operation – crafting beautiful and rich guitars for residents and famous musicians alike. Utilising wood from New York’s buildings, Kelly crafts exceptional guitars with the help of his elderly mother and young apprentice Cindy Hulej.
Told in a neat 80 minute runtime, Mann’s documentary is without talking heads, narration, or flashbacks. Instead, he nestles the camera right in the middle of the action and allows Kelly and Hulej to gradually reveal secrets of the wood and the guitars on display. The character of the instruments made and, therefore Kelly himself , are told through impeccable riffs and customer interactions, giving you a bigger appreciation for how...
Told in a neat 80 minute runtime, Mann’s documentary is without talking heads, narration, or flashbacks. Instead, he nestles the camera right in the middle of the action and allows Kelly and Hulej to gradually reveal secrets of the wood and the guitars on display. The character of the instruments made and, therefore Kelly himself , are told through impeccable riffs and customer interactions, giving you a bigger appreciation for how...
- 6/24/2020
- by Sarah Cook
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and Patti Smith all played guitars made from wood salvaged from New York buildings. Now there’s a documentary about the eccentric genius who crafted them
Rick Kelly’s guitar shop occupies the ground floor of a red brick tenement at 42 Carmine Street in New York’s West Village. Kelly has been building, repairing and talking guitars on the site since 1991, having spent the 1970s punk era around the corner on Downing Street. “The city was real gritty and dirty back then, you couldn’t even walk in Central Park, you’d get mugged for sure,” Kelly says. “I liked it that way.”
Carmine Street Guitars, the subject of a delightful documentary by Ron Mann, is one of the last redoubts of “Old New York” as Kelly calls it. On a typical day, Kelly’s elderly mother Dorothy will be working the cash register; his 26-year-old apprentice Cindy Hulej,...
Rick Kelly’s guitar shop occupies the ground floor of a red brick tenement at 42 Carmine Street in New York’s West Village. Kelly has been building, repairing and talking guitars on the site since 1991, having spent the 1970s punk era around the corner on Downing Street. “The city was real gritty and dirty back then, you couldn’t even walk in Central Park, you’d get mugged for sure,” Kelly says. “I liked it that way.”
Carmine Street Guitars, the subject of a delightful documentary by Ron Mann, is one of the last redoubts of “Old New York” as Kelly calls it. On a typical day, Kelly’s elderly mother Dorothy will be working the cash register; his 26-year-old apprentice Cindy Hulej,...
- 6/17/2020
- by Richard Godwin
- The Guardian - Film News
At a time when leaders spout lies and cries of “fake news” put reputable media outlets in doubt, audiences showed an astonishing appetite for nonfiction filmmaking. This year, more than 15 documentaries crossed the $1 million mark in theaters, ranging from high-profile concert films (such as Bruce Springsteen’s “Western Stars” and “Bring the Soul: The Movie”) to powerful human interest stories (“Maiden” and “The Biggest Little Farm”). Revolutionary “The Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson pushed the boundaries of the medium yet again, bringing fresh dimension to century-old World War I footage in his 3D doc “They Shall Not Grow Old”, while high-frame-rate eco doc “Aquarela” changed the way we look at water. All told, it was an incredibly strong year for documentaries, amid which Variety film critics Peter Debruge and Owen Gleiberman singled out these 10 as their favorites.
1. “The Hottest August”
When you think of climate change documentaries, chances...
1. “The Hottest August”
When you think of climate change documentaries, chances...
- 12/21/2019
- by Peter Debruge and Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Among the most interesting documentaries in consideration for next year's Best Documentary Feature Academy Award are Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am on the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, who died this year; Matt Tyrnauer’s Where’s My Roy Cohn? on the infamous lawyer; Frédéric Tcheng’s Halston on the iconic designer; Alison Klayman’s The Brink on Steve Bannon; Aviva Kempner’s The Spy Behind Home Plate on baseball player Moe Berg; Andrey Paounov’s Walking On Water on Christo; Ron Mann's Carmine Street Guitars on Rick Kelly’s shop in New York, and Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, which had a Special Event screening last week at Doc NYC.
Where’s My Roy Cohn? director Matt Tyrnauer Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Documentary features that...
Among the most interesting documentaries in consideration for next year's Best Documentary Feature Academy Award are Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am on the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, who died this year; Matt Tyrnauer’s Where’s My Roy Cohn? on the infamous lawyer; Frédéric Tcheng’s Halston on the iconic designer; Alison Klayman’s The Brink on Steve Bannon; Aviva Kempner’s The Spy Behind Home Plate on baseball player Moe Berg; Andrey Paounov’s Walking On Water on Christo; Ron Mann's Carmine Street Guitars on Rick Kelly’s shop in New York, and Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese, which had a Special Event screening last week at Doc NYC.
Where’s My Roy Cohn? director Matt Tyrnauer Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Documentary features that...
- 11/12/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Sara Driver's Sleepwalk (1986) and When Pigs Fly (1993) is showing October and November on Mubi in the United States.SleepwalkIn Sara Driver’s too small yet varied filmography, her two fiction features, both poetic fantasies—Sleepwalk (1986) and When Pigs Fly (1993)—are bracketed by two other longer films, the 48-minute You Are Not I and the 78-minute documentary Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat (2017). Sleepwalk stars Suzanne Fletcher, who also played the schizophrenic sister in You Are Not I; Boom For Real portrays both a highly interactive community and an eclectic artist inside it, which might also describe When Pigs Fly, a comedy inspired by Topper about a jazz pianist (Alfred Molina) living in an east coast port town populated by barflies and ghosts. Moreover, the community in Boom is basically Lower East Side Manhattan and more specifically the Bowery, the setting of Sleepwalk, as well as...
- 10/27/2019
- MUBI
By now, audiences have caught on to the way American distributors tend to stockpile their quality movies for end-of-year award-season release, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t treasures to be found in the first two quarters. In fact, sometimes it’s the movies that aren’t making a self-important Oscar push that wind up hitting closest to our hearts — and providing respite from such recent turkeys as “The Beach Bum” and “Wonder Park.” With quality to be found everywhere from blockbuster superhero sagas to niche-release art-house fare, it turns out 2019 is off to a good start. Variety chief critics Owen Gleiberman and Peter Debruge pick their favorite releases of the year so far.
Avengers: Endgame Marvel Studios
In his Variety review, Peter Debruge called it “the ultimate fan-service follow-up,” and that nails the riveting and cathartic satisfactions — and, just maybe, the built-in obsolescence — of this toweringly crafted and...
Avengers: Endgame Marvel Studios
In his Variety review, Peter Debruge called it “the ultimate fan-service follow-up,” and that nails the riveting and cathartic satisfactions — and, just maybe, the built-in obsolescence — of this toweringly crafted and...
- 6/15/2019
- by Peter Debruge and Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
The mega rollout of Avengers: Endgame this weekend has put some pause to what has been a plentiful roster of new specialty titles in recent weeks. One distribution exec last week said off the record that most companies are holding off to wait out the juggernaut’s opening. Perhaps most are but not all. Sony Pictures Classics is opening Ralph Fiennes-directed bio-drama The White Crow in five locations in New York and L.A., offering audiences in search of a non-Marvel alternative a well-received option. The company had success with Fiennes’ previous directorial effort, 2013’s The Invisible Woman. Abramorama, meanwhile, is heading out with Venice 2018 premiere Carmine Street Guitars. The company said the documentary is set for a long “slow burn” in theaters. First Run Features is opening fellow nonfiction title Chasing Portraits by Elizabeth Rynecki, which chronicles her search for paintings created by her great-grandfather, Moshe Rynecki,...
- 4/26/2019
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
Head over to Greenwich Village, go up Bleecker Street, just a few blocks past 6th Avenue, and then make a left. Keep walking until you get to 42 Carmine Street. That’s where you’ll find Rick Kelly. The Long Island native with the gray hair and the slightly oversized black t-shirt might be ambling around the retail section of the storefront, which he opened up in 1990. He might be talking to his elderly mom Dorothy, who balances the books, answers the phones and dusts the framed pics of Kelly standing...
- 4/24/2019
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
“Carmine Street Guitars” is a one-of-a-kind documentary that exudes a gentle, homespun magic. It’s a no-fuss, 80-minute-long portrait of Rick Kelly, who builds and sells custom guitars out of a modest storefront on Carmine Street in New York’s Greenwich Village, and the film touches on obsessions that have been popping up, like fragrant weeds, in the world of documentary. “Carmine Street Guitars” is all about the weirdly grounded pleasures of analog culture; about the glory of hand-made artisanal objects in a world dominated by mass corporate production; about the aging, and persistence, of old-school jazz and rock ‘n’ roll; about the fading of bohemia in a world of rising rents, omnivorous bottom lines, and chain-store values; and about how all those themes fuse into a Zen ideal of doing what you love and loving what you do.
The film sounds earnest and touching in a minor, twilight-of-the-’60s way.
The film sounds earnest and touching in a minor, twilight-of-the-’60s way.
- 4/20/2019
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Tony Sokol Apr 18, 2019
Trees grow in Brooklyn. In Greenwich Village, Rick Kelly reclaims older wood for Carmine Street Guitars, we learn in this clip.
Wood resonates, as Ricky Kelly points out in this clip from the upcoming documentary Carmine Street Guitars, that's why he chooses old growth and white pine in his custom guitars. You can hear the difference in the sound. Kelly makes his guitars from the “bones of old New York," reclaimed white pine beams frame from buildings constructed in the 1800s.
Directed by Ron Mann, Carmine Street Guitars captures five days in the life of Carmine Street Guitars, where musicians like Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and Patti Smith picked, strummed and bought. The film doesn't only capture the store: it encapsulates a passing moment in time.
"Once the center of the New York bohemia, Greenwich Village is now home to lux restaurants, and buzzer door clothing stores catering to the nouveau riche,...
Trees grow in Brooklyn. In Greenwich Village, Rick Kelly reclaims older wood for Carmine Street Guitars, we learn in this clip.
Wood resonates, as Ricky Kelly points out in this clip from the upcoming documentary Carmine Street Guitars, that's why he chooses old growth and white pine in his custom guitars. You can hear the difference in the sound. Kelly makes his guitars from the “bones of old New York," reclaimed white pine beams frame from buildings constructed in the 1800s.
Directed by Ron Mann, Carmine Street Guitars captures five days in the life of Carmine Street Guitars, where musicians like Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and Patti Smith picked, strummed and bought. The film doesn't only capture the store: it encapsulates a passing moment in time.
"Once the center of the New York bohemia, Greenwich Village is now home to lux restaurants, and buzzer door clothing stores catering to the nouveau riche,...
- 4/15/2019
- Den of Geek
Rick Kelly with Anne-Katrin Titze at Carmine Street Guitars on instigator Jim Jarmusch: "I really like The Limits of Control because there's some of my dialogue that's in that movie." Photo: Ed Bahlman
In Ron Mann's welcoming Carmine Street Guitars (a New York Film Festival highlight in Spotlight on Documentary), dedicated to Jonathan Demme, featuring the mastery of Rick Kelly and Cindy Hulej we go into the woods.
Jim Jarmusch, along with Eszter Balint, Patti Smith's Lenny Kaye, Bill Frisell, Charlie Sexton, Marc Ribot (Alexandre Moors' The Yellow Birds), Eleanor Friedberger, Christine Bougie of the Bahamas, Wilko's Nels Cline, The Roots' Kirk Douglas, Jamie Hince of The Kills, Lou Reed's guitar tech Stewart Hurwood, Dallas Good and Travis Good of The Sadies, who also composed the music for the documentary, all appear in the shop and play guitar except one.
Rick Kelly: "I really...
In Ron Mann's welcoming Carmine Street Guitars (a New York Film Festival highlight in Spotlight on Documentary), dedicated to Jonathan Demme, featuring the mastery of Rick Kelly and Cindy Hulej we go into the woods.
Jim Jarmusch, along with Eszter Balint, Patti Smith's Lenny Kaye, Bill Frisell, Charlie Sexton, Marc Ribot (Alexandre Moors' The Yellow Birds), Eleanor Friedberger, Christine Bougie of the Bahamas, Wilko's Nels Cline, The Roots' Kirk Douglas, Jamie Hince of The Kills, Lou Reed's guitar tech Stewart Hurwood, Dallas Good and Travis Good of The Sadies, who also composed the music for the documentary, all appear in the shop and play guitar except one.
Rick Kelly: "I really...
- 4/7/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
"You got any guitars for sale?" Abramorama has debuted an official trailer for an indie music documentary titled Carmine Street Guitars, made by Canadian filmmaker Ron Mann, profiling the iconic guitar store in NYC where Rick Kelly makes custom guitars. Kelly has been making guitars at his Greenwich Village shop for decades, "using preserved and repurposed wood scavenged from historic New York buildings. His list of customers is legendary, and many — Patti Smith Group co-founder Lenny Kaye, Eleanor Friedberger, Charlie Sexton, Bill Frisell, director and part-time guitarist Jim Jarmusch — show up to perform, talk gear, and tell stories about everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Bob Dylan." The doc shows us five days in the life of the iconic Greenwich Village store, examining an all-too-quickly vanishing way of life. Looks quite inspiring. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Ron Mann's doc Carmine Street Guitars, direct from YouTube: Once the centre of NYC's bohemia,...
- 3/27/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
I cannot rave enough about Ron Mann's new film, Carmine Street Guitars. I first fell in love with the film when I caught it at the Vancouver Film Festival, where I had the pleasure of hanging out with Ron for an involved interview, but when I had the chance of giving it a second look at the New York Film Festival one week later, my suspicions were confirmed: Carmine Street Guitars is one of my all time favorite documentaries - full stop. In my first article, I call Carmine Street Guitars a stoic film about a custom guitar shop that repurposes some of the oldest wood in New York City into impeccably crafted instruments, "the most unassuming, sneakily beautiful, goddamn treat of a film I...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/18/2018
- Screen Anarchy
It may not sound like groundbreaking stuff - a quaint documentary about a custom guitar shop in the heart of Greenwich Village - but make no mistake, Ron Mann’s latest laid-back documentary, Carmine Street Guitars, is the most unassuming, sneakily beautiful, goddamn treat of a film I have ever seen. Hyperbole? Nope, not to me! Will you feel the same way? That depends on many things about you, most obviously, what is your taste in music? Will the film’s cast of crazy cool customers appeal to you personally? Except at the end of the day it has very little to do with whether or not the film’s roster of musical treasures - local giants like Jim Jarmusch, Lenny Kaye, Bill Frisell, Eleanor Friedberger, Nels Cline,...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/12/2018
- Screen Anarchy
Exclusive: Abramorama has acquired U.S. rights to Carmine Street Guitars, the Ron Mann-directed documentary that takes a snapshot of Rick Kelly’s fabled Greenwich Village shop where he makes guitars out of salvaged wood from historic New York buildings. The instruments have been used by the likes of Bob Dylan, Lou Reed and Patti Smith.
The film, which shows a a week in the life of the shop alongside Kelly and his apprentice Cindy Hulej, features devotees to the craft including Jim Jarmusch, Wilco’s Nels Cline, The Roots’ Kirk Douglas, Bill Frisell, Dave Hill and Charlie Sexton. The pic premiered at the Venice Film Festival, then hit Toronto and is next up screening Saturday at the New York Film Fetstival.
Abramorama plans a spring theatrical release at New York’s Film Forum.
“I’ve been handling Ron’s films in the U.S. since Comic Book Confidential...
The film, which shows a a week in the life of the shop alongside Kelly and his apprentice Cindy Hulej, features devotees to the craft including Jim Jarmusch, Wilco’s Nels Cline, The Roots’ Kirk Douglas, Bill Frisell, Dave Hill and Charlie Sexton. The pic premiered at the Venice Film Festival, then hit Toronto and is next up screening Saturday at the New York Film Fetstival.
Abramorama plans a spring theatrical release at New York’s Film Forum.
“I’ve been handling Ron’s films in the U.S. since Comic Book Confidential...
- 10/5/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
The Toronto International Film Festival is a grab-bag — all fests are, of course — but the 43rd annual edition of what’s arguably the major North American film event of any given year felt like an especially whiplash-inducing, something-for-every-film-nerd get-together this year. You could walk out of a prestige-seeking, Oscar-courting drama about parents dealing with drug-addict kids (there were a few to choose from) and right into a an eight-hour Chinese documentary about Communist “re-education” camps. You had your choice of watching Natalie Portman, Elle Fanning or Lady Gaga play pop...
- 9/16/2018
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Bill Frisell, a member of John Zorn’s Naked City and the man who provided the music for the TV version of Gary Larson’s The Far Side, talks Fender Mustang guitars and The Astronauts in this exclusive clip of doc Carmine Street Guitars, which premieres next week in Venice.
The doc, which has its world premiere in Venice on September 3 before airing in Toronto and New York, was instigated by filmmaker and guitarist Jim Jarmusch and tells the story of the fabled Greenwich Village guitar shop.
Directed by Ron Mann (Altman), it follows custom guitar-maker Rick Kelly and his apprentice Cindy Hulej, who build handcrafted guitars out of salvaged wood from historic New York buildings. Fans have included Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Patti Smith and Jarmusch.
The doc, which is exec produced by Gimme Shelter’s Carter Logan with music from The Sadies, feature Frisell, Nels Cline (Wilco), Kirk Douglas (The Roots), Eleanor Friedberger,...
The doc, which has its world premiere in Venice on September 3 before airing in Toronto and New York, was instigated by filmmaker and guitarist Jim Jarmusch and tells the story of the fabled Greenwich Village guitar shop.
Directed by Ron Mann (Altman), it follows custom guitar-maker Rick Kelly and his apprentice Cindy Hulej, who build handcrafted guitars out of salvaged wood from historic New York buildings. Fans have included Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Patti Smith and Jarmusch.
The doc, which is exec produced by Gimme Shelter’s Carter Logan with music from The Sadies, feature Frisell, Nels Cline (Wilco), Kirk Douglas (The Roots), Eleanor Friedberger,...
- 8/30/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Friday, August 24
– The Camden International Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 14th edition, including opening-night selection “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead.” Morgan Neville’s documentary on Orson Welles kicks off the fest, which takes place September 13–16 and concludes with the Us premiere of the sailing drama “Maiden.”
The full slate is comprised of 37 features, 43 shorts, one episodic series, and 20 virtual-reality and immersive experiences; half of the lineup was directed or co-directed by women. Other standouts include Kahlil Hudson and Alex Jablonski’s “Young Men and Fire,” Lana Wilson’s series “The Cure for Fear,” Jane Gillooly’s “Where the Pavement Ends,” “Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes,” “What Is Democracy,” “The Truth About Killer Robots,” Locarno winner “Fausto,” and Karlovy Vary winners “Walden” and “Putin’s Witnesses.” Take a look at the full slate at https://pointsnorthinstitute.org.
Wednesday, August 22
– Today Sffilm announced...
– The Camden International Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 14th edition, including opening-night selection “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead.” Morgan Neville’s documentary on Orson Welles kicks off the fest, which takes place September 13–16 and concludes with the Us premiere of the sailing drama “Maiden.”
The full slate is comprised of 37 features, 43 shorts, one episodic series, and 20 virtual-reality and immersive experiences; half of the lineup was directed or co-directed by women. Other standouts include Kahlil Hudson and Alex Jablonski’s “Young Men and Fire,” Lana Wilson’s series “The Cure for Fear,” Jane Gillooly’s “Where the Pavement Ends,” “Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes,” “What Is Democracy,” “The Truth About Killer Robots,” Locarno winner “Fausto,” and Karlovy Vary winners “Walden” and “Putin’s Witnesses.” Take a look at the full slate at https://pointsnorthinstitute.org.
Wednesday, August 22
– Today Sffilm announced...
- 8/24/2018
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
Jim Jarmusch, Eszter Balint, Lenny Kaye, Bill Frisell, Charlie Sexton and Marc Ribot appear in Ron Mann's Carmine Street Guitars Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the 56th New York Film Festival Spotlight on Documentary selections this afternoon. The programme includes Tom Volf's Maria By Callas; Mark Bozek's The Times Of Bill Cunningham, narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker; Charles Ferguson's Watergate with interviews of Lesley Stahl, Dan Rather, Pat Buchanan, and John Dean; Alexis Bloom's Divide And Conquer: The Story Of Roger Ailes At Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, and American Dharma directed by Errol Morris.
There are 14 documentaries in all chosen by Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones, Dennis Lim, Film Society of Lincoln Center Director of Programming, and Florence Almozini, Film Society of Lincoln Center Associate Director of Programming.
Tickets for the 56th New York Film...
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the 56th New York Film Festival Spotlight on Documentary selections this afternoon. The programme includes Tom Volf's Maria By Callas; Mark Bozek's The Times Of Bill Cunningham, narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker; Charles Ferguson's Watergate with interviews of Lesley Stahl, Dan Rather, Pat Buchanan, and John Dean; Alexis Bloom's Divide And Conquer: The Story Of Roger Ailes At Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News, and American Dharma directed by Errol Morris.
There are 14 documentaries in all chosen by Festival Director and Selection Committee Chair Kent Jones, Dennis Lim, Film Society of Lincoln Center Director of Programming, and Florence Almozini, Film Society of Lincoln Center Associate Director of Programming.
Tickets for the 56th New York Film...
- 8/22/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Errol Morris’ look at Steve Bannon, Alexis Bloom’s dissection of Roger Ailes, and James Longley’s unflinching portrait of life in war-torn Afghanistan are just a few of the politically charged documentaries that will screen as part of this year’s New York Film Festival.
The annual gathering for cinephiles and Oscar hopefuls has unveiled the complete lineup for its Spotlight on Documentary section, and it’s filled with some of the biggest names in non-fiction filmmaking. These directors are turning their cameras not just on agitprop masters and geopolitical hotspots, they’re also highlighting artistic giants, social justice champions, and off-beat fashion photographers.
The festival, which is presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, appears to be leaning into the polarized present. The selections include “Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes,” which is directed by Bloom, the filmmaker behind “Bright Lights;” “The Waldheim Waltz,” director...
The annual gathering for cinephiles and Oscar hopefuls has unveiled the complete lineup for its Spotlight on Documentary section, and it’s filled with some of the biggest names in non-fiction filmmaking. These directors are turning their cameras not just on agitprop masters and geopolitical hotspots, they’re also highlighting artistic giants, social justice champions, and off-beat fashion photographers.
The festival, which is presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, appears to be leaning into the polarized present. The selections include “Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes,” which is directed by Bloom, the filmmaker behind “Bright Lights;” “The Waldheim Waltz,” director...
- 8/22/2018
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The Toronto Intl. Film Festival has added Denys Arcand’s crime thriller “The Fall of the American Empire” and 18 other Canadian films to its lineup.
Nine of the films are directed by women and 14 are world premieres.
“We’re especially proud to present such a diverse group of films,” said Steve Gravestock, senior programmer. “Ranging from science fiction to fantasy, myth to documentary, and romance to a dystopic vision of our neighbours to the south, this year’s Canadian films come from every region in the country, stretching from east to west and north to south.”
“The Fall of the American Empire” stars Alexandre Landry, Maxim Roy, Yan England, and Rémy Girard and centers Landry’s character discovering two bags of money and facing a moral dilemma. Arcand was inspired to make the film after learning about the 2010 murder of two people in a Montreal boutique.
Sony Classics bought the...
Nine of the films are directed by women and 14 are world premieres.
“We’re especially proud to present such a diverse group of films,” said Steve Gravestock, senior programmer. “Ranging from science fiction to fantasy, myth to documentary, and romance to a dystopic vision of our neighbours to the south, this year’s Canadian films come from every region in the country, stretching from east to west and north to south.”
“The Fall of the American Empire” stars Alexandre Landry, Maxim Roy, Yan England, and Rémy Girard and centers Landry’s character discovering two bags of money and facing a moral dilemma. Arcand was inspired to make the film after learning about the 2010 murder of two people in a Montreal boutique.
Sony Classics bought the...
- 8/1/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
The Toronto International Film Festival has added another 19 new titles to its 2018 festival lineup, comprised entirely of features directed by Canadian filmmakers. Each year, Tiff highlights the films that hail from its own shores in a standalone announcement, and this year it includes nine new films from female directors, six debut features, a number of titles from fixtures of the Canadian film scene, and the world premiere of three films that showcase some of the country’s Indigenous talent.
The festival will also play home to a special event world premiere and tribute dedicated to the late filmmaker and conservationist Rob Stewart, centered around his final film, “Sharkwater Extinction.” Stewart passed away in 2017 while working on the film, a followup to his 2006 documentary “Sharkwater.”
“We’re especially proud to present such a diverse group of films,” said Steve Gravestock, Tiff Senior Programmer, in an official statement. “Ranging from science fiction to fantasy,...
The festival will also play home to a special event world premiere and tribute dedicated to the late filmmaker and conservationist Rob Stewart, centered around his final film, “Sharkwater Extinction.” Stewart passed away in 2017 while working on the film, a followup to his 2006 documentary “Sharkwater.”
“We’re especially proud to present such a diverse group of films,” said Steve Gravestock, Tiff Senior Programmer, in an official statement. “Ranging from science fiction to fantasy,...
- 8/1/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
New films from Canadian filmmakers Denys Arcand, Maxime Giroux, Jennifer Baichwal and Bruce Sweeney have been added to 2018 Toronto International Film Festival lineup, which announced its slate of Canadian films on Wednesday.
Nine of the films are directed by women, fsix are debut features and 14 are world premieres.
Canadian features will include Arcand’s “The Fall of the American Empire,” Giroux’s “The Great Darkened Days” and Sweeney’s “Kingsway.”
Also Read: 'Beautiful Boy,' 'A Star Is Born' Highlight Toronto Film Festival Lineup
The Canadian documentaries include Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky’s “Anthropocene,” Ron Mann’s “Carmine Street Guitars” and Thom Fitzgerald’s “Splinters.”
Three of the films – Gwaii Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown’s “Edge of the Knife,” Darlene Naponse’s “Falls Around Her” and Miranda de Pencier’s “The Grizzlies” – feature indigenous talent.
A special event will screen the documentary “Sharkwater Extinction,...
Nine of the films are directed by women, fsix are debut features and 14 are world premieres.
Canadian features will include Arcand’s “The Fall of the American Empire,” Giroux’s “The Great Darkened Days” and Sweeney’s “Kingsway.”
Also Read: 'Beautiful Boy,' 'A Star Is Born' Highlight Toronto Film Festival Lineup
The Canadian documentaries include Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky’s “Anthropocene,” Ron Mann’s “Carmine Street Guitars” and Thom Fitzgerald’s “Splinters.”
Three of the films – Gwaii Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown’s “Edge of the Knife,” Darlene Naponse’s “Falls Around Her” and Miranda de Pencier’s “The Grizzlies” – feature indigenous talent.
A special event will screen the documentary “Sharkwater Extinction,...
- 8/1/2018
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Anthropocene and The Fall Of The American Empire are among films joining the line-up.
The Toronto International Film Festival has added another 19 Canadian titles to its line-up, among them the world premieres of documentary Anthropocene, Rob Stewart’s Sharkwater Extinction and Miranda de Pencier’s feature directorial debut The Grizzlies.
The new titles for the forty-third edition of the festival – which runs from September 6 to 16 - include nine films directed by women and five debut features and senior programmer Steve Gravestock emphasised the diversity represented.
Scroll down for full line-up
“We’re especially proud to present such a diverse group of films,...
The Toronto International Film Festival has added another 19 Canadian titles to its line-up, among them the world premieres of documentary Anthropocene, Rob Stewart’s Sharkwater Extinction and Miranda de Pencier’s feature directorial debut The Grizzlies.
The new titles for the forty-third edition of the festival – which runs from September 6 to 16 - include nine films directed by women and five debut features and senior programmer Steve Gravestock emphasised the diversity represented.
Scroll down for full line-up
“We’re especially proud to present such a diverse group of films,...
- 8/1/2018
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Michael Weber’s The Match Factory is on board as sales agent of Locarno Film Festival International Competition title “Wintermärchen” (A Winter’s Tale), the company announced Tuesday. The film is German writer-director Jan Bonny’s follow-up to black comedy “Counterparts,” which played in Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.
“Wintermärchen” explores how social problems and emotional disorientation can result in violent right-wing terrorism. The film centers on a right-wing terror cell, whose members dream of nationwide attention. “Tommy and Becky are tired and disillusioned until Maik joins them. Overwhelmed by a complex relationship of love, hate and friendship their path of destruction leads to a series of violent crimes,” according to a statement.
The German-language film, which world premieres Aug. 10, stars Thomas Schubert, Ricarda Seifried and Jean-Luc Bubert. It was written by Jan Eichberg and Bonny, and produced by Bettina Brokemper at Heimatfilm, whose other titles include...
“Wintermärchen” explores how social problems and emotional disorientation can result in violent right-wing terrorism. The film centers on a right-wing terror cell, whose members dream of nationwide attention. “Tommy and Becky are tired and disillusioned until Maik joins them. Overwhelmed by a complex relationship of love, hate and friendship their path of destruction leads to a series of violent crimes,” according to a statement.
The German-language film, which world premieres Aug. 10, stars Thomas Schubert, Ricarda Seifried and Jean-Luc Bubert. It was written by Jan Eichberg and Bonny, and produced by Bettina Brokemper at Heimatfilm, whose other titles include...
- 7/31/2018
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: European sales stalwart The Match Factory has taken international rights to intriguing Venice Competition entry The Mountain, starring Tye Sheridan and Jeff Goldblum.
Rick Alverson (Entertainment) directs the drama, which also stars Hannah Gross (Netflix’s Mindhunter), Udo Kier (Downsizing) and Denis Lavant (Holy Motors).
30West will handle domestic sales on the movie, which Venice festival director Alberto Barbera was effusive about during his line-up press conference earlier this week.
It turns out the somewhat under-the-radar project was shepherded by Vice Studios, whose film unit is on a hot run just now following Cannes buzz title Climax and well-reviewed movies such as Lords Of Chaos and Under The Wire. Harmony Korine’s The Beach Bum, which also came in for special praise from Barbera on Wednesday, is another among their upcoming slate.
The Mountain‘s impressive producing team comprises Sara Murphy (If Beale Street Could Talk), a producing partner at Barry Jenkins’ Pastel,...
Rick Alverson (Entertainment) directs the drama, which also stars Hannah Gross (Netflix’s Mindhunter), Udo Kier (Downsizing) and Denis Lavant (Holy Motors).
30West will handle domestic sales on the movie, which Venice festival director Alberto Barbera was effusive about during his line-up press conference earlier this week.
It turns out the somewhat under-the-radar project was shepherded by Vice Studios, whose film unit is on a hot run just now following Cannes buzz title Climax and well-reviewed movies such as Lords Of Chaos and Under The Wire. Harmony Korine’s The Beach Bum, which also came in for special praise from Barbera on Wednesday, is another among their upcoming slate.
The Mountain‘s impressive producing team comprises Sara Murphy (If Beale Street Could Talk), a producing partner at Barry Jenkins’ Pastel,...
- 7/27/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The Coen Brothers’ The Ballad of Buster Scruggs takes feature form for the 2018 Venice Film Festival
In a surprise twist no one saw coming The Coen Brothers’ initial anthology series, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, will be featuring at the 2018 Venice Film Festival as a full-length feature in the competition.
The film, which was declared a Netflix original, is made up of 6 of chaptered stories revolving around the American Frontier. As for chapter plot details, information is hard to find. Tim Blake Nelson stars as Scruggs alongside a cast that features names like Zoe Kazan, Liam Neeson and Tom Waits.
“We’ve always loved anthology movies, especially those films made in Italy in the Sixties which set side-by-side the work of different directors on a common theme,” the Coens said in a statement. “Having written an anthology of Western stories we attempted to do the same, hoping to enlist the best directors working today. It was our great fortune that they both agreed to participate.”
The...
The film, which was declared a Netflix original, is made up of 6 of chaptered stories revolving around the American Frontier. As for chapter plot details, information is hard to find. Tim Blake Nelson stars as Scruggs alongside a cast that features names like Zoe Kazan, Liam Neeson and Tom Waits.
“We’ve always loved anthology movies, especially those films made in Italy in the Sixties which set side-by-side the work of different directors on a common theme,” the Coens said in a statement. “Having written an anthology of Western stories we attempted to do the same, hoping to enlist the best directors working today. It was our great fortune that they both agreed to participate.”
The...
- 7/26/2018
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
New documentary “Carmine Street Guitars” will have its world premier at the Venice Film Festival. The Ron Mann-directed film chronicles a week in the life of Greenwich Village guitar maker Rick Kelly and his apprentice Cindy Hulej. Kelly’s method is unique: he builds his guitars out of wood salvaged from old New York City buildings constructed in the 1800s or as he calls it, “the bones of old New York.” Artists like Lou Reed and Bob Dylan have owned Kelly’s guitars, which feature parts taken from such iconic Manhattan locales as the Hotel Chelsea and Chumley’s pub.
The doc brings musicians of all stripes — including Patti Smith Band’s Lenny Kaye, Kirk Douglas of The Roots, Jamie Hince of The Kills, Bill Frisell, Nels Cline of Wilco, Marc Ribot, Ester Baling, Dallas and Travis Good of The Sadies and Dylan six-stringer Charlie Sexton — to the shop.
The doc brings musicians of all stripes — including Patti Smith Band’s Lenny Kaye, Kirk Douglas of The Roots, Jamie Hince of The Kills, Bill Frisell, Nels Cline of Wilco, Marc Ribot, Ester Baling, Dallas and Travis Good of The Sadies and Dylan six-stringer Charlie Sexton — to the shop.
- 7/25/2018
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
On the heels of yesterday’s Tiff lineup announcement, the Venice Film Festival has announced their 2018 lineup and it’s a doozy. We’ll start with the films not part of Tiff (yet): Orson Welles’ long-awaited The Other Side of the Wind, the Coens’ anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria, Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook follow-up The Nightingale (first look below), and Brady Corbet’s musical drama Vox Lux.
Also in the lineup is S. Craig Zahler’s Dragged Across Concrete, Mike Leigh’s Peterloo, Carlos Reygadas’s Neustro Tiempo, Paul Greengrass’ July 22, Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate and Rick Alverson’s The Mountain, plus new documentaries from Frederick Wiseman, Sergei Loznitsa, Errol Morris, Tsai Ming-Liang, and Gaston Solnicki.
There’s also the previously-announced First Man and A Star is Born, as well as Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, Laszlo Nemes’ Sunset, Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers,...
Also in the lineup is S. Craig Zahler’s Dragged Across Concrete, Mike Leigh’s Peterloo, Carlos Reygadas’s Neustro Tiempo, Paul Greengrass’ July 22, Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate and Rick Alverson’s The Mountain, plus new documentaries from Frederick Wiseman, Sergei Loznitsa, Errol Morris, Tsai Ming-Liang, and Gaston Solnicki.
There’s also the previously-announced First Man and A Star is Born, as well as Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, Laszlo Nemes’ Sunset, Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers,...
- 7/25/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Non-FictionThe programme for the 2018 edition of the Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Tsai Ming-liang, Frederick Wiseman, Sergei Loznitsa, Olivier Assayas, the Coen Brothers, and many more.COMPETITIONFirst Man (Damien Chazelle)The Mountain (Rick Alverson)Non-Fiction (Olivier Assayas)The Sisters Brothers (Jacques Audiard)The Ballad of Buster ScruggsVox Lux (Brady Corbet)Roma (Alfonso Cuarón)22 July (Paul Greengrass)Suspiria (Luca Guadagnino)Werk ohne autor (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)The Nightingale (Jennifer Kent)The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)Peterloo (Mike Leigh)Capri-revolution (Mario Martone)What You Gonna Do When the World's On Fire? (Roberto Minervini)Sunset (László Nemes)Frères ennemis (David Oeloffen)Where Life is Born (Carlos Reygadas)At Eternity's Gate (Julian Schnabel)Acusada (Gonzalo Tobal)Killing (Shinya Tsukamoto)Out Of COMPETITIONFeaturesThe Other Side of the Wind (Orson Welles)They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (Morgan Neville)L'amica geniale (Saverio Costanzo)Il diario di angela - noi...
- 7/25/2018
- MUBI
The Venice Film Festival is celebrating its 75th year in 2018 with a star-studded lineup that includes world premieres from Damien Chazelle, Bradley Cooper, Luca Guadagnino, and Alfonso Cuarón. The festival takes place August 29 to September 8 and marks the official kickoff of the 2018 fall awards season.
As has been previously announced, Damien Chazelle will open the festival with the world premiere of “First Man.” The space race drama stars Chazelle’s “La La Land” Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong and recounts the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. The world premiere will be Chazelle’s second Venice opener after “La La Land.” Also confirmed prior to the announcement lineup was Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born,” which marks the actor’s directorial debut.
Check out the full lineup for the 2018 Venice Film Festival below. This year’s competition jury is led by Guillermo del Toro, who won the...
As has been previously announced, Damien Chazelle will open the festival with the world premiere of “First Man.” The space race drama stars Chazelle’s “La La Land” Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong and recounts the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. The world premiere will be Chazelle’s second Venice opener after “La La Land.” Also confirmed prior to the announcement lineup was Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born,” which marks the actor’s directorial debut.
Check out the full lineup for the 2018 Venice Film Festival below. This year’s competition jury is led by Guillermo del Toro, who won the...
- 7/25/2018
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
The festival runs from August 29 – September 8.
The line-up of the 75th Venice Film Festival (August 29 – September 8) has been revealed.
This year features a host of big name directors, a strong showing from the streaming giants… but few female filmmakers.
Scroll down for the full line-up
Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) is the only woman director in the 20-strong competition strand with gothic thriller The Nightingale, starring Sam Claflin.
As expected, several titles that were once tipped for Cannes will now debut at the Biennale.
Among them are Alfonso Cuaron’s Mexican drama Roma and Orson Welles’ restored final film The Other Side Of The Wind...
The line-up of the 75th Venice Film Festival (August 29 – September 8) has been revealed.
This year features a host of big name directors, a strong showing from the streaming giants… but few female filmmakers.
Scroll down for the full line-up
Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) is the only woman director in the 20-strong competition strand with gothic thriller The Nightingale, starring Sam Claflin.
As expected, several titles that were once tipped for Cannes will now debut at the Biennale.
Among them are Alfonso Cuaron’s Mexican drama Roma and Orson Welles’ restored final film The Other Side Of The Wind...
- 7/25/2018
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Festival brass unveil Rising Stars, Telefilm Canada Pitch This! finallists, and more.
Mary Harron, Kim Nguyen (both pictured above), Ingrid Veninger, and Denis Côté are among the familiar names in the 26-strong Canadian Features slate that Toronto International Film Festival programmers unveiled on Wednesday.
The selection comprises the highest number of feature directorial debutants and films from Western Canada in recent years. More than 30% of the titles are by first-time feature directors.
Festival brass also announced Short Cuts, Tiff Cinematheque, Rising Stars, Telefilm Canada Pitch This! finallists, and the recipient of the 2017 Len Blum Residency.
The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7-17.
Canadian Features
“It is exciting to see a new wave of Canadian first-time feature directors play with genres and take risks,” Tiff senior programmer Steve Gravestock said. “This year’s line-up has a truly international feel to it, too, with a number of features shot all over the globe — something that also...
Mary Harron, Kim Nguyen (both pictured above), Ingrid Veninger, and Denis Côté are among the familiar names in the 26-strong Canadian Features slate that Toronto International Film Festival programmers unveiled on Wednesday.
The selection comprises the highest number of feature directorial debutants and films from Western Canada in recent years. More than 30% of the titles are by first-time feature directors.
Festival brass also announced Short Cuts, Tiff Cinematheque, Rising Stars, Telefilm Canada Pitch This! finallists, and the recipient of the 2017 Len Blum Residency.
The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7-17.
Canadian Features
“It is exciting to see a new wave of Canadian first-time feature directors play with genres and take risks,” Tiff senior programmer Steve Gravestock said. “This year’s line-up has a truly international feel to it, too, with a number of features shot all over the globe — something that also...
- 8/9/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Ron Mann directs film featuring legendary custom guitar maker Rick Kelly.
The Match Factory has begun worldwide sales in Cannes on Carmine Street Guitars, a documentary about Greenwich Village guitar store Carmine Street Guitars.
Toronto-based documentarian Ron Mann of Sphinx Productions, who is in acquisitions mode in Cannes wearing his other hat as head of Canadian distributor Films We Like, will direct and produce the project.
Carmine Street Guitars is home to the legendary custom guitar maker Rick Kelly, who handcrafts guitars using 100-year-old wood salvaged from historic New York buildings.
Mann will shoot a series of vignettes featuring household names who drop by Carmine Street to talk guitars and perform. Kelly’s customers over the years have included music legends such as Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Patti Smith and Bo Diddley.
Principal photography is scheduled to begin in New York on May 29 and the project is scheduled for delivery in spring 2018.
Jim Jarmusch instigated Carmine...
The Match Factory has begun worldwide sales in Cannes on Carmine Street Guitars, a documentary about Greenwich Village guitar store Carmine Street Guitars.
Toronto-based documentarian Ron Mann of Sphinx Productions, who is in acquisitions mode in Cannes wearing his other hat as head of Canadian distributor Films We Like, will direct and produce the project.
Carmine Street Guitars is home to the legendary custom guitar maker Rick Kelly, who handcrafts guitars using 100-year-old wood salvaged from historic New York buildings.
Mann will shoot a series of vignettes featuring household names who drop by Carmine Street to talk guitars and perform. Kelly’s customers over the years have included music legends such as Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Patti Smith and Bo Diddley.
Principal photography is scheduled to begin in New York on May 29 and the project is scheduled for delivery in spring 2018.
Jim Jarmusch instigated Carmine...
- 5/21/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Distributor to time release alongside Us launch through Magnolia.
Films We Like has snapped up Canadian rights in a deal with Mongrel International.
Thomas Riedelsheimer’s second film about the life and work of British artist Andy Goldsworthy follows his acclaimed 2001 film Rivers And Tides.
Leaning Into The Wind premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival and explores the outdoor spaces that have inspired Goldsworthy, spanning Scotland, France and New England.
Films We Like plans a Canadian theatrical release later this year alongside the Us launch through Magnolia Pictures.
The companies are following a similar pattern this autumn on Lucky, John Carroll Lynch’s feature directorial starring Harry Dean Stanton as a 90-year-old atheist on a spiritual quest.
Films We Like president Ron Mann brokered the Leaning Into The Wind deal with Mongrel International president Charlotte Mickie.
Films We Like has snapped up Canadian rights in a deal with Mongrel International.
Thomas Riedelsheimer’s second film about the life and work of British artist Andy Goldsworthy follows his acclaimed 2001 film Rivers And Tides.
Leaning Into The Wind premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival and explores the outdoor spaces that have inspired Goldsworthy, spanning Scotland, France and New England.
Films We Like plans a Canadian theatrical release later this year alongside the Us launch through Magnolia Pictures.
The companies are following a similar pattern this autumn on Lucky, John Carroll Lynch’s feature directorial starring Harry Dean Stanton as a 90-year-old atheist on a spiritual quest.
Films We Like president Ron Mann brokered the Leaning Into The Wind deal with Mongrel International president Charlotte Mickie.
- 4/14/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Separately, Films We Like has acquired Daniel Warth’s Slamdance award-winner Dim The Fluorescents.
Gunpowder & Sky Distribution has acquired Us rights and set a theatrical release for April 14.
Rob Meyer directed Little Boxes from a screenplay by Annie J. Howell. Melanie Lynskey, Nelsan Ellis, Armani Jackson, Oona Laurence and Janeane Garofalo star in the story of an interracial family that struggles to adjust when they move from New York City to a small, predominately white town in Washington State. The film premiered at Tribeca 2016.
“Little Boxes is as heartwarming as it is timely,” said Gunpowder & Sky Distribution’s Jake Hanly. “Rob unpacked a very complex issue in a way any audience can understand and relate to.”
Meyer said: “It’s a thrill and an honour to team up with Gunpowder & Sky Distribution for the theatrical and VOD release. They distribute the kind of movies that I want to watch.”
Producer Jared Ian Goldman added: “The Gunpowder & Sky team...
Gunpowder & Sky Distribution has acquired Us rights and set a theatrical release for April 14.
Rob Meyer directed Little Boxes from a screenplay by Annie J. Howell. Melanie Lynskey, Nelsan Ellis, Armani Jackson, Oona Laurence and Janeane Garofalo star in the story of an interracial family that struggles to adjust when they move from New York City to a small, predominately white town in Washington State. The film premiered at Tribeca 2016.
“Little Boxes is as heartwarming as it is timely,” said Gunpowder & Sky Distribution’s Jake Hanly. “Rob unpacked a very complex issue in a way any audience can understand and relate to.”
Meyer said: “It’s a thrill and an honour to team up with Gunpowder & Sky Distribution for the theatrical and VOD release. They distribute the kind of movies that I want to watch.”
Producer Jared Ian Goldman added: “The Gunpowder & Sky team...
- 2/27/2017
- ScreenDaily
For our most comprehensive year-end feature, we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2016. We’ve asked our contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentions — those personal lists unspool following this one — and, after tallying the votes, a top 50 has been assembled.
It should be noted that, unlike our previous year-end features, we placed no requirement on a selection being a U.S theatrical release, so you may see some repeats from last year and a few we’ll certainly be discussing more during the next. So, without further ado, check out our rundown of 2016 below, our complete year-end coverage here (including where to stream many of the below picks), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2017. One can also see the full list on Letterboxd.
50. Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
A note from Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul to the...
It should be noted that, unlike our previous year-end features, we placed no requirement on a selection being a U.S theatrical release, so you may see some repeats from last year and a few we’ll certainly be discussing more during the next. So, without further ado, check out our rundown of 2016 below, our complete year-end coverage here (including where to stream many of the below picks), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2017. One can also see the full list on Letterboxd.
50. Cemetery of Splendor (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
A note from Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul to the...
- 12/30/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Toronto-based Films We Like has picked up Canadian rights to Ingrid Veninger’s upcoming drama.
Veninger and her producers will begin casting on June 10 on what is described as “a story of bravery and the secret life of girls set in Northern Ontario during a hot and hazy summertime when adulthood has not yet arrived, but childhood is quickly vanishing.”
Production is set for August and Films We Like plans to release the film theatrically across Canada in the latter stages of 2017.
Melissa Leo supported Porcupine Lake in Veninger’s pUNK Films Femmes Lab launched at the Whistler Film Festival in 2014 and according to a press release issued on behalf of Films We Like said after reading the first draft: “This is a story that every women carries inside her.”
The second draft was developed at the inaugural Screenwriters Lab at Hedgebrook, where Veninger was mentored by Jenny Bicks (The Big C) and Emmy-winner Jane Anderson ([link...
Veninger and her producers will begin casting on June 10 on what is described as “a story of bravery and the secret life of girls set in Northern Ontario during a hot and hazy summertime when adulthood has not yet arrived, but childhood is quickly vanishing.”
Production is set for August and Films We Like plans to release the film theatrically across Canada in the latter stages of 2017.
Melissa Leo supported Porcupine Lake in Veninger’s pUNK Films Femmes Lab launched at the Whistler Film Festival in 2014 and according to a press release issued on behalf of Films We Like said after reading the first draft: “This is a story that every women carries inside her.”
The second draft was developed at the inaugural Screenwriters Lab at Hedgebrook, where Veninger was mentored by Jenny Bicks (The Big C) and Emmy-winner Jane Anderson ([link...
- 6/8/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Was it Godard or was it Truffaut who said “critics make the best directors”?
A film critic by trade and a poet in his heart, Brian D. Johnson began his film “Al Purdy Was Here” as a fundraising tool to save the A-frame cabin in the woods built by Canadian poet Al Purdy and his wife Eurithe. As making the film progressed, Johnson began to see much more in the film than merely a vehicle [piece] to raise money. “Al Purdy Was Here” soon evolved into something much greater, something deeply poetic by a writer who himself treasures poetry even as he critiques films….
Brian says, “It is about art and life and the fact that they are often in conflict as we try to make our lives. Poetry is my aim…finding poetry in cinema. But music was the reason I made the film.”
Canada's leading musicians and artists come together to tell the tale of Al Purdy.
The documentary features archival materials and first-hand accounts, including interviews with his publisher Howard White, editor Sam Solecki, widow Eurithe Purdy, poets Dennis Lee, Steven Heighton and George Bowering—and Bowering's wife Jean Baird, the powerhouse behind the campaign to save and restore Purdy's A-Frame cabin.
Read Indiewire for more about the movie here.
Gordon Pinsent (“Away from Her”), Michael Ondaatje (“The English Patient”), Leonard Cohen (“Natural Born Killers”), Margaret Atwood (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) all pay tribute to him along with other well known writers, actors, directors and singers who adapt his poetry.
This film premiered, naturally enough, at Tiff 2015 but I only caught up with it at Iff Panama this year because Brian – whom I met one year in Havana and loaned him $100 to pay his hotel bill -- was at Iff Panama where his film was screening. With him was our friend-in-common, Latinaphile, Helga Stephenson, so I tagged along as a friend to see a film about a person I had never heard of before. And I was entranced by what I saw.
Al Purdy was known to be a raucous, barroom brawling Canadian poet, something on a par with Charles Bukowski. In fact they were friends and corresponded extensively, but there is some question as to whether Purdy’s character as a barroom brawler was put on as his persona to help popularize his poetry. Was he actually such a rough person? His wife, Eurithe Purdy, who survived him and is featured in the movie said that at home he was quite a peaceable man (when he was not boozing it up with his pals). He was also a philosophical soul, enraptured by nature—Canada's Walt Whitman as well as its Bukowski.
Sl: How did you get these musicians?
I went to the pantheon of famous Canadian singer-songwriters and asked them to compose and record music inspired by Purdy's work. We paid engineers and musicians. But the artists licensed their songs to us for free, and in return they got to own the rights to the songs.
I got in touch with Neil Young through his brother. I loved Neil's music, and interviewed him for one of his films. Remember Neil Young: Heart of Gold directed by Jonathan Demme?
I sent Neil a Purdy poem called "My 48 Pontiac", written from the Pov of a car in a junk yard—knowing Neil loves old cars. He never did get around to recording an original number for us, but he loved the poem, and the project. So when we wanted to use "Journey Through the Past" (from Neil's 1971 Massey Hall concert album) on the soundtrack, he gave us the rights at no cost.
We selected half a dozen songs for the movie but commissioned and recorded six more, and we're assembling all of them on an album called "The Al Purdy Songbook".
Meanwhile, the film's score was composed by my son, Casey Johnson, who recorded it all with purely analog technology—in the spirit of Purdy's rough and raw esthetic.
The music played at a 2013 benefit concert to save Purdy's cabin in the woods become the impetus for me to make the movie. I remember leaving the show and telling the organizers, "The next thing you should do is an Al Purdy Songbook.") I didn't know I'd end up doing it myself. And as it turned out, it was the music that made the film possible. Musicians are more famous than poets. They have an audience. And this is a movie about a dead poet. How do you make a movie about a dead poet?
The music brings it to life . . . I suppose I could have made a zombie movie instead.
Sl: How did you cast the movie?
You get the most famous people lined up and then the rest follow. I’m friends with Michael Ondaatje. I know Margaret Atwood. I know Leonard Cohen. So I started there.
Sl: How did you finance the film?
The CBC Documentary Channel gave us 25% of the budget and that triggered the rest of the financing. The Rogers Documentary Fund and the Rogers Cable Fund became the other principal contributors.
But Ron Mann, who exec produced, got the ball rolling, and his company, Films We Like, came onboard as the Canadian distributor. We're still looking for international distribution.
The movie felt like a barn-raising, with everyone pitching in to help make it work.
Brian D. Johnson is former film critic for Maclean's, Canada's weekly newsmagazine, is the current president of the Toronto Film Critics Association. Over the years, he also worked as a musician and published poetry, a novel, and several works of non-fiction, including a 25th-anniversary history of Tiff, "Brave Films, Wild Nights, 25 Years of Festival Fever. "Al Purdy was Here” (2015) is his first feature documentary. Once again he'll be writing about film for Maclean's in May at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
A film critic by trade and a poet in his heart, Brian D. Johnson began his film “Al Purdy Was Here” as a fundraising tool to save the A-frame cabin in the woods built by Canadian poet Al Purdy and his wife Eurithe. As making the film progressed, Johnson began to see much more in the film than merely a vehicle [piece] to raise money. “Al Purdy Was Here” soon evolved into something much greater, something deeply poetic by a writer who himself treasures poetry even as he critiques films….
Brian says, “It is about art and life and the fact that they are often in conflict as we try to make our lives. Poetry is my aim…finding poetry in cinema. But music was the reason I made the film.”
Canada's leading musicians and artists come together to tell the tale of Al Purdy.
The documentary features archival materials and first-hand accounts, including interviews with his publisher Howard White, editor Sam Solecki, widow Eurithe Purdy, poets Dennis Lee, Steven Heighton and George Bowering—and Bowering's wife Jean Baird, the powerhouse behind the campaign to save and restore Purdy's A-Frame cabin.
Read Indiewire for more about the movie here.
Gordon Pinsent (“Away from Her”), Michael Ondaatje (“The English Patient”), Leonard Cohen (“Natural Born Killers”), Margaret Atwood (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) all pay tribute to him along with other well known writers, actors, directors and singers who adapt his poetry.
This film premiered, naturally enough, at Tiff 2015 but I only caught up with it at Iff Panama this year because Brian – whom I met one year in Havana and loaned him $100 to pay his hotel bill -- was at Iff Panama where his film was screening. With him was our friend-in-common, Latinaphile, Helga Stephenson, so I tagged along as a friend to see a film about a person I had never heard of before. And I was entranced by what I saw.
Al Purdy was known to be a raucous, barroom brawling Canadian poet, something on a par with Charles Bukowski. In fact they were friends and corresponded extensively, but there is some question as to whether Purdy’s character as a barroom brawler was put on as his persona to help popularize his poetry. Was he actually such a rough person? His wife, Eurithe Purdy, who survived him and is featured in the movie said that at home he was quite a peaceable man (when he was not boozing it up with his pals). He was also a philosophical soul, enraptured by nature—Canada's Walt Whitman as well as its Bukowski.
Sl: How did you get these musicians?
I went to the pantheon of famous Canadian singer-songwriters and asked them to compose and record music inspired by Purdy's work. We paid engineers and musicians. But the artists licensed their songs to us for free, and in return they got to own the rights to the songs.
I got in touch with Neil Young through his brother. I loved Neil's music, and interviewed him for one of his films. Remember Neil Young: Heart of Gold directed by Jonathan Demme?
I sent Neil a Purdy poem called "My 48 Pontiac", written from the Pov of a car in a junk yard—knowing Neil loves old cars. He never did get around to recording an original number for us, but he loved the poem, and the project. So when we wanted to use "Journey Through the Past" (from Neil's 1971 Massey Hall concert album) on the soundtrack, he gave us the rights at no cost.
We selected half a dozen songs for the movie but commissioned and recorded six more, and we're assembling all of them on an album called "The Al Purdy Songbook".
Meanwhile, the film's score was composed by my son, Casey Johnson, who recorded it all with purely analog technology—in the spirit of Purdy's rough and raw esthetic.
The music played at a 2013 benefit concert to save Purdy's cabin in the woods become the impetus for me to make the movie. I remember leaving the show and telling the organizers, "The next thing you should do is an Al Purdy Songbook.") I didn't know I'd end up doing it myself. And as it turned out, it was the music that made the film possible. Musicians are more famous than poets. They have an audience. And this is a movie about a dead poet. How do you make a movie about a dead poet?
The music brings it to life . . . I suppose I could have made a zombie movie instead.
Sl: How did you cast the movie?
You get the most famous people lined up and then the rest follow. I’m friends with Michael Ondaatje. I know Margaret Atwood. I know Leonard Cohen. So I started there.
Sl: How did you finance the film?
The CBC Documentary Channel gave us 25% of the budget and that triggered the rest of the financing. The Rogers Documentary Fund and the Rogers Cable Fund became the other principal contributors.
But Ron Mann, who exec produced, got the ball rolling, and his company, Films We Like, came onboard as the Canadian distributor. We're still looking for international distribution.
The movie felt like a barn-raising, with everyone pitching in to help make it work.
Brian D. Johnson is former film critic for Maclean's, Canada's weekly newsmagazine, is the current president of the Toronto Film Critics Association. Over the years, he also worked as a musician and published poetry, a novel, and several works of non-fiction, including a 25th-anniversary history of Tiff, "Brave Films, Wild Nights, 25 Years of Festival Fever. "Al Purdy was Here” (2015) is his first feature documentary. Once again he'll be writing about film for Maclean's in May at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
- 4/26/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Submarine announced at International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) it has licensed Jessica Edwards’ Mavis! and Laura Israel’s Don’t Blink - Robert Frank in multiple territories.
Mavis! has gone to Madman in Australia and New Zealand, Films We Like in Canada, NonStop Entertainment in Scandinavia and Ntr for Dutch TV. Submarine represents remaining Us rights.
David Koh brokered the deals for Submarine and the filmmaker with Madman Entertainment managing director Paul Wiegard, Ron Mann of Films We Like, CEO Jakob Abrammsson of NonStop and Ntr head of documentary acquisitions Nathalie Windhorst.
Mavis! is screening at Idfa and chronicles the life of gospel/soul singer and civil rights icon Mavis Staples and her family group, the Staple Singers.
Don’t Blink - Robert Frank (pictured) has gone to Nfp Films in Germany and Austria, Films We Like in Canada and Feltrinelli in Italy.
Koh negotiated the deals with managing director Christophe Ott of Nfp Films, Mann of...
Mavis! has gone to Madman in Australia and New Zealand, Films We Like in Canada, NonStop Entertainment in Scandinavia and Ntr for Dutch TV. Submarine represents remaining Us rights.
David Koh brokered the deals for Submarine and the filmmaker with Madman Entertainment managing director Paul Wiegard, Ron Mann of Films We Like, CEO Jakob Abrammsson of NonStop and Ntr head of documentary acquisitions Nathalie Windhorst.
Mavis! is screening at Idfa and chronicles the life of gospel/soul singer and civil rights icon Mavis Staples and her family group, the Staple Singers.
Don’t Blink - Robert Frank (pictured) has gone to Nfp Films in Germany and Austria, Films We Like in Canada and Feltrinelli in Italy.
Koh negotiated the deals with managing director Christophe Ott of Nfp Films, Mann of...
- 11/22/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
A look at the list of my favorite movies from 2014 reveals the presence of six extraordinary nonfiction films, and that’s just a taste of the seeming hundreds of docs released last year-- not all of them extraordinary, of course, but all of them indicative of a trend toward the making of the availability of more nonfiction filmmaking than it seems we’ve likely ever seen in this country. And speaking of availability, the six I listed—Ron Mann’s Altman, Joey Figueroa and Zak Knutson’s Milius, Orlando von Einsidel’s Virunga, Chaplain and Maclain Way’s The Battered Bastards of Baseball, Stephanie Spray and Pancho Velez’s Manakamana and Errol Morris’s The Unknown Known— were all pictures I caught courtesy of Netflix Streaming. (Virunga was actually produced under the company’s auspices.)
I have a special place in my cinematic heart for nonfiction, both bound between covers and on the screen,...
I have a special place in my cinematic heart for nonfiction, both bound between covers and on the screen,...
- 10/4/2015
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
Five years and 51 weeks -- that's when I was added to the Slackerwood website, although my official first article about a beloved made-in-Texas film, True Stories, was actually published on June 24, 2009. Coincidentally, my first Slackerwood-related article, "Coffee and Cigarettes at the Alamo," was written two years earlier on June 25, 2007 for the Alamo Downtown Blog-a-Thon, co-hosted by Slackerwood and Blake Ethridge of formerly of Cinema is Dope and now the Museum of Cinema.
Sharing my personal experience of handling the Coffee and Cigarettes director Jim Jarmusch at the original Alamo Drafthouse (on Colorado) during SXSW Film Festival 2004 was truly a defining moment in my career in film journalism. That same year I recall Louis Black assisting at the door at a special midnight screening of Hellboy at the Paramount, with star Ron Perlman talking to fans outside the theater until the wee hours of the morning.
I truly believe that without...
Sharing my personal experience of handling the Coffee and Cigarettes director Jim Jarmusch at the original Alamo Drafthouse (on Colorado) during SXSW Film Festival 2004 was truly a defining moment in my career in film journalism. That same year I recall Louis Black assisting at the door at a special midnight screening of Hellboy at the Paramount, with star Ron Perlman talking to fans outside the theater until the wee hours of the morning.
I truly believe that without...
- 5/27/2015
- by Debbie Cerda
- Slackerwood
★★★☆☆ With 39 features to his name, each as unique and innovative as the next, there are few American directors who come close to matching the prolific career of Robert Altman. Ron Mann would go one step further, describing Altman's films as distinctively "Altmanesque", a term he spends 95 minutes attempting to define in his latest documentary, Altman (2014). An affectionate exploration of Altman's life, Mann invites a wealth of this maverick filmmaker's best known collaborators and contemporaries to discuss his legacy, including the late Robin Williams, The Long Goodbye star Elliot Gould and Inherent Vice (2014) director Paul Thomas Anderson - who simply describes Altman in one word: "inspiration".
- 5/18/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
★★★☆☆ Ron Mann's Altman (2014) chose to look at the director's career largely through his own eyes, combining archive material and interviews together with the recollections of friends and family. A Fuller Life (2013) is another biographical doc about a master of independent American cinema, but Samantha Fuller's affectionate portrait of her father Samuel goes one step further - the words are exclusively the subject's own. Friends and collaborators lend their voices to gobbets of Fuller's autobiography, which proves the ideal source text. Whilst the surrounding film is a little rough-and-ready, the core dialogue between auteur and audience encapsulates the kind of penetration and energy inherent to his oeuvre.
- 5/17/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
★★★☆☆ The central victory of Ron Mann's fond portrait of the maverick American filmmaker Robert Altman is how personal he manages to make it. For a documentary about a director with such a strong authorial voice, it seems only fitting that Altman (2014) is largely narrated by the man himself through various interviews and recordings. In concert with these are words from his widow, Kathryn, and two sons, Robert and Stephen, who worked with their father for years. They're laid over a wealth of archival material - from film clips, to home videos and public appearances - that paint a unique and insightful picture of a fascinating man and career.
- 3/31/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
A new documentary attempts to grapple with the late, great American auteur. You’d learn a lot more by rewatching his films…
I wish that Ron Mann’s affectionate but inch-deep Altman was the great documentary biography that Robert Altman warrants, but it isn’t. Mann’s biopic would make a fine accompanying documentary to my fantasy box set of The Complete And Utter Works Of Robert Altman, and its use of clips from a solid majority of the director’s movies makes it a mouth-watering appetiser for anyone eager to reacquaint themselves with the master’s entire oeuvre. Sadly, its main effect is repeatedly to seize the viewer with the urge to press eject and slot in any one of the Altman movies invoked – major or minor (still a fluid distinction) – and watch the real thing in lieu of the largely third-hand and obvious insights here gathered.
Related: Robert Altman...
I wish that Ron Mann’s affectionate but inch-deep Altman was the great documentary biography that Robert Altman warrants, but it isn’t. Mann’s biopic would make a fine accompanying documentary to my fantasy box set of The Complete And Utter Works Of Robert Altman, and its use of clips from a solid majority of the director’s movies makes it a mouth-watering appetiser for anyone eager to reacquaint themselves with the master’s entire oeuvre. Sadly, its main effect is repeatedly to seize the viewer with the urge to press eject and slot in any one of the Altman movies invoked – major or minor (still a fluid distinction) – and watch the real thing in lieu of the largely third-hand and obvious insights here gathered.
Related: Robert Altman...
- 3/30/2015
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
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