IT'S ALIVE! The Cannes Festival, much like the sphinx rising from the ashes, announced today that it will open its July edition with a Leos Carax movie, "Annette," starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver. Anyone who reads Screen Comment and my fourteen year-long exclusive coverage of the world's best film festival for this magazine will know that Cannes normally takes place in May but, what with ... more >
NEWS
INTERVIEW: MATTHEW JENSEN, director of photography, “Wonder Woman 1984”
Growing up in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., Matthew Jensen knew his destiny was to work in films. As a young man, he took the Metro into the heart of democracy to watch and study films at the Smithsonian. He also cruised the pages of the Washington Post, seeking out revivals at theaters in Georgetown and word of AFI screenings at the Kennedy Center. “In Georgetown there was ... more >
BRIEFLY : “A Concerto is a Conversation”
The Academy Award-nominated short subject documentary film "A concerto is a conversation," which was executive-produced by Ava DuVernay and recently premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, is now streaming from The New York Times Op-Docs. Kris Bowers (pictured) is one of Hollywood’s rising young composers. At twenty-nine he scored the Oscar-winning film “Green Book” (2018), and this year ... more >
“THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOY IN THE WORLD,” from child stardom to edge of the precipice
From this year's Sundance Film Festival
Annike Andresen, Björn Andrésen and Silva Filmer
Directed by Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri
For Luchino Visconti’s cinematic adaptation of Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice,” the filmmaker sought otherworldly beauty in whichever actor he chose to play Tadzio, the young teenager who is the subject of the main character Gustav’s infatuation. Fifteen-year-old Björn Andrésen was chosen, as his entire persona captivated the filmmaker. As Visconti’s casting director Margaret Krantz states, ... more >
SUNDANCE: “DOUBLESPEAK,” “RITA MORENO: JUST A GIRL WHO DECIDED TO GO FOR IT” and “THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER’S HAND”
It’s still hard to wrap my mind around the notion that a year ago I was walking the streets of Park City, interviewing filmmakers and catching the latest releases. This year, the festival, like nearly all others, has gone hybrid, with a very few in-person events as audiences and critics have enjoyed the offerings from their covid-safe couches. Here are just a few Sundance ‘21 offerings to keep ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL announces summer-bound edition in 2021. But will it stick?
Festival normally takes place yearly in May
The Cannes Festival will indeed take place this year, two months later than usual. In a press release sent this afternoon by email, the festival said the 2021 edition would run from the 6th to the 17th of July. Cannes would thus take place about a month after the government of France will have been able to complete dissemination of the covid-19 vaccine nationwide, the idea being that, for France, ... more >
His name was Michael Apted
Michael Apted, who died last Thursday at the age of 79, was an artisan filmmaker who started out in England and ended up in Hollywood. As documentary filmmaker, he's made films about Sting and the Tiananmen square protest. He later would go on to shoot fantasy sagas. He gravitated towards socially-aware subjects and strong female characters, especially during his television directing days, a ... more >
