Filmmaker Ondi Timoner felt the best way to tell the story of Robert Mapplethorpe was in a narrative-versus-documentary format. Mapplethorpe, the vaunted New York photograper who died of AIDS in 1989, was well-known for his photographs of controversial material, including of New York’s gay scene, and for his early marriage to rocker Patti Smith. “I don’t tend to make documentaries about people ... more >
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THINGS YOUR FILM SCHOOL INSTRUCTOR DIDN’T TEACH YOU : Talking with Ondi Timoner of “Mapplethorpe”
"Mapplethorpe" comes out in theaters today
Hari Nef, Matt Smith and Brian Stokes Mitchell
Directed by Ondi Timoner
BARRY AVRICH’s latest effort will look at grifters playing fast and loose with the high-stakes art world
Melbar Entertainment Group announced that production has begun on the feature documentary about the infamous Knoedler Gallery art scandal, one that involved one of the largest art forgeries in history. Over sixty forged abstract expressionists works of art sold to high society collectors and prestigious art institutions for over $80 million in total. The film will be completed in late 2019. The ... more >
Twenty years on, the Cannes Festival’s Gilles Jacob remains an ardent believer in the Cinéfondation’s virtue to discover and foster new filmmaking talent
He was president of the Cannes Festival for four decades, and launched Un Certain Regard, in addition to Cinéfondation
So I got curious about Cinéfondation, an incubator created within the Cannes Festival's ecosystem to lend certain filmmakers a helping hand, whether that's advice, a network, or funds. It's been two decades since its inception and I needed to situate this program within the festival's many other endeavors. Gilles Jacob, former president of the Cannes Festival, created Cinéfondation in 1998, over ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL, the Cinéfondation “Atelier” is a rite of passage that aims to help student directors get finishing funds
Featured director: Pakistan's Parveen Bilal
The Cannes Festival selection is augmented, each year, with a spate of student movies by young filmmakers sending their unfinished projects from around the world in the hope of finding a sensitive ear and a receptive heart. With deep pockets, preferably. L’Atelier (“workshop” in the French original) is a way for students in search of finishing funds to come to Cannes, pitch their project, meet ... more >
OSCARS – Olivia Colman feted as world’s best actress
Seeing “The Favourite” a few days ago, I was so stunned by Olivia Colman’s turn as Queen Anne that I had to go back the next day and see it all over again, checking whether I was right the first time in thinking that this was an extraordinary performance by an extraordinary actress. It was and more. She plays the overweight monarch (fattened by some thirty pounds for the part) stuffing herself ... more >
Ishtar Yasin Gutierrez’s “DOS FRIDAS” to premiere at next Chicago Latino Film Festival
Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez is a filmmaker who’s already got several documentaries and feature films under her belt. In 1998 she launched Astarte Films from San Jose, Costa Rica, a city where she's been working as screenwriter and filmmaker. She was born in Moscow, Russia to an Iraqi father and a Chilean-Costa Rican mother. Her first film, “El Camino,” premiered at the 2008 Berlinale. It would later ... more >
REWIND | SBIFF2019 : “A thousand miles behind,” “Peel,” “Zulu Summer,” and “Hugh Hefner’s After Dark: Speaking Out in America”
Some parting words about the recently-featured Santa Barbara Film Festival
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. | The 34th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) ended over a week ago but organizers of this fete of movies, celebrities and all things cinema have already announced the 2020 iteration will be bumped up a bit next year to Jan. 15-25, which may put it in direct competition with other festivals like Sundance. No matter, as the 2019 version closed out with ... more >
