By Amir Ganjavie. What is particularly amazing about new Korean movies is their ability to be simultaneously popular and very critical of Korean society. We have already see this in masterpieces likes Memories of Murder (2003), a touching detective story that probes its social milieu throughout. Madonna, directed by Shin […]
Beyond Documentary: Brillante Mendoza on Taklub (2015)
June 12, 2015
By Amir Ganjavie. Taklub (2015, “Trap”), the most recent movie from Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza, represents the lives of three families after the devastating Typhoon Yolanda. Here the established director uses his artistic tools to raise awareness about climate change and although it is a government-funded project, he has managed […]
“Graphic” Words and Feeling: Thomas Farone on Aftermath (2013)
June 8, 2015
By Paul Risker. Following the success at Raindance with his 2003 directorial feature debut Nate Dogg, filmmaker Thomas Farone has once again stepped behind the camera to direct his sophomore feature Aftermath (2013). More than a decade after his first dalliance with feature filmmaking he constructs a cause-and-effect narrative that’s infused […]
Survival and Stubbornness: Grimur Hákonarson on Rams (2015)
June 3, 2015
By Amir Ganjavie. Rams (2015), an Icelandic drama directed by Grimur Hákonarson, received the prize for the best movie in the Certain Regard category of Cannes Film Festival. The movie tells the story of two peculiar, single brothers who have spent forty years not talking to each other, despite being neighbors […]
Les Blank Chased Happiness: A Conversation with Harrod Blank
May 27, 2015
By Matthew Sorrento. Naming Criterion’s new DVD/Blu-ray collection of films by Les Blank (1935-2013) Always for Pleasure was a given. In borrowing the name of Blank’s 1978 documentary on New Orleans, the set contains that film and several others radiating the feeling. Though Blank is known for his works with […]
Reality in Different Visions: Wei Hu on Butter Lamp (2013)
May 17, 2015
By Paul Risker. The outset of Wei Hu’s filmmaking journey has taken the form of small steps, although the burgeoning young filmmaker admits that his two short films Le Propriétaire (2012) and Butter Lamp (2013) have infused him with a passion and belief in cinema. He explains, “I am confident […]
Burden of Peace: An Interview with Filmmaker Joey Boink
May 9, 2015
By Amir Ganjavie. Claudia Paz y Paz, a highly respected criminal law expert and judge with over eighteen years of experience, was the former Attorney General of Guatemala. As the first woman to hold such a high position in Guatemala, she was at the forefront of different fights to bring […]
Diva Directors Around the Globe: Spotlight on Kirsten Sheridan
May 7, 2015
By Anna Weinstein. Irish writer-director Kirsten Sheridan has directed three features and five shorts since 2001. Her screenplay for In America (2002), which she co-wrote with her sister Naomi Sheridan and her father Jim Sheridan, was nominated for a WGA award and an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Her film August Rush (2007), starring Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Freddie Highmore, and the late […]
Sean Mewshaw and Desi Van Til’s Tumbledown: A Tribeca Interview
May 5, 2015
By Gary M. Kramer. Tumbledown, directed and written, respectively, by the husband and wife team of Sean Mewshaw and Desi Van Til, premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The film has Hannah (Rebecca Hall) meeting cute with Andrew (Jason Sudeikis) who wants to write a book about the former’s […]
A Place in Myth: Portia Doubleday on After the Ball (2015)
May 2, 2015
By Paul Risker. From Pascal Chind’s short film Extrême Pinocchio (2014) to a contemporary retelling of Cinderella in After the Ball (2015), if as wisdom suggests there are only a limited number of archetypal stories to be told, then these two films frame storytelling as being comparable to the game […]