By Amir Ganjavie and Shadi Javadi. Although Krzysztof Zanussi’s films received less global exposure over the past couple of decades and were not commercially successful, he is one of the most commonly seen Polish directors on the international festival circuit. Zanussi is very productive, having made almost fifty features with an average […]
Seed Money: Capturing a Pivotal Era of Gay Porn
By Mark James. The gains of the gay liberation movement in the late 1960s rode the back of a gay culture that, in part, came together watching porn. Though erotic images of men have sold as long as pictures were for sale, court cases allowing images to be sent through […]
A Dark Fable: Pascal Chind on Extrême Pinocchio (2014)
By Paul Risker. Veteran of the short film Pascal Chind’s latest endeavour Extrême Pinocchio (2014) finds the French filmmaker looking back into the past to Carlo Collodi’s original story by giving it a more “contemporary spin.” The spectatorial experience of a film in one sense could be perceived as being […]
Inside a Pop Mystery: Denny Tedesco on The Wrecking Crew (2008)
By Pete Donnelly. A group of long-revered musicians who performed countless hits in the 60s and 70s, the “Wrecking Crew” consisted of mostly unheard of session players who created a production line style, a kind of music-making machine. Record producers relied on their exceptional competence and speed to “crank out […]
Keeping the Peace: A SXSW Interview on Peace Officer (2015)
By Jude Warne. Scott Christopherson and Brad Barber are no strangers to the investigative process; as immensely talented documentary filmmakers, this is part of what they do. Dub Lawrence, the subject of the team’s SXSW-screened film Peace Officer, is no stranger to this either, having been a police officer that […]
Da Sweet Blood of Inspiration: A Conversation with Spike Lee
By John Duncan Talbird. Back in college, my friends and I went to see Do the Right Thing (1989) when it first came out. We’d been reading about the film for weeks before it arrived in the little Southern college town where we lived. Some critics were raving that this […]
Documenting Fiction: Jaret Belliveau and Matthew Bauckman on Kung Fu Elliot (2014)
By Paul Risker. Going behind the scenes of Blood Fight, the latest film from amateur filmmaker and aspiring Canadian action hero Elliot Scott, Jaret Belliveau and Matthew Bauckman encounter the truth of cliché first hand in their documentary Kung Fu Elliot. Viewer sentiments like “fact is stranger than fiction,” “art […]
Banned Again: Kianoosh Ayari on Paternal House (2012)
By Amir Ganjavie and Leila Pasandideh. It has been a few weeks since Kianoosh Ayari’s Paternal House (2012) was banned from screening, for the second time. At first banned after its premiere at the 2012 Venice Film Festival by the Iranian government agency that funded the project, the film went back under Ayari’s control when he received approval to screen the […]
The Life of Paganini: Bernard Rose on The Devil’s Violinist (2013)
By Jude Warne. Bernard Rose is a firm believer of the interrelations of film and music. Music always seems to have been central to his approach to cinematic style. Rose got his start in filmmaking directing music videos such as UB40’s 1983 hit “Red Red Wine” and Frankie Goes to […]
New Perspectives: John Boorman on Queen and Country
By Matthew Sorrento. John Boorman’s status as a major filmmaker was sealed with five words from Lee Marvin: “I defer those to John.” The actor then left the room, which contained Boorman and the producers of Point Blank (1967); they had just conferred that Marvin had approval over the script and […]
