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JUNE
16,
2009
13 MOST BEAUTIFUL… SONGS
FOR ANDY WARHOL'S SCREEN TESTS
An
interview with DEAN & BRITTA soundtrack
artists for 13
MOST BEAUTIFUL…SONGS FOR ANDY WARHOL’S SCREEN TESTS.
Between 1964 and 1966, Andy Warhol shot nearly 500 Screen Tests,
beautiful and revealing portraits of hundreds of different individuals,
from the famous to the anonymous, all visitors to his studio,
the Factory. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong
keylight, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex
camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film. The
resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened
in slow motion, resulting in a fascinating collection of four-minute
masterpieces that startle and entrance, mesmerizing in the purest
sense of the word. 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's
Screen Tests features 13 of Warhol's classic silent film portraits.
Subjects include Nico, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, Dennis Hopper,
and more. Songwriters Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, formerly
of the band Luna and currently recording as Dean & Britta,
incorporated original compositions as well as cover songs to create
new soundtracks for the 13 films. 13
Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests will screen
at the Los
Angeles Film Festival this Saturday, June 20 with Dean and
Britta performing their soundtrack live.
JUNE
9,
2009
MOON
An
interview with DUNCAN
JONES the director of MOON — a
science fiction thriller about a solitary lunar employee who finds
that he may not be able to go home to Earth so easily. The film is
the feature film debut of commercial director Duncan Jones. Sam Rockwell
stars as the lunar employee. Kevin Spacey voices his robot companion.
The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in January
2009. Bell is an employee contracted by the company Lunar to mine
on the Moon the natural gas Helium 3, which could reverse Earth's
energy crisis. Sam is stationed at the lunar base Sarang with only
a robot named Gerty, but two weeks before completing his three-year
assignment, he begins feeling out of place. An extraction goes wrong,
and Sam suspects Lunar of trying to replace him as he realizes someone
else is on the Moon. Jones co-wrote the script with Nathan Parker.
The film was specifically written as a vehicle for actor Sam Rockwell
and pays homage to the films of Jones' youth, such as Silent Running
(1972), Alien (1979) and Outland (1981). Duncan Jones is also known
as Zowie Bowie, the son of David Bowie and his ex-wife Angela Bowie.
JUNE
2,
2009
MUNYURANGABO
An
Interview with SAMUEL
ANDERSON the director of MUNYURANGABO.
After stealing a machete from a market in Kigali, Munyurangabo and
his friend, Sangwa, leave the city on a journey tied to their pasts.
Munyurangabo wants justice for his parents who were killed in the
genocide, and Sangwa wants to visit the home he deserted years ago.
Though they plan to visit Sangwa's home for just a few hours, the
boys stay for several days. From two separate tribes, their friendship
is tested when Sangwa's wary parents disapprove of Munyurangabo,
warning that "Hutus and Tutsis are supposed to be enemies." Munyurangabo,
Anderson's first feature film, premiered in the Un Certain Regard
program at the Cannes Film Festival.
MAY
19,
2009
TRANSCENDENT MAN
An
interview with ROBERT
BARRY PTOLEMY the director of TRANSCENDENT
MAN — a documentary that chronicles the life and ideas
of Ray Kurzweil, an inventor and futurist that presents his bold
vision of the Singularity, a point in the near future when technology
will be changing so rapidly, that we will have to enhance ourselves
with artificial intelligence to keep up. Ray predicts this will be
the dawning of a new civilization in which we will no longer be dependent
on our physical bodies, we will be trillions of times more intelligent
and there will be no clear distinction between human and machine,
real reality and virtual reality. Human aging and illness will be
reversed; world hunger and poverty will be solved and we will ultimately
cure death. Critics accuse Ray of being too optimistic and argue
that the dangers of the Singularity far outweigh the benefits, pointing
out the apocalyptic implications that once machines achieve consciousness,
we may not be able to control them. Whether Rays controversial ideas
incite excitement or fear, dogma or disbelief this ambitious documentary
will forever change the way you look at life, death, and your own
future.
MAY
5,
2009
OUTRAGE
An
interview with Academy Award nominated filmmaker KIRBY
DICK the director of OUTRAGE — a
searing indictment of the hypocrisy of closeted politicians who
actively campaign against the LGBT community they covertly belong
to. OUTRAGE reveals the hidden lives of some of our nation’s
most powerful policymakers, details the harm they've inflicted
on millions of Americans, and examines the media's complicity
in keeping their secrets. DICK’S highly-regarded film, DERRIDA,
premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and won the Golden
Gate Award at the San Francisco Film Festival. In 1997, he directed
the internationally acclaimed SICK: THE LIFE & DEATH OF BOB
FLANAGAN, SUPERMASOCHIST, which won the Special Jury Prize at
the Sundance Film Festival and the Grand Prize at the Los Angeles
Film Festival. The film earned an IFP/West Spirit Award Nomination
and an International Documentary Association Nomination for Best
Feature Documentary of 1998. Dick's other projects include TWIST
OF FAITH (2004) and THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED (2006), an exposé of
the interior workings of the MPAA ratings system.
APRIL
28,
2009
LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC
FILM FESTIVAL
An
interview with SHINAE
YOON the Executive Director of Visual
Communications which presents the Los
Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival running April 30 - May
7. Visual Communications (Southern California Asian American
Studies Central Inc.) – known as "VC" – is
a community-based non-profit media arts organization in Los Angeles,
dedicated to creating, preserving and presenting Asian Pacific
American history and culture through the media arts. Founded in
1970, the organization, through its numerous film, video and community
multimedia productions and through its various screening activities,
photographic exhibits and publications, has pioneered many vital
developments in the national media arts arena. VC offers production
and training in filmmaking, video and photography, for Asian Americans.
In addition to maintaining a large archive of Asian Pacific photographs,
VC annually presents the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
APRIL
21,
2009
CHILDREN OF INVENTION
An interview with TZE
CHUN the writer / director of CHILDREN
OF INVENTION — a story of two young children living outside Boston
who are left to fend for themselves when their mother gets embroiled in a pyramid
scheme and disappears. Based on Tze Chun's own award-winning short film, WINDOWBREAKER,
which screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, CHILDREN OF INVENTION is a
drama about the influence of an adult world on children, the immigrant mentality,
and shortcuts to the American dream. CHILDREN OF INVENTION made its world premiere
at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won Special Jury Prizes at the 2009 San
Francisco International Asian American and Sarasota Film Festivals.
12
STONES
An
interview with SANDY
SMOLAN the
director of 12
STONES — a short documentary that captures the journey of a group
of illiterate women in southern Nepal. In a country where running water and
electricity
are luxuries, most of the people in Nepal live below the poverty line. A group
of women, with the help of Heifer International, an aid organization that promotes
sustainable development, are helping hundreds of other women and their families
rise from poverty to reclaim a future. Smolan's
critically acclaimed debut feature RACHEL RIVER was nominated for the Grand
Jury Prize at The Sundance Film Festival and took awards for Best Cinematography.
12 STONES will screen at the Newport
Film Festival April 29 and 30.
APRIL
7,
2009
GOODBYE SOLO
An interview
with RAMIN
BAHRANI the director of GOODBYE
SOLO. On the lonely roads of Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
two men forge an improbable friendship that will change both of
their lives forever. Solo is a Senegalese cab driver working to
provide a better life for his young family. William is a tough Southern
good ol‘ boy with a lifetime of regrets. One man‘s American
dream is just beginning, while the other‘s is quickly winding
down. But despite their differences, both men soon realize they
need each other more than either is willing to admit. Through this
unlikely but unforgettable friendship, GOODBYE SOLO deftly explores
the passing of a generation as well as the rapidly changing face
of America. Winner of the Venice Film Festival’s prestigious
FIPRESCI International Critics Prize, ‘Goodbye Solo’ is
the latest film from internationally-acclaimed filmmaker Ramin Bahrani
(‘Chop Shop,’ ‘Man Push Cart’). 'Solo' has
been hailed as “A force of nature!” by Roger Ebert.
And The New York Times’ A.O. Scott says it has “an uncanny
ability to enlarge your perception of the world.”
MARCH
31,
2009
AMERICAN SWING
An Interview
with JON HART and MATTHEW
KAUFMAN co-directors of AMERICAN
SWING a documentary on the rise and fall of 1970s New York City
nightclub Plato's Retreat. In 1977, New York City was scorched by
stifling heat waves, enervated by energy crunches and inflation
and hurtling toward social unrest. But its citizens partied on.
Nightlife flourished, disco and cocaine ruled at the exclusive Studio
54 and punks smashed guitars at CBGB. Meanwhile, a raging orgy was
underway at Plato's Retreat. Chronicling the rise and fall of this
notorious sex club and its quixotic owner Larry Levenson, American
Swing captures the glorious last gasp of the (mostly hetero) sexual
revolution that had been birthed in the sixties. AMERICAN SWING
opens Friday April 3 in Los Angeles at Laemmle's
Sunset 5.
VISIT
MORE FILMSCHOOL ARCHIVES
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