tagged w/ NYFF
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Hello West Hollywood!
This is our last podcast from the New York Film Festival and we end it on the question of "just what was this crazy thing?"
On one hand, people were vocal this year against the supposed elitism of NYFF. Tony Scott got so peeved he even coined a new nonsense term: festivalism.
Even nobodies on the Internet stood on their hind legs and demanded to know why they couldn't be on the selection committee. How sad is that?
Still, we get into that, a bit about Everyone Else, White Material and even Bronson. Joined as always by Vadim Rizov and our special final guest, Matt Prigge.
Then...that's it.
So thanks for listening if you have, and if you haven't go back and try it out.
If you ever see us at the bar or the theater, stop and say hi. Then buy us a drink.
Thanks,
-John Lichman
Hello West Hollywood!
This is our last podcast from the New York Film Festival... more
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Right now, I'm somewhere hovering over Wisconsin en route to Manhattan for the 47th Annual New York Film Festival. While everyone else is at the Toronto International Film Festival, I figured it be a decent idea to get a head-start on my former home for a few years. So what's going on? Is NYFF like Toronto or Fantastic Fest?
Well, yes and no.
Join me on a brief history of the NYFF, since I once was goaded into giving a loaded quote for a feature last year. Currently curated by some of New York's most esteemed critics and writers--not to mention Village Voicers--like J. Hoberman, Melissa Anderson, Dennis Lim and Scott Foundas (LA Weekly, but who cares when you're all under one LLC?)
Richard Peña, program director for the festival, has said that this year the festival is "less Cannes dependent than other years." While Antichrist and White Ribbon, which won the Palme d'Or, are a part of this year's line up, so is the the 13th annual Views from the Avant-Garde and directors' dialogs.
The full list of films can be found here. But, no Jennifer's Body or Coen Brothers, right? So why are we even bothering to cover it?
NYFF remains one of the more selective and, dare I say, "art fuck" of the major U.S. festivals. It is a tightly curated and films are selected for more artistic and cinematica merit than having a semi-nude Megan Fox. Though I could still see that on Friday if I wanted to. But the "why" of who comes to NYFF is different as well, since it's nicely sandwiched between Toronto, Venice and Fantastic Fest.
So, we're going to prove a point.
And to provide some coverage.
But most importantly, we're in New York to shed some light on the cinematic experiences I've missed--like the Anthology Film Archives and a special screening of The Exiles or giving out free Rotten Tomatoes Show t-shirts to people that find me. Check back and check out our group on Current, where I'll be throwing all my photos, video and reviews from the fest.
Good thing too--cause I'm almost over Pennsylvania. Later!
-John Lichman
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There's some gems at this year's New York Film Festival - check out the linked podcast for reviews.There's some gems at this year's New York Film Festival - check out the... more
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Lebanon, which I’ll be seeing on Wednesday afternoon at the New York Film Festival, was just picked up by Sony Pictures Classics out of Toronto. Samuel Maoz’ film took the Golden Lion out of this year’s Venice Film Festival, as well, and had been rumored to be the big bidding war for the last few weeks.
The film is based on a view from a group of soldiers operating a tank during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.Lebanon, which I’ll be seeing on Wednesday afternoon at the New York Film... more
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Ghost Town is one of the films I’m most excited about at NYFF, even if it is a “dweeb” festival with no wi-fi. From NYFF:
With this absorbing three-part epic documentary, Zhao Dayong joins the ranks of the essential Chinese independent filmmakers, led by Jia Zhangke and Wang Bing. Zhiziluo is a remote village in China’s mountainous southwest, lined with empty shells of buildings and watched over by a Chairman Mao statue. In this dilapidated ghost town, the young filmmaker Zhao documents remarkable signs of life: father and son pastors, parsing the Bible and the teachings of long-departed missionaries; lovers whose relationships are reduced to a matter of economics; a 12-year-old boy, left behind by his parents and living a near-feral existence. Throughout, Zhao composes brilliant, haunting images that use the harsh beauty of the landscape as a counterpoint to a study of different forms of abandonment, and different modes of survival.
Ghost Town plays on Sunday, 9/27 at Walter Reade Theater.Ghost Town is one of the films I’m most excited about at NYFF, even if it is a... more
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