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EL LIMPIADOR / THE CLEANER (2011): PERU'S OFFICIAL SUBMISSION TO THE OSCARS®
As recently announced by Agustin Mango at The Hollywood Reporter, Adrián Saba's opera primaThe Cleaner (El Limpiador, 2011) will be Peru's submission for the foreign language Oscar® category. The...
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INUK (2010)—The Evening Class Interview With Mike Magidson
Mike Magidson is originally from the Bay Area, born at the height of the 1967 "summer of love" in Oakland, California. After getting a college degree, he immediately set off to Los Angeles where he was...
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BIG BAD WOLVES (2013)—Fantasia Q&A With Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado
It's an oft-stated supposition that one of the redeeming values of genre films—particularly horror, sci-fi, and thrillers—is the capacity to reflect the anxieties of the predominant culture. This...
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FICM 2013—Arturo de Córdova Retrospective
Arturo de Córdova (May 8, 1908–November 3, 1973), considered one of the most important actors from the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, will be honored posthumously as part of the International Film...
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RETURN TO GREY GARDENS—The Evening Class Interview With Joshua Grannell (aka...
I think I read on Wikipedia or some other reliable source that Joshua Grannell (aka Peaches Christ) is genetically inclined to reappropriate films for his (her) own purposes. "Nothing is sacred," the...
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DETROIT UNLEADED (2012)—The Evening Class Interview With Rola Nashef
I met Rola Nashef in Panama City during the 2013 Panama International Film Festival. We fortuitously sat beside each other on the transit shuttle from the festival's Midnight Mojitos Boat Party to the...
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FICM 2013: PARAÍSO (PARADISE, 2013)
Situated in FICM’s Mexican Feature competition, Mariana Chenillo’s Paraíso (Paradise, 2013) cooks up a delectably sentimental offering, albeit from a slim premise. Carmen (Daniela Rincón) and Alfredo...
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FCN 2013—MICHAEL HAWLEY ANTICIPATES THE LINEUP
The San Francisco Film Society (SFFS) brings us the sixth edition of its French Cinema Now (FCN) series, beginning this Thursday, November 7 at Landmark's Clay Theatre. While it's tough seeing 2013's...
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FCN 2013—2 AUTUMNS, 3 WINTERS (2 AUTOMNES, 3 HIVERS, 2013)
As noted by Michael Hawley in his anticipatory overview of the 2013 edition of the San Francisco Film Society's French Cinema Now (FCN), the series—though abbreviated this year—is strikingly auteurial,...
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FICM 2013—STEVE SEID SURVEYS THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF BURT LANCASTER IN...
We're mid-month into the centennial celebration of Burt Lancaster's birthday. At Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Wednesday nights have been devoted to Lancaster, inarguably one of Hollywood's most popular...
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THE ASHES OF PASOLINI (LE CENERI DI PASOLINI, 2009)
But while I own history,it owns me; it illumines me.But what use is such a light?—"The Ashes of Gramsci" (2005), Pier Paolo Pasolini.Renowned artist, architect, and filmmaker Alfredo Jaar presented the...
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ROSENBAUM ON PASOLINI
I frequently turn to Jonathan Rosenbaum's writings whenever a major auteurial retrospective arrives in the San Francisco / Bay Area, relying on his critical acumen and subjective particularities to...
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FICM 2013—EDUARDO DE LA VEGA ALFARO TRIBUTE TO ARTURO DE CÓRDOVA
So little has been written about Mexican actor Arturo de Córdova, and even less is available in English in the United States. Thus, it is with great pride that I publish Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro's...
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LISTS: My 10 Favorite Conversations For 2013
Any kind of love transforms over time, especially a love for film. Several elements of that transformation have become clear to me within this past year. I've let go all pretensions of being a film...
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PSIFF 2014: LATINBEAT
The concept of the national cinema and its symbiotic relationship with the programming of an international film festival is seamlessly administered in the 25th edition of the Palm Springs International...
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PSIFF 2014: AL MIDAN / THE SQUARE (2013)—A Few Evening Class Questions For...
Situated in the True Stories sidebar at the 25th edition of the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), Jehane Noujaim's Al Midan (The Square, 2013) chronicles the communal conscription of...
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PSIFF 2014: OMAR (2013)—The Evening Class Conversation With Actors Adam Bakri...
Hany Abu-Assad's Omar (2013)[site]—shortlisted for the foreign language category at the Academy Awards®—and Yuval Adler's Bethlehem (2013)[site]—Israel's official submission—are, essentially, bookend...
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POMPEII (2014)
Let's not pretend, shall we? Mount Vesuvius in all its eruptive glory is the true star of Paul W.S. Anderson's Pompeii (2014), no disrespect intended to our six-packed Celt (Kit Harington), his...
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TREEFORT MUSIC FESTIVAL 2014: BAY AREA > BOISE
I was born in Nampa, Idaho and raised in Twin Falls, but left the state in 1973 to find a city I could grow up in. I bounced around cities East and West until settling in laid back San Francisco in the...
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BIG BAD WOLVES (2013)—Fantasia Q&A With Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado
It's an oft-stated supposition that one of the redeeming values of genre films—particularly horror, sci-fi, and thrillers—is the capacity to reflect the anxieties of the predominant culture. This...
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