The Senses of Cinema 2011 World Poll presents a selection of readers’ and writers’ favourites (and least favourites) from the realms of theatrical release, festivals and other film culture activities from the year.
The cinema turns every viewer into a detective. Murray Pomerance goes in search of “signs” and their significance in films.
Originally published in early 1950, this is, quite possibly, the first time Rivette commits his views on cinema to print. And fascinating thoughts they are in the light of his writing and filmmaking to come.
An excerpt on one of the masterpieces of 6os cinema from Mary Wiles’ forthcoming book on Jacques Rivette, published by Illinois University Press.
A true poet of the cinema, the director of, amongst others, Russian Ark and The Sun, talks philosophy, religion, aesthetics and the Russian soul.
Using interview footage of Sokurov and combining it with other elements, the filmmakers produce a contemplative video-essay on the director.
An insightful historical survey of the practice and aesthetics of visual abstraction from silent cinema to the present.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of France’s first filmmakers’ co-op, the Collectif Juene Cinéma. Marcel Mazé, founder and president, discusses its fascinating history.
Though he shared a San Francisco studio loft in the 1960s with friends Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, John Korty eschewed the studio system and devoted himself to making low budget films the equal of any thing that emerged from the American independent cinema of the time.
When fire destroyed the negative to Sara Driver’s 1982 debut feature, the film was thought lost forever. And then, the fortuitous discovery of a print amongst the belongings of the famed author Paul Bowles lead to its re-emergence.
The folly of Lars von Trier’s words at Cannes should not taint the achievements of this mesmerising and haunting film.
As fate would have it, this colossal film stands as Raul Ruiz’s swansong. No better way to end a long and labyrinthine career.
“The brain is the flesh.” Using ‘Artaud-Deleuze’ as a guide, Marko Bauer traverses the cerebral territory of Gaspar Noé’s film. Enter at your peril.
David Phelps provides a comprehensive analysis of the stylist features of one of the great directors of the Japanese New Wave.
Considered one of the best offerings from recent Iranian cinema, Joseph Burke argues that one of the achievements of A Separation is to “make us believe again in a moral world.”
In the afterglow of Wim Wenders’ Pina, Miriam Ross looks at the re-invention of the dance film in the 3D era.
The director of Look Both Ways and My Year Without Sex passed away earlier this year. Jonathan Dawson pays homage to a distinctive talent.
