Welcome to our 50th Anniversary Issue! the editors April 2009 Editorial Late in 1999, a Melbourne based independent filmmaker decided to take a well-earned hiatus from his prolific filmmaking activities and thought it would be a good idea to start up a web-based film journal. He so...
Why Samuel Fuller? Tag Gallagher April 2009 Feature Articles The recent DVD release of White Dog gives Tag Gallagher cause to take stock of Fuller’s career and ponder what exactly it was that set him apart of other directors.
Vienna’s Prater District on Film, or: Looking at the World Again Martina Lunzer April 2009 Feature Articles This article examines the filmic representation of Vienna’s famous Prater district and the many discourses around its historical significance.
Worldly Australian Cinema: The 4th Adelaide Film Festival Sukhmani Khorana April 2009 Festival Reports 19 February – 1 March 2009 It is the end of summer and Adelaide is decisively abuzz with the gala ambience that accords South Australia i...
Our Beloved Month of October (or, Do the Hurch-Lurch!): The 46th Viennale – Vienna International Film Festival Neil Young April 2009 Festival Reports 17-29 October 2008 “The ideal form of government, Karl Valentin said, is anarchy – with a strong anarchist in charge.” Thus the philosoph...
Hungarian Rhapsody: The Experimental Forum at the 49th Thessaloniki International Film Festival Maximilian Le Cain April 2009 Festival Reports 14-23 November 2008 This year saw the addition of an “Experimental Forum” to the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The Forum’s six screenin...
Notes From (Sydney) Underground: The 2nd Sydney Underground Film Festival Jack Sargeant April 2009 Festival Reports 11-14 September 2008 By way of an introduction. For those not fully engaged with the vagaries of the underground it should be observed that the ...
Reports from the Festival Front: The Year Obama Walked: The 28th Sundance Film Festival and the 17th Pan African Film and Arts Festival Bérénice Reynaud April 2009 Festival Reports Sundance: 15-29 January 2009 Pan African: 5-16 February 2009 Of Mormons and Men Never was the paradox of Sundance felt so profoundly, and, I will a...
Frames of Viewing: The 38th International Film Festival Rotterdam Genevieve Yue April 2009 Festival Reports 21 January – 1 February 2009 Pouring out of Rotterdam’s late-night screenings into the chilly streets, it was hard to miss the giant scre...
Unfamiliar Ground: The 38th International Film Festival Rotterdam Vera Brunner-Sung April 2009 Festival Reports 21 January – 1 February 2009 Like so many film festivals, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has grown exponentially since ...
The Best of All Possible Worlds: The 4th Possible Worlds Canadian Film Festival Dee Jefferson April 2009 Festival Reports 20-26 August 2008 Sydney The obvious coups for the programmers of this year’s Canadian Film Festival were L’Âge des Ténèbres (Days of ...
Politics of Image: Passionate Cinema and an Engaged Audience: The 14th Kolkata Film Festival Saayan Chattopadhyay April 2009 Festival Reports 10-17 November 2008 It is undeniably impossible not to miss some worthy films at a brief seven-day, non-competitive festival of 276 films...
Insecure Times, Confident Localities: German Films at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival Mattias Frey April 2009 Festival Reports 5-15 February 2009 As if out of spite, just as banks fail and states teeter towards insolvency, German cinema could not be better. In a y...
Mapping Yin and Yang in the Post-Modern Urban Sprawl: The 2008 AFI Fest/American Film Market Bérénice Reynaud April 2009 Festival Reports AFI: 30 October–9 November 2008 AFM: 5–12 November 2008 Sprawlin’ thru Do cities have the film festivals they deserve? Or rather, what ...
“Re-mapping Cinema, Re-making History”?: A Report from the 14th Biennial Conference of the Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand Rachel Wilson April 2009 Festival Reports 27-30 November 2008 The strength of the biennial conference of the Film and History Association of Australia and New Zealand (and why it remains a ...
Latin Love Triumphs: The 57th International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg Diane Sippl April 2009 Festival Reports 6-16 November 2008 For eleven days in November, two neighbouring cities on the Rhine brought 32 new films to Germany at the Mannheim-Heidelberg...
No Business Like Shoah Business: The 19th Festival of Jewish Cinema Rhiannon Dalglish April 2009 Festival Reports 5-23 November 2008 Melbourne In a perfect world, Australian filmgoers would be juggling super-sized boxes of buttery popcorn and buckets of ...
History is Written with Light: The 12th Annual Views from the Avant-Garde Patrick Friel March 2009 Festival Reports 3-5 October 2008 New York City in early October 2008 seemed to be feeling the weight of impending history. Obama filled the air, from the patte...
A Report on the 2nd Human Rights Arts and Film Festival Wendy Haslem March 2009 Festival Reports 13-23 November 2008 Melbourne, travelling to Sydney, Perth, Canberra and Brisbane As I was queuing for the screening of Undressing Vanessa, ...
New Old Visions: The 27th Giornate del Cinema Muto Brigitta Wagner March 2009 Festival Reports 4-11 October 2008 Pordenone, Italy: A student of mine recently referred to silent films as “movies without speaking”. When I screened two silen...
Lupino, Ida Wheeler Winston Dixon April 2009 Great Directors b. February 4, 1914, London, England d. August 3, 1995, Los Angeles, California, USA Filmography Bibliography Articles in Senses Web Resour...
Denis, Claire Samantha Dinning April 2009 Great Directors b. 1948 Paris, France Filmography Bibliography Articles in Senses Web Resources When you look at the hills, beyond the houses and beyond th...
A Family Affair: Cinema Calls Home edited by Murray Pomerance Mark Nicholls and Anika Ervin-Ward April 2009 Book Reviews In Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear (1991), Jessica Lange and Nick Nolte are lying in bed discussing the increasingly disturbing harassment they are experi...
The Imp of Mischief: “Have You Seen…?” A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films by David Thomson Tony McKibbin April 2009 Book Reviews If Pauline Kael is often pugnacious, Jonathan Rosenbaum belligerent, Anthony Lane frivolous, then what word should we bestow upon David Thomson? Perha...
“Despised and disparaged”: Reconsidering the Epic: The Epic in Film: From Myth to Blockbuster by Constantine Santas and Hollywood’s Ancient Worlds by Jeffrey Richards Djoymi Baker April 2009 Book Reviews Few film genres have been so critically despised and disparaged by film critics as the Ancient World epic. Serious, whole-hearted appreciations of suc...
The British New Wave: A Certain Tendency? by B.F. Taylor Michael Fleming April 2009 Book Reviews We know immediately from the title that this book accepts the existence of a “New Wave” in British cinema. B.F. Taylor begins with an unambiguous cano...
The Boy From Oz: Blood and Tinsel: A Memoir by Jim Sharman Jake Wilson April 2009 Book Reviews The fabulous was Jim Sharman’s birthright. Grandson and son of successive managers of the legendary Jimmy Sharman’s Boxing Troupe, he fills the openin...
Documentary Display: Re-Viewing Nonfiction Film and Video by Keith Beattie Adrian Danks April 2009 Book Reviews Keith Beattie’s Documentary Display: Re-Viewing Nonfiction Film and Video is an extremely valuable and refreshing contribution to the burgeoning field...
The Decline of Sentiment: American Film in the 1920s by Lea Jacobs John Fidler April 2009 Book Reviews “I should have been a pair of ragged claws, scuttling across the floors of silent seas…” Too sentimental! – Boris (Woody Allen), as he throws out one...
Cinema and Sensation: French Film and the Art of Transgression by Martine Beugnet Saige Walton April 2009 Book Reviews Those familiar with French director Claire Denis will be aware of the exquisite sensuality of her cinema. Whether coming together with another body in...
Black River Adam Broinowski April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film This article was originally published in issue 50, April 2009, and re-published in issue 79, July 2016. Black River/Kuroi kawa (1957 Japan 114 mins) ...
Au revoir, les enfants Pasquale Iannone April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Au revoir, les enfants/Goodbye, Children (1987 France/West Germany 104 mins) Prod Co: Nouvelles Éditions de Films/MK2 Productions/Marin Karmitz...
Ascenseur pour l’échafaud Darragh O’Donoghue April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Ascenseur pour l’échafaud/Lift to the Scaffold/Elevator to the Gallows (1957 France 88 mins) Prod Co: Nouvelles Éditions de Films Prod: Jean Th...
Zazie dans le métro Alice G. Burgin April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Zazie dans le métro/Zazie in the Undergroud (1960 France/Italy 88 mins) Prod Co: Nouvelles Éditions de Films Prod, Dir: Louis Malle Scr: Louis ...
Work in Progress Steven Marsh April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Work in Progress/En construcción (2001 Spain 125 mins) Prod Co: Ovideo TV S.A. Dir, Scr: José Luis Guerín Phot: Alex Gaultier Ed: Mercedes Álva...
Tren de sombras Darren Hughes April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Tren de sombras/Train of Shadows (1997 Spain 88 mins) Prod Co: Films 59/Grup Cinema Art/Institut del Cinema Català Prod: Héctor Fáver, Joan Ant...
Before Dietrich: Sound Technique and Thunderbolt Tony Williams April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Thunderbolt (1929 USA 94 mins) Prod Co: Josef von Sternberg/Famous Players-Lasky-Paramount Prod: B. P. Fineman Scr: Charles Furthman (dialogue ...
The State of Things Lee Hill April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film The State of Things/Der Stand der Dinge (1982 Germany/Portugal/US 121 mins) Prod Co: Road Movies Film Production/Wenders Berlin Prod: Chris Sie...
Shooting the President: Bruce Conner’s Report Adrian Danks April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Report (1967 USA 13 mins) Filmmaker: Bruce Conner Sound: Extracts from the LP record Four Days That Shook the World Completed over a three-y...
Confessions of a Stray Cat: Pistol Opera David Melville April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Pistol Opera (2001 Japan 112 mins) Prod Co: Victor Company of Japan/Shochiku/Eiseri Gekijo/Television Tokyo Channel 12/Dentsu/Ogura Jimusho Pro...
Pale Flower Freda Freiberg April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Pale Flower/Kawaita hana (1963 Japan 96 mins) Prod Co: Shochiku Dir: Shinoda Masahiro Scr: Baba Masaru, Shinoda Masahiro, adapted from a story ...
Master of the House David Cairns April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Master of the House/Du skal ære din hustru/Thou Shalt Honour Thy Wife (1925 Denmark 107 mins) Prod Co: Palladium Film Dir, Art Dir: Carl Dreyer...
The Evil That Boys Do: Louis Malle’s Lacombe, Lucien Adam Bingham April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Lacombe, Lucien (1974 France/West Germany/Italy 137 mins) Prod Co: Nouvelles Éditions de Films/UPF (Paris)/Vides Film (Rome)/Hallelujah Films (...
Recherchez: José Luis Guerín’s In the City of Sylvia Jay Kuehner April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film En la Ciudad de Sylvia/Dans la ville de Sylvie/In the City of Sylvia (2007 Spain 84 mins) Prod Co: Château-Rouge Productions/Eddie Saeta S.A./T...
Innisfree Miguel Marías April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Innisfree (1990 Spain 110 mins) Prod: Paco Poch Dir, Scr, Ed: José Luis Guerín Phot: Gerardo Gormezano Art Dir: Sindria Segura “Cast”: Bertl...
Le Feu follet David Sanjek April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Le Feu follet/The Fire Within (1963 France 103 mins) Prod Co: Nouvelles Éditions de Films Dir: Louis Malle Scr: Louis Malle, from the novella b...
Erotikon C. S. Leigh April 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Erotikon (1920 Sweden 97 mins) Prod Co: Svensk Filmindustri Dir: Mauritz Stiller Scr: Gustaf Molander, Arthur Nordén, Mauritz Stiller, based on...
Black Narcissus Karli Lukas March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Black Narcissus (1947 UK 100 mins) Prod Co: The Archers/Independent Producers Prod, Dir: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger Scr: Michael Powell...
“God was wrong”: Nicholas Ray’s Bigger Than Life Adrian Danks March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Bigger Than Life (1956 USA 95 mins) Prod Co: Twentieth Century-Fox Prod: James Mason Dir: Nicholas Ray Scr: Cyril Hume, Richard Maibaum, based ...
The Back of Beyond Jonathan Dawson March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film The Back of Beyond (1954 Australia 66 mins) Prod Co: Shell Film Unit Prod, Dir, Ed: John Heyer Scr: John Heyer, Janet Heyer, Roland Robinson Vo...
Visual Variations on Noguchi Shana MacDonald March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Visual Variations on Noguchi (1945 USA 4 mins) Prod Co: Gryphon Group Filmmaker: Marie Menken Mus: Lucille Dlugoszewski Visual Variations on...
Some Came Running Dana Polan March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film This annotation previously appeared in Senses of Cinema, no. 19, March–April 2002. Some Came Running (1958 USA 135 mins) Source: ACMI/NLA Pr...
Smiles of a Summer Night Pedro Blas Gonzalez March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Sommarnattens leende/Smiles of a Summer Night (1955 Sweden 108 mins) Prod Co: Svensk Filmindustri Prod: Allan Ekelund Dir, Scr: Ingmar Bergman ...
The Shop Around The Corner David Sanjek March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film The Shop Around The Corner (1940 USA 99 mins) Prod Co: MGM Prod, Dir: Ernst Lubitsch Scr: Samson Raphaelson, from the play Parfumerie by Nikola...
The Silence Hamish Ford March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Tystnaden/The Silence (1963 Sweden 96 mins) Prod Co: Svensk Filmindustri (SF) Prod: Allan Ekelund Dir, Scr: Ingmar Bergman Phot: Sven Nykvist E...
The Seventh Seal Darragh O’Donoghue March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Det Sjunde inseglet/The Seventh Seal (1957 Sweden 96 mins) Prod Co: Svensk Filmindustri Prod: Allan Ekelund Dir, Scr: Ingmar Bergman Phot: Gunn...
The River James Leahy March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film The River (1951 USA 99 mins) Prod Co: Oriental International Film Inc. Prod: Kenneth McEldowney, Jean Renoir Dir: Jean Renoir Scr: Jean Renoir,...
Marilyn Times Five Holly Willis March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Marilyn Times Five (1973 USA 12 mins) Filmmaker: Bruce Conner Mus: “I’m Through with Love”, words and music by Matty Malneck, Gus Kahn, Jerry L...
Léon Morin, Prêtre Adrian Danks March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film This annotation previously appeared in Senses of Cinema, no. 10, November 2000. A selected filmography for producer Carlo Ponti is at the tail ...
The Child Archetype in Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander Arthur Rankin March 2009 CTEQ Annotations on Film Fanny and Alexander (1982 Sweden/France/West Germany 188 mins) Prod Co: Cinematograph Prod: Jörn Donner Dir, Scr: Ingmar Bergman Phot: Sven Nyk...
Adieu, Eric Rohmer Rolando Caputo and Michelle Carey April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Co-editors’ introduction to this commemorative issue on Eric Rohmer.
When Rohmer Was Making ‘Silent Films’ Jackie Raynal with Berenice Reynaud April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Like many of his collaborators, filmmaker Jackie Raynal was present at the Cinémathèque Française’s memorial homage to Rohmer earlier this year. Sparked by the occasion, she looks back at her time with Rohmer in this heartfelt reminiscence.
New Interview with Eric Rohmer Pascal Bonitzer, Jean-Louis Comolli, Serge Daney and Jean Narboni April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers A landmark interview originally published in Cahiers du cinéma in 1970. The journal was in the midst of its Marxist/Leninist era, while Rohmer's Bazinian idealism was vindicated by the success of My Night at Maud’s. A fascinating joust between two entirely opposed views of the cinema
Eric Rohmer’s Place de l’Étoile Luc Moullet April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Fellow critic and filmmaker Luc Moullet gives due consideration to Rohmer’s sketch in Paris vu par… highlighting its fidelity to location.
Secrets and Lies: Three Documentaries About Eric Rohmer Bruce Perkins April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Rohmer was himself a private and reserved individual who, more often that not, shunned the spotlight. Bruce Perkins examines three documentaries on the filmmaker, and concludes that together they offer as vivid and multi-dimensional a portrait of Rohmer as we can wish for.
Eric Rohmer, Educator Alain Hertay April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Former pupil and author of a study on Rohmer, Alain Hertay, offers a reflection on the short films Rohmer made for educational television.
Cinema and the Classroom: Education in the Work of Eric Rohmer Darragh O’Donoghue April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers In both content and form, a strong pedagogical endeavour has informed the work of Rohmer throughout his career. Darragh O’Donoghue discusses this inclination, focusing on some of the earlier shorts and made-for-television documentaries.
The Sign of the Map: Cartographic Reading and Le signe du lion Roland-François Lack April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers The topographical tracings of Rohmer’s feature debut reveal a dual motif: the cartographic and the photographic. Roland-François Lack’s insightful essay meticulously traces the unfolding of this dual motif.
La collectionneuse: Dandies on the Côte d’Azur Jacob Leigh April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Jacob Leigh looks into both the production history and the general cultural influences that inform Rohmer’s first-produced but fourth listed of the feature length ‘Moral Tales’.
Night Moves Around Maud Bruce Jackson April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Arthur Penn’s 1975 detective thriller contains one of the most noted of references to My Night a Maud’s, but as Bruce Jackson argues, it is more than just a token nod.
Choice and Chance: A Dialectic of Morality and Romance in Eric Rohmer’s My Night at Maud’s Constantine Santas April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Love, morality, fidelity and chance crystallised around Pascal’s ‘wager’. Taken by many to be the key film of the ‘Six Moral Tales’ series, the fascination of this film has not receded with time. Constantine Santas unravels the film’s thematics.
The Roving ‘I’: Ambiguous Subjectivity in Eric Rohmer’s ‘Six Moral Tales’ Karen Goodman April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Karen Goodman examines the nature of desire and subjectivity, both male and female, in Rohmer’s first great series of films.
The Tale of Perceval le Gallois and the Young Althusserians Daniel Fairfax April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Infused with artifice, Rohmer’s remarkable adaptation of Chrétien de Troyes’ 12th-century verse poem marked a temporary radical shift in style for the filmmaker. But why? Daniel Fairfax looks for answers in the light of post-68 French film theory.
Love and Desire in Eric Rohmer’s ‘Comedies and Proverbs’ and ‘Tales of the Four Seasons’ Fiona Handyside April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers Much of Rohmer’s ‘80s and ‘90s work concerns the myriad of amorous choices his modern heroines face. Moreover, Fiona Handyside argues, they form a meta-text on the representation of love through the ages.
Following The Law of One’s Own Being: The Crying Woman in The Green Ray Tony McKibbin April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers A discursive exploration on the philosophic significance of the figure of ‘the crying woman’ in this most radiant of films.
Short Take Tributes on Rohmer Various. April 2010 Eric Rohmer Dossier, Feature Articles, Special Dossiers A selection of individual tributes and short essays by Terry Ballard, Adam Bingham, Conall Cash, John Conomos, David F. Coursen, Adrian Danks, Linda Ehrlich, and Wheeler Winston Dixon.
Reworking Romanticism: Paul Cox’s Man of Flowers Victoria Duckett December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers Let us not say, “If only the texts were richer, the witnesses more loquacious, the confessions more detailed!” Don’t we seem today to have everything ...
Paul Cox: An Appreciation Roger Ebert December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers I believe the first film by Paul Cox I saw was Man of Flowers (1983), at the 1984 Chicago Film Festival. The next year, My First Wife (1984). I heard ...
Ardea Paul Carter December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers Ardea cinerea is the scientific name of the Grey Heron found in Europe. In Human Touch (2004) a heron alights for a moment on a stone basin in the gar...
The Persistent Maverick Maria Stratford December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers “I find living itself quite difficult so you may as well make it more difficult by doing something crazy.” - Paul Cox (1) Paul Cox has been making...
A Collaboration Between Two Artists Asher Bilu December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers My work with Paul Cox as Production Designer has been successful, I believe, because we have much in common. On the surface, our backgrounds are simil...
Idiosyncrasy and Film Alexander Garcia Duttmann December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers 1. If I had to choose a motto for Paul Cox’s films, no motto would seem more appropriate to me than the phrase: “For people who like that sort of thin...
To the point on point Chris Haywood December 2009 Paul Cox Dossier, Special Dossiers “Paulus Henrikus Benidictus Cox”: the name triggers images of a character from some historical tale by Umberto Eco. From my experiences of collaborati...
On The Beach (Stanley Kramer, 1959, USA) Deane Williams September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Strike Me Lucky (Ken G. Hall, 1934) Lesley Speed September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Wolf Creek (Greg Mclean, 2005) William “Bill” Blick September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
On the Home Front: Newsfront (Phillip Noyce, 1978) Adrian Danks September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Intervention: Katherine, NT (Julie Nimmo, 2008) Dugald Williamson September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Romper Stomper (Geoffrey Wright, 1992) Lucille Paterson September 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
“Take it all off baby, take it all off” – The Australian Kamasutra: Love Serenade (Shirley Barrett, 1996) Catherine Simpson August 2009 Key Moments in Australian Cinema, Special Dossiers
Moving through the Absence: Viviane Vagh’s Ground Zero NY, 2005 Diana Gonzalez July 2009 Special Dossiers, Spotlight on Viviane Vagh From there, faced with these large frescoes, the feeling of the past being wiped away, of its disappearing and the impression of ruins: of traces of...
Notes on Free Women/Femmes libres Grant Wiedenfeld July 2009 Special Dossiers, Spotlight on Viviane Vagh In a field dominated by intellectual showmanship and hermetic eccentricity, Viviane Vagh’s filmmaking speaks with a voice as familiar as it is poe...
Magical Transformations: A Conversation with Viviane Vagh Justine Gaunt July 2009 Special Dossiers, Spotlight on Viviane Vagh “There are lots of different identities in my genes”, says Viviane Vagh. We speak on the ’phone, she in Paris, me in Yorkshire, but either of us c...
Viviane Vagh and the Poetics of Disappearance, Or: A Portrait of Cinema as a Young Girl Gabriela Trujillo July 2009 Special Dossiers, Spotlight on Viviane Vagh A young girl on a sunny day. Gracefully, she comes and goes. Does she know she’s being filmed? Does she know that, as her image multiplies on the ...
Experimental Fusions: Viviane Vagh’s Beachcombers Installations Romy Sutherland July 2009 Special Dossiers, Spotlight on Viviane Vagh Viviane Vagh’s absorbing installation series, “Beachcombers”, is a celebration of fusion. Vagh explores the meeting points of natural elements, su...
Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Australia John Hughes July 2009 MIFF Premiere Fund/Post-Punk Dossier, Special Dossiers The new feature documentary scheduled for release at the Melbourne International Film Festival this year, Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Austra...
Michel pour mémoire Ewa Rudling April 2009 In Memoriam: Michel Fournier 1945-2008, Special Dossiers In order to understand Michel Fournier’s personality, it helps to know that his silent, five-hour-long, abstract, black-and- white-feature, A quoi...
Remembering Michel Fournier Sally Shafto April 2009 In Memoriam: Michel Fournier 1945-2008, Special Dossiers This past January while in Paris I tried to contact Michel Fournier, Philippe Garrel’s legendary cameraman on six films, from Marie pour Mémoire (...
Bel homme, adieu! Patrick Deval April 2009 In Memoriam: Michel Fournier 1945-2008, Special Dossiers In April 1968, I was at the Hyères Film Festival to present my philosophical short film, Héracilite l’Obscur (1967). Philippe Garrel was there wit...
Adapting Julio Cortázar: Interview with Nicolas Humbert on Lucie et maintenant – Journal nomade Andreas Wutz April 2009 Conversations on Film The film takes as its source Cortázar’s (and wife-photographer Carol Dunlop’s) book about their unusual road trip from Paris to Marseille, titled Autonauts of the Cosmoroute. Humbert discusses the intricate process of adapting such a unique book to the screen.
Il faut tout (re)garder dans son format d’origine: An Interview with Claude Bertemes, Director of the Cinémathèque de la Ville de Luxembourg Christophe Sorro and Rochelle K. Sorro April 2009 Conversations on Film The origins of the Luxembourg Cinémathèque is a fascinating story of cinéphilia in its own right. Claude Bertemes discusses the Cinémathèque’s history, along with issues about curatorship, preservation, and film and technology in the digital age.
The Monologist and the Fighter: An Interview with Bob Rafelson Rainer Knepperges and Franz Müller April 2009 Conversations on Film For any scholar of the so-called New American cinema of the late ’60s and early ’70s, the career of Bob Rafelson makes for an interesting case study. A wide-ranging interview with the director of Five Easy Pieces, Stay Hungry and Mountains of the Moon.
Andrew V. McLaglen: Last of the Hollywood Professionals Wheeler Winston Dixon April 2009 Conversations on Film Andrew V. McLaglen never quite reached the ranks of auteur, but he left his mark in his own way. This career interview offers real insight into the working life of a noted director in the studio era.
“There is no Authenticity in the Cinema!”: An Interview with Andreas Dresen Marco Abel April 2009 Conversations on Film Dresen has directed eight feature films and, as Abel reveals, “Is one of the rare successful contemporary German directors who was born and raised in the GDR [former East Germany] and has managed to adjust to the market-driven rules of filmmaking characteristic of reunified Germany.”
Satan Chic: An Interview with Cult British Horror Director Norman J. Warren Adam Locks April 2009 Conversations on Film Warren, together with his contemporary Pete Walker, were seen as the “two young Turks of British ’70s horror” that took the genre beyond the gothic Hammer studio template. The director of such titles as Her Private Hell, Satan’s Slave and Terror discusses his career.
Dancing Reveals So Much: An Interview with Claire Denis Darren Hughes April 2009 Conversations on Film Denis discusses her recent feature, 35 Shots of Rum, a film inspired by Yasujiro Ozu’s Late Spring, and, as Hughes puts it, “a love story – or, in fact, several love stories – told in small gestures and commonplace tragedies”.
Albert Serra Interviewed on El Cant dels ocells (Birdsong) Darren Hughes April 2009 Conversations on Film Serra places his film dealing with the Three Wise Men in the same tradition of religious films as those of Dreyer, Rossellini and Pasolini.
“Who’s John Ford?”: An Interview with Lisandro Alonso Darren Hughes April 2009 Conversations on Film The Argentine director of the impressive Los Muertos (2004) discusses his impressive recent feature, Liverpool.