Travis Hopson of WETA Around Town, Jason Fraley of WTOP Radio, and I will join celebrated television movie critic Arch Campbell in a panel discussion about the world of movies, both on and off the screen. With Netflix and Amazon expanding into producing or buying first-run features, the lines between television and feature films are becoming more blurred. How does this situation affect commercial film distribution? The once-staid Academy Awards® were embroiled in controversy this year over minority representation. There seem to be more and more superhero-oriented, special-effects blockbusters geared to young men. Given the success of art houses like Landmark Theaters E Street Cinema, why aren’t more quality films being exhibited? The media experts will discuss these issues and many more.
It’s free, at Washington DC’s Landmark E Street Theater, 7 pm tonight. Please join us!
Copyright Nell Minow 2016Well, really, the entire Ebertfest film festival is a highlight. It truly is unlike any other film festival because it creates such a sense of community, in part because people come back year after year and in part because there is one film at a time, in one venue, so there is a sense of shared experience that deepens over time. We laugh together, we cry together, we gasp together, we feel our spirits expand together.
Roger Ebert memorably said that movies are “an empathy machine.” Like all great art, they give us a chance to see through someone else’s eyes — the eyes of the characters, the eyes of the filmmakers — and thus expand our understanding and compassion. This year, there was a panel on creating empathy onscreen. And, following the Brian Wilson film “Love and Mercy,” there was a discussion of challenging the stigma of mental illness with the goals of acceptance, inclusion, and respect. There was a timely (unfortunately, always timely) discussion of the challenge of racial diversity in Hollywood.
It was followed by a panel on gender diversity in Hollywood. I was delighted to be included.
Unquestionably, one of the greatest films of all time is “The Third Man,” from director Carol Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene, starring Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, and the post-WWII ruined city of Vienna.
We saw the gorgeously restored print, and it was followed by a discussion with Angela Allen, who was a “continuity girl” at age 19 when it was filmed and later worked on movies like “The African Queen” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.” She mesmerized us with inside stories.
I had the honor of conducting a Q&A, along with Shawn Edwards and Gil Robertson, with writer/director Kasi Lemmons about her brilliant first film, Eve’s Bayou. She told us about why it was important to her to restore a key character in her director’s cut.
Every year, Ebertfest has a silent film with live musical accompaniment. This year, we had the strange, wild French film, “L’Inhumaine,” with the Alloy Orchestra, and, for the first time a second silent film, the “race” (made by, with, and for African-Americans) movie “Body and Soul,” starring Paul Robeson in his movie debut, playing twin brothers, one kind, one evil. The Chicago Modern Orchestra Project provided an original soundtrack.
Other films included Paul Cox’s “Force of Destiny,” inspired by his own experience as the recipient of a liver transplant, and two stirring documentaries, “Radical Grace,” the story of nuns working for social justice, and the world premiere of Disturbing the Peace, about a group of Israelis and Palestinians working together in the spirit of Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Nelson Mandela, to bring peace to the region. The film got a standing ovation and the filmmakers received the festival’s first Humanitarian Award. Actress Nancy Allen spoke about “Blow-Out,” and directors Guillermo del Toro (“Crimson Peak), Paul Weitz (“Grandma”), and Mark Polish (“Northfork”) presented their films and did Q&A sessions to discuss them.
Thanks to Chaz Ebert, Nate Kohn, Casey Ludwig, John Hecker, and everyone at Ebertfest. See you next year!
Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, now known as Ebertfest, officially begins today, but last night hosted a screening of the delightful “Everybody Wants Some!!” Here’s the Q&A that followed, led off by Chaz Ebert.
I’ll be there tomorrow! I’m looking forward to a great lineup of films, and am thrilled and honored to be moderating the Q&A with director Kasi Lemmons after a showing of her brilliant film, Eve’s Bayou.
ReelAbilities Film Festival in New York Highlights Films About and Made By People With Disabilities
Posted on March 10, 2016 at 7:30 am
The 8th Annual ReelAbilities Film Festival kicks off today in New York City at the JCC Manhattan. Oscar-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo will be in attendance to introduce the festival and opening night film MARGARITA, WITH A STRAW.
The ReelAbilities Film Festival is the nation’s only film festival dedicated entirely to presenting award-winning films by and about people with disabilities. Too many mainstream films overlook the disabled community entirely or cast able-bodied actors to play them, or, worst of all, show them as one-dimensional. These films are not just inclusive; they are wise and insightful in exploring the humanity and complexity of people with disabilities. They are not just there to inspire or be inspired; they are there like any other movie character — to fall in love, to have sex, to be right, to be wrong, to be angry, to be scared, to be funny. The subjects of documentaries in the film include disabled veterans, gifted children with learning disabilities, a one-legged mountain climber, and a boy with autism who has an unusual ability to identify the tones of wind chimes.
Interview: Ilya Tovbis on the DC Jewish Film Festival
Posted on January 31, 2016 at 3:18 pm
Ilya Tovbis is director of the Washington DC Jewish Film Festival, which will take place from February 24-March 6, 2016. In an interview, he talked about what it means to be a “Jewish movie.” “It’s on one hand easy and on the other hand a much more complex question. The easy answer for us is that some aspect of the content has to be about the Jewish experience and that could be cultural or historical, it could be character driven but it has be something that has even if not the central characters of or the central theme of the film the film will not be the same without that element. So sometimes obviously it’s on the nose and very clear and it’s entirely about let’s say “Shtisel,” which is about an Orthodox family in Jerusalem, very clearly black hat Jewish through and through. And then there are other stories. This year we have a whole sidebar of films around artists and many of them are Jewish in a more cultural or secular way and perhaps not even the main driver of the art form they are making but without their Jewishness and Jewish identities that they bring to the artwork.
Tovbis said they reviewed around 1300 films, and, as happens every year, some themes emerge. This year happened to have several outstanding films about artists, so that became one of the categories selected for special attention. “The artist category is pretty broad, so we have dancers, we do visual artists, we have poets, we have some musical artists, graphic, novels, so it’s really a bit all over the map.” Another focus this year is LGBTQ films. “So something else is important to us and I think you would find this at most major Jewish festivals is a diversity of mission and so for us the notion of expanding and challenging what the Jewish identity is is paramount in everything we do. It’s really the core of what we do whether we’re looking at Diaspora Jews or visions of a Jewish identity that don’t conform to perhaps the norm that everyone would put out there.
Some of the films are perhaps more of what you would expect in LGBT lineup and other ones are more unusual. ‘Marzipan Flowers‘ is a sort of fun transgender relationship doesn’t really conform, even the way it’s made, very low-budget. I’m very excited to share that. We are presenting most of the films with some form of discussion though sometimes it’s more focused on other content in the film, sometimes it’s more focused on LGBTQ content. So we’re going to have with us for example for ‘The Good Son’ the director and producer Shirley Berkowitz. We will be having a professor speaking about “Sunday Bloody Sunday” because are looking at that in light of John Schlesinger’s entire career. Barney Frank is going to be here with his husband as well to discuss the documentary, ‘Compared to What: The Improbable Journey of Barney Frank.’ The discussion will be more about pushing legislative agenda and politics. This is Washington!”
One film of particular interest on the schedule is “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” based on the book by Amos Oz. It is the writing and directing debut of Oscar-winner Natalie Portman, who also stars.
“It’s a lovely film based a major pillar of modern Israeli literature, a very personal tale that deals with his mother which Natalie Portman plays in the film. There’s some elements where she takes liberties with the original material but it does stay pretty close to it and I think it’s a lovely film. I think there is some incredible assuredness. Natalie Portman has been around show business for a long time so even though it’s her first time directorial effort I think she takes a lot of risks. The story focuses on a mother making up these sort of fanciful tales in order to escape a bleaker reality which she finds herself in both in terms of a personal depression and what’s happening more broadly nationally as the state of Israel comes into a more modern being and then also she has some issues with her husband and so a lot of the tales are sort of interwoven with these really almost magical realism shots and stories and I think the way thats done is just exquisite and very gentle in the film.”
The festival’s visionary award will be presented to the actor Armin Mueller-Stahl, with a screening of his film, “Avalon,” written and directed by Barry Levinson, based on his memories of his family in 1940’s Baltimore. “Most of the event is really centered around a lengthy Q and A on stage really about the full body of work.” Another highlight is a musical program, a live musical performance that is a musical tribute to the jazzy soundtracks of animator Max Fleischer’s surreal, wacky and Yiddish-inflected Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons of the 1930’s. Tobvis says, “It’s a really fun zany kind of insane project I am curious myself to see.”
. It is the writing and directing debut of Oscar-winner Natalie Portman, who also stars.