Category Archive: Uncategorized

1. 1970: The Year In Auteur Cinema

   September 30, 2020 1:36 pm Leave a Comment

   Hindsight is a tremendous aid to critical thinking. And fifty years of it allows for a great deal of critical thinking about any art form – even a bit of overthinking, if we’re honest about it. But that’s part of the fun of auteur cinema.

   With the benefit of the five succeeding decades of reflection we can see 1970 as a fairly extraordinary year for auteur cinema with some of the old lions roaring for the last time, the new guard roughly shoving its way into the arena, and what might be termed as the sophomore class continuing to produce work of a high standard.

   For purposes of this list, we are including some auteurs that the Big Daddy of auteurism Andrew Sarris might have classed as “Expressive Esoterica” or even “Lightly Likable” among the pantheon.

   Here is an inevitably incomplete list of some of 1970’s auteur cinema offerings. Just imagine checking the newspaper every Friday to see what movies are opening and seeing some of these. We have noted some of the films that are streaming on widely accessible services as of press time.

   Robert Aldrich

   TOO LATE THE HERO

   

   Robert Altman

   M*A*S*H

   BREWSTER McCLOUD

   Roy Andersson

   A SWEDISH LOVE STORY

   Michelangelo Antonioni

   ZABRISKIE POINT

   Michael Apted

   7 PLUS 7 (The second film in Apted’s ongoing 7 UP series)

   Dario Argento

   THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE

   

   Hal Ashby

   THE LANDLORD

   Bernardo Bertolucci

   THE CONFORMIST

   THE SPIDER’S STRATEGEM

   John Boorman

   LEO THE LAST (Amazon Prime)

   Mel Brooks

   THE TWELVE CHAIRS

   Luis Buñuel

   TRISTANA

   

   Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg

   PERFORMANCE

   John Cassavetes

   HUSBANDS (Amazon Prime)

   Claude Chabrol

   THE BREACH

   LE BOUCHER

   Chang Cheh

   VENGEANCE

   THE WANDERING SWORDSMAN

   

   Věra Chytilová

   FRUIT OF PARADISE

   Sergio Corbucci

   COMPANEROS

   Roger Corman

   BLOODY MAMA

   GAS-S-S-S (Amazon Prime)

   Costa-Gavras

   THE CONFESSION

   David Cronenberg

   CRIMES OF THE FUTURE

   

   Ossie Davis

   COTTON COMES TO HARLEM

   Jacques Demy

   DONKEY SKIN (Criterion Channel)

   Brian De Palma

   DIONYSUS IN ’69

   HI MOM!

   Jacques Deray

   BORSALINO

   Vittorio De Sica

   THE GARDEN OF THE FINZI-CONTINIS

   SUNFLOWER

   

   Blake Edwards

   DARLING LILI

   Rainer Werner Fassbinder

   THE AMERICAN SOLDIER

   GODS OF THE PLAGUE

   WHY DOES HERR R. RUN AMOK?

   Jesús Franco

   COUNT DRACULA

   EUGENIE…

   Georges Franju

   THE DEMISE OF FATHER MOURET

   John Frankenheimer

   I WALK THE LINE (Amazon Prime)

   William Friedkin

   THE BOYS IN THE BAND

   

   Ruy Guerra

   OF GODS & THE UNDEAD

   Howard Hawks

   RIO LOBO

   Werner Herzog

   EVEN DWARFS STARTED SMALL

   John Huston

   THE KREMLIN LETTER

   

   Shohei Imamura

   HISTORY OF POSTWAR JAPAN AS TOLD BY A BAR HOSTESS

   Alejandro Jodorowsky

   EL TOPO

   Phil Karlson

   HORNET’S NEST

   Krystof Kieslowski

   FACTORY (Criterion Channel)

   Akira Kurosawa

   DODES’KA-DEN (Criterion Channel)

   David Lean

   RYAN’S DAUGHTER

   

   David Lynch

   THE GRANDMOTHER (Criterion Channel)

   Jerry Lewis

   ONE MORE TIME

   WHICH WAY TO THE FRONT?

   Barbara Loden

   WANDA

   Joseph Losey

   FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE

   THE GO-BETWEEN (Amazon Prime)

   Sidney Lumet

   KING: A FILMED RECORD… MONTGOMERY TO MEMPHIS

   Joseph L. Mankiewicz

   THERE WAS A CROOKED MAN…

   Maysles Brothers & Charlotte Zwerin

   GIMME SHELTER

   

   Paul Mazursky

   ALEX IN WONDERLAND

   Jean-Pierre Melville

   LE CERCLE ROUGE

   Russ Meyer

   BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS

   Vincente Minnelli

   ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER

   Mario Monicelli

   BRANCALEONE AT THE CROSSROADS

   Mike Nichols

   CATCH 22 (Amazon Prime)

   

   Nagisa Oshima

   THE MAN WHO LEFT HIS WILL ON FILM (Criterion Channel)

   Sam Peckinpah

   THE BALLAD OF CABLE HOGUE

   Arthur Penn

   LITTLE BIG MAN (Amazon Prime)

   Frank & Eleanor Perry

   DIARY OF A MAD HOUSEWIFE

   Elio Petri

   INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN UNDER SUSPICION

   Otto Preminger

   TELL ME THAT YOU LOVE ME JUNIE MOON

   

   Satyajit Ray

   DAYS & NIGHTS IN THE FOREST

   Carol Reed

   FLAP

   Jean Renoir

   THE LITTLE THEATRE OF JEAN RENOIR

   Martin Ritt

   THE GREAT WHITE HOPE

   

   Alain Robbe-Grillet

   EDEN & AFTER

   Éric Rohmer

   CLAIRE’S KNEE

   Richard Rush

   GETTING STRAIGHT

   Ken Russell

   THE MUSIC LOVERS

   Carlos Saura

   THE GARDEN OF DELIGHTS

   Claude Sautet

   THE THINGS OF LIFE

   Martin Scorsese

   STREET SCENES 1970

   

   Jerry Schatzberg

   PUZZLE OF A DOWNFALL CHILD

   Volker Schlondorff

   BAAL (Criterion Channel)

   Don Siegel

   TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARA

   Jerzy Skolimowski

   THE ADVENTURES OF GERARD

   DEEP END

   François Truffaut

   BED & BOARD

   THE WILD CHILD (Criterion Channel)

   Agnes Varda

   THE BLACK PANTHERS (Criterion Channel)

   

   Melvin Van Peebles

   WATERMELON MAN (Amazon Prime)

   Andrzej Wajda

   LANDSCAPE AFTER THE BATTLE

   Billy WIlder

   THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

   William Wyler

   THE LIBERATION OF L.B. JONES (Amazon Prime)

   

   Karel Zeman

   ON THE COMET

2. Watch This: Marcello Mastroianni Turns on the Charm for Letterman, 1987

   September 28, 2020 11:31 am Leave a Comment

   Marcello Mastroianni (born September 28, 1924) was one of the great actors of the screen and an international superstar for decades.

   For Americans, who saw many of his best films during the art cinema import boom that began in the late ’50s, he simultaneously embodied a kind of swaggering screen presence that was no longer de rigueur for Hollywood leading men, as well as a sort of built-in ironic critique of the pose. The whole effect, when transposed over his natural charm and good looks, was devastatingly effective and he was, for a time (to the great annoyance of those poor employees who had to change the letters on theater marquees) a potent box office force in the U.S.

   Occasionally, his American fanbase dictated that he visit the New World, which he did from time to time without ever really grabbing more than a tiny bit of the language. Somehow, this added to his already considerable appeal, as you will see from this television interview with David Letterman. Mastroianni’s command of English is very tentative, but he gets his point across quite well, and the interview has several big laughs.

   Divertirsi!

3. Watch This: A Super Awkward 1955 Educational Film on How to Vote

   September 25, 2020 10:27 am Leave a Comment

   Jean-Luc Godard once said that all Americans are good actors. We’re guessing that he missed the following educational short film on how to vote from 1955. Only a portion of it features dialogue, but that portion is certainly worth the (free) cost of admission. It’s always curious to see how people behave differently when a camera lens is pointed in their direction, and for some reason zombified and stilted seems to be the default.

   Another interesting aspect here is the enormous CITY OF LOST CHILDREN-style voting machine that was, no doubt, the state of the art at the time. This, and the whole film, are reminders about how much easier it is to vote in America (for most of us anyway).

   Wherever you are, don’t forget to register or check up on your voter registration, make sure it’s current, and make a plan to vote this fall.

4. Watch This: Behind The Scenes with John Woo on his First American Movie

   September 22, 2020 1:45 pm Leave a Comment

   Back in 1992, Hong Kong director John Woo (born on September 22, 1946) was still a bit of a cult figure among adventurous American cinephiles. It wasn’t until he made his first Hollywood films HARD TARGET (1993), BROKEN ARROW (1995) and FACE OFF (1997) that he became well known to mass audiences as an action film director par excellence.

   Here’s a fascinating video time capsule of the period in 1992 when Woo was making HARD TARGET, a reasonably modest-budgeted Jean Claude Van Damme vehicle. You can see the level of ambition in the way Woo sets up the shots. The technical crew is shown marveling at the number of firearm rounds he uses (around 50,000) and there’s a great subtle moment – at 13:07 – when the pyrotechnics guy asks Woo if he wants to set some stunt men on fire. Woo nods serenely, as if he’s just been asked if he wants cream and sugar with his coffee.

   Throughout the piece, we hear from Quentin Tarantino, Walter Hill, Sam Raimi and others about their admiration for Woo’s skill and inventiveness. It’s a pretty enjoyable little video. Enjoy.

5. Toronto International Film Fest 2020 Highlights, Part 1: Lars Nilsen

   September 21, 2020 4:09 pm Leave a Comment

   AFS Lead Programmer Lars Nilsen shares his highlights from this year’s virtual Toronto International Film Festival. Stay tuned for Head of Film & Creative Media Holly Herrick’s picks coming soon.

   The experience of film festivals for a professional programmer or buyer is usually a pretty intensive one – building a plan of must-see titles, a backup slate of might-sees, etc. Then there’s the matter of scheduling those all-important 5 or so screenings per day, getting from venue to venue, finding time for meals, sleep and meetings with people you might not get a chance to see at any other time during the year. The upside, for programmers at least, is that we get an opportunity to map out a decent portion of our upcoming first-run titles, and sometimes we can even – over a few beers, perhaps – get assurances from film distributors of advance bookings.

   The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the best fests in the world, because it is international in scope and has a large number of intelligently-selected titles on offer – and thankfully most of the press and industry screenings are concentrated within a four block radius – no small consideration. Taking all of this into account, TIFF is really a model of the well-functioning international film festival.

   Though TIFF was mounted as an in-person fest this year, it was done so on an extremely limited basis. Fortunately, a virtual version of the fest was offered. Obviously, this can’t compete with the experience of watching the films on a big screen, noting the audiences’ reactions, and discussing them afterwards with professional peers, but it’s better than no fest at all. So, with the aid of my laptop, my TV and a long HDMI cable, my living room became a TIFF venue this year.

   Though there were fewer titles on offer this year, the accessibility was much more forgiving. Each movie is available to watch for a 48 hour window, which makes for much easier scheduling. I did find that I missed the spartan life of fest-going, but there’s no accounting for taste, I suppose.

   Here, in no particular order, are some of the most interesting titles I caught during this year’s virtual TIFF. Hopefully these will all receive American theatrical distribution so we can bring them to the Cinema and/or our Virtual platform.

   

   NIGHT OF THE KINGS

   (2020, D. Philippe Lacôte)
   From Côte d’Ivoire comes this film about a young man incarcerated in an unbelievably overcrowded, labyrinthine prison called La MACA. Almost as soon as he arrives, the dying cell block boss, the fearsome Blackbeard, names him the new “Roman” – the term in the prison for storyteller or griot. As it happens, the role is a very important one in the prison, as the vicarious stories, which blend myth and real life experiences, are an essential part of the lives of these hopeless men. There’s much more, but this is just the unique jumping-off point of this unusual and recommended film.

   

   THE DISCIPLE

   (2020, D. Chaitanya Tamhane)
   This decades-spanning narrative follows a young man whose love of North Indian classical music, instilled by his father, leads him to devote his life to performing, teaching and preserving the art form, even as it becomes seemingly less and less culturally relevant and remunerative to practice this art form in its pure incarnation. This film is a true immersion in North Indian classical vocal music – we hear several long pieces uninterrupted and the philosophy behind the music is explored widely. Fundamentally, the themes apply to any art form, and in fact any discipline. This is a film that cuts deep and rewards a close viewing.

   

   LIMBO

   (2020, D. Ben Sharrock)
   On a cold, relentlessly windy island in the Scottish Hebrides, a number of refugees from different regions are interned together while their fates are being decided by bureaucrats. In the face of the hostile climate conditions, the crushing boredom of the island, and the well-meaning but inept attempts at education by the local social work contingent, these men find common ground and find ways to cope with their individual traumas. A surprisingly funny movie, and one that does not spell everything out for the viewer but instead allows us to make our own discoveries about the characters.

   

   DOWNSTREAM TO KINSHASA

   (2020, D. Dieudo Hamadi)
   A truly fascinating doc about a group of wounded and maimed war victims in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who, 20 years after suffering their injuries, band together to demand redress and compensation from the government. We see them make their plan for the long river journey to the capital Kinshasa, then we accompany them on the harrowing journey as they crowd the improvised flotilla from stem to stern. Throughout the journey, we learn more about some of the group, and their stories of enormous persistence in the face of poverty and adversity.

   

   76 DAYS

   (2020, D. Hao Wu, Weixi Chen, Anonymous)
   This gripping, suspenseful doc takes us behind the quarantine barriers in Wuhan, China as the first stages of the COVID-19 pandemic take hold of the region. The level of access to emergency rooms and intensive care facilities here is jaw-dropping. We watch the health-care workers cope heroically with heavily overcrowded facilities as they battle a disease that at the time was only dimly understood. There is tragedy, there is relief when patients begin to recover, and there are even some good laughs thanks to an incalcitrant old fisherman – whom everyone refers to as Grandpa – who resists every attempt to confine him in his room. Completely fascinating.

   

   FAUNA

   (2020 D. Nicolás Pereda)
   I’m not sure how many other people will like this one, a narrative about a family reunion that takes place in a rundown motel in a mining town in Mexico, but I loved it. The film is divided into scenes in which Pereda’s corps of talented actors ratchet ordinary situations into paroxysms of awkwardness over such situations as a borrowed bath towel or the sale of a pack of cigarettes. It’s the kind of humor that you could never diagram. I don’t know why it works, and it certainly won’t work for everyone, but it sure works for me.

6. WATCH THIS: Breaking Down the Brilliance of Bong Joon Ho

   September 14, 2020 3:15 pm Leave a Comment

   Today we celebrate the birthday of one of our favorite modern filmmakers, Bong Joon-Ho (born Sept. 14, 1969). While Bong only recently became a household name thanks to last year’s unprecedented Oscar win, his cinematic mastery goes back decades (which is no secret to those who have kept up with AFS’s programming over the years). As a storyteller, Bong Joon-ho has refined his genre influences to such a degree that his own filmmaking transcends the categorization. How does he accomplish this? A few years ago, the meticulously analytical video essay series Every Frame A Painting took on that very inquiry, producing a trio of essays that break down a few of his many subtle techniques, and their powerful psychological effects. Enjoy!

7. Watch This: Richard Linklater’s Jewels in the Wasteland Home Edition

   September 9, 2020 4:35 am Leave a Comment

   (UPDATED SEPTEMBER 9, 2020)

   With many of us home-bound and stuck indoors indefinitely, we wanted to share some film recommendations to help you pass the time. Where better to start than one of AFS’s most popular series, Jewels in the Wasteland, curated and hosted by AFS Founder and Artistic Director Richard Linklater to spotlight some of the best overlooked films of the 1980s.

   Below you’ll find links to Linklater’s intros and Q&A discussions on films that can all be streamed via the Criterion Channel, including LOST IN AMERICA, JOJO DANCER, VAGABOND, MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS, L’ARGENT, STRANGER THAN PARADISE, FANNY & ALEXANDER, EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF, and WINGS OF DESIRE.

   Linklater also appears in the documentary ALSO STARRING AUSTIN, which is now available for free on YouTube.

   For an archive of all of our Jewels in the Wasteland films and Q&A recordings, visit our Youtube page.

   Albert Brooks’ LOST IN AMERICA

   Eric Rohmer’s SUMMER (LA RAYON VERT)

   Richard Pryor’s JOJO DANCER

    

   Agnes Varda’s VAGABOND

   Paul Schrader’s MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS

   Robert Bresson’s L’ARGENT

   Jim Jarmusch’s STRANGER THAN PARADISE

   Ingmar Bergman’s FANNY & ALEXANDER

   Jean-Luc Godard’s EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF

   Wim Wenders’ WINGS OF DESIRE

    

8. Meet the 2020 AFS Grant Recipients

   September 4, 2020 12:56 pm Leave a Comment

   The AFS Grant is at the heart of AFS filmmaker support programs. Since 1996, the Grant has nurtured the leading edge of Texas’ creative community by providing cash grants to emerging artists, with a focus on filmmakers who are underrepresented in the industry. This year the grant for feature filmmakers was expanded to provide much-needed resources for artists pushing to get projects off the ground, and finished, amidst the pandemic.

   The AFS Grant has provided critical support to some filmmakers who became defining voices in contemporary independent film, including the Zellner Brothers, Kat Candler and David Lowery, among others. It’s a safe bet that in each new class of AFS grant recipients, there are a few artists whose work you’ll come to love. So with that in mind, meet this year’s talented roster of feature film grant recipients (the short film grant just opened, so stay tuned for part 2 later this year).

   If you’re a festival-goer, you might have seen one of Arlington, TX-based Lizette Barrera’s award-winning shorts over the years at SXSW, Cine Las Americas, and Women Texas Film Festival. Her 2016 film MOSCA (FLY) is currently in distribution with HBO. This year’s AFS Grant will help her adapt her short CHICLE, which was nominated for the 2019 SXSW Grand Jury Award, into a feature film. You can watch the trailer for CHICLE below.

   Ya’Ke Smith has been featured on NPR, CNN, HLN, Ebony Online, Indiewire, Filmmaker Magazine and Shadow&Act. His short DAWN was picked up by HBO. Most recently his powerful short DEAR BRUH: A EULOGY. A BAPTISM. A CALL TO ACTION. gained national attention in the aftermath of George’s Floyd’s killing and the national movement that has followed.

   Kim Tran’s autobiographical dramedy ZOE AND HAHN played at SXSW last year and was praised by shortoftheweek.com as “a fresh and pleasurable addition to the genre of mother/daughter generational and cultural conflict.” Now, with the support of the AFS Grant she will adapt her hit short into a feature length film.

   If you’ve been keeping up with our recent programming, you are likely familiar with Annie Silverstein’s AFS-supported drama BULL, which played Cannes last year before coming to our virtual cinema this summer. Prior to that, Silverstein directed the Cannes Cinefondation-winning short SKUNK. Her next AFS-supported feature is called A TIME, A PLACE.

   Solomon Onita’s TAZMANIAN DEVIL stars Abraham Attah (BEASTS OF NO NATION) and is produced by Birdman and Benny Boom. This powerful film tells the story of a Nigerian immigrant struggling to find balance between his new life in a fraternity and his estranged family. The grant will support the film’s distribution phase, so keep an eye out for TAZMANIAN DEVIL release details soon.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmX6SuWvuyM

   Angela Chen is a prolific director who has directed dozens of short films in the last decade. The AFS Grant will support her first move into feature fiction, FLY GIRL, which tells the story of a 42-year-old, recently-divorced Vietnamese American woman who joins a 90s-inspired hip-hop dance team. FLY GIRL is written by Christine Hoang, whose script was selected as a 2019 Sundance Second Rounder and a Top 20 Finalist in the Austin Film Festival’s Pitch Finale. Watch the trailer for Chen’s last short film, OUR HOME HERE, below.

   Austin-based Shadi Qutob’s short BASTARDS, which played last year’s Austin Film Festival, explored the prevalence of anti-blackness in the Arab community. Qutob’s new feature project, FANDOM, explores a different facet of the Arab identity, following a Pakistani Woman who garners unexpected attention when her fan art goes viral, and then faces the backlash from the fan community’s toxic side. Watch BASTARDS below.

   Clint Bentley wrote and co-produced the acclaimed Texas-made thriller TRANSPECOS, and was flagged as one of 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2017 by MovieMaker Magazine. TRANSPECOS is now streaming on Hulu, Prime and Vudu. With the support of the AFS Grant, Bentley will make his feature directing debut with the drama JOCKEY, which expands upon the short 9 RACES.

   Kelly Daniela Norris is another emerging filmmaker to get the attention of Filmmaker Magazine, who selected her as one of 25 New Faces of Film in 2016. Her 2013 feature film, SOMBRAS DE AZUL, is available to watch via our own Lone Star Slate streaming program. Her last feature, NAKOM (streaming on Prime), was nominated for a Best First Feature award at the Berlin International Film Festival and a Film Independent Spirit Awards John Cassavettes Award.

   Robie Flores is a journalist and documentarian living in Eagle Pass, TX. Her doc feature THE IN BETWEEN will capture coming-of-age moments among residents along the U.S.-Mexico border. Her journalism work has appeared on CNN, Bloomberg, Teen Vogue, Fusion, Allure and i-d Vice.

   

   Marfa-based director Margaret Crow’s project will follow a group of teenagers at a high school 10 miles from the US/Mexico border during their senior year and as they navigate what lies beyond. Her last feature, JACKSON (named for the Mississippi city with the state’s last abortion clinic), won an Emmy for Best Social Issue Film, and was hailed by Criterion Cast as “easily one of the year’s strongest documentaries.”

    

   Christian Vasquez is a Dallas-based documentary filmmaker and journalist whose work has been featured by The Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, KERA, CBS 11, and has been screened at Dallas International Film Festival and the Dallas VideoFest. His forthcoming documentary feature explores the power of storytelling, and its capacity to mend, through the work of Dr. Njoki McElroy, a master storyteller, educator, and activist.

   Jeremy Rodgers hails from Taylor, TX, and his debut documentary feature, FROM THE GROUND UP, follows a family of Palestinian farmers in the West Bank and their decades-long legal struggle to retain their ancestral farm. Finding creative, nonviolent means of resistance, the family embody their motto: “We Refuse to be Enemies.”

   

   Ray Santisteban’s last documentary feature, THE FIRST RAINBOW COALITION, examined the influential effort to unite disparate racial groups during the civil rights movement in the 1960s and 70s. The doc debuted on PBS’s Independent Lens series earlier this year and is now available via PBS.

   Alejandro Sescosse and Anna Veselova’s TLALOC is a phantasmagorical romance of digital illusions set in the near future where the threat to human life is existential worldwide due to the slow collapse of natural ecosystems. (Below, the filmmakers at the premiere of INVENTION OF NATURE at Festival de Cine Radical, Cinemateca Boliviana)

   

9. Watch this: Robert Rodriguez Revisits The Mexico Trilogy at AFS Cinema

   August 25, 2020 4:24 pm Leave a Comment

   Robert Rodriguez’s career arc is the kind of thing you can’t make up. As a young, broke indie filmmaker, he took a skeleton crew to a rural town in Mexico with seven grand in his pocket (half of which he’d earned as a guinea pig in pharmaceutical trials) to make what he considered a practice film that he expected nobody to see. Instead, he wound up creating a minor miracle of low budget action that caught the attention of Columbia Pictures. This auspicious debut, EL MARIACHI, was the first installment of his now beloved Mexico Trilogy. Today, August 25, 2020, marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the trilogy’s second film, DESPERADO, a much higher-budget affair that gave Antonio Banderas his first American lead role, further cementing his status as a bonafide Hollywood star. From there, Rodriguez never took his foot off the gas, prolifically churning out blockbuster after blockbuster and innovating at the boundaries of modern filmmaking technology. Rodriguez’s willingness to dive head-first into seemingly impossible projects has made for some unbelievable adventures in filmmaking. A couple years ago, we had the great pleasure of hearing some of them when we hosted the Austin-based legend in conjunction with a marathon screening of the Mexico Trilogy. Today, we’re thrilled to share the exhilarating conversation with you.

    

    

10. Streamers: Austin Pride Month Picks from OUTsider Fest’s Artistic Director Curran Nault

    August 20, 2020 12:33 pm Leave a Comment

    In honor of Austin Pride Month, we asked Curran Nault, author of Queercore: Queer Punk Media Subculture and the artistic director of Austin’s OUTsider Fest, to tell us about his journey with Queer cinema and make some home viewing recommendations. Read on for some exciting and unexpected streaming suggestions.

    Compiling this list of LGBTQIA (“queer”) film recommendations, I am overcome with the options. Coming of age in the 1980s and early 90s, seeing myself on screen was a rare, but cherished, reality. Today, there are gems galore. If you are new to the wild world of queer cinema, I suggest starting with some celebrated contemporaries: TANGERINE (Sean Baker, 2015), MOONLIGHT (Barry Jenkins, 2016), A FANTASTIC WOMAN (Sebastiá Lelio, 2017), PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (Céline Sciamma, 2019) (side note scoop: Sciamma’s less overtly queer GIRLHOOD just might be the best film of the last decade)…Or, you might take an arthouse adventure with some queer classics: PARIS IS BURNING (Jennie Livingston, 1990), ORLANDO (Sally Potter, 1992), MA VIE EN ROSE (Alain Berliner, 1997), ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER (Pedro Almodovar, 1999), TROPICAL MALADY (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2004) (call OUT: TROPICAL MALADY is wild and weird in the richest senses of these words—an immersive feast for film fans)…And, don’t forget all the queerdos in the indie/underground, like: DYKETACTICS (Barbara Hammer, 1974), LOOKING FOR LANGSTON (Isaac Julien, 1989), NO SKIN OFF MY ASS (Bruce LaBruce, 1991), the shorts of Sadie Benning…

    BUT, among the best of the bunch are these five flaming films. Occasionally overlooked, these are deep cuts with outlaw aesthetics and renegade hearts:

    

    BORN IN FLAMES

    1983, Lizzie Borden (Kanopy)

    In a future society (that looks a lot like our present reality), fierce (BIPOC) feminists band together in badassery to unleash their collective power against an onslaught of racist, patriarchal, capitalist [insert profanity of your choice]. Radical cinema at its most unruly, empowering and, sadly, still relevant. Tune in and get ready for the revolution.

    

    TONGUES UNTIED

    1989, Marlon Riggs (Kanopy)

    Before “intersectionality” was a buzzword, Marlon Riggs was schooling us all with the powerful poetics of this unconventional and affective documentary. With a pulse of the personal, TONGUES UNTIED delves deep into the traumas and joys that come with being black and gay in the US. This film awakened my conscience on first viewing and has continued to spark my soul with each subsequent screening.

    

    Shorts of GB Jones

    1990s, GB Jones (VTape)

    Wild, wacky and queer as punk, GB Jones is the brilliant brain behind queercore: a queer punk movement that ignited an outlaw community of creative queer castaways. Jones’ shorts are hard to find (you can purchase them via VTape). But, if they come to a screen near you, get that punk ass of yours out the door and into that theater seat! I am especially fond of THE TROUBLEMAKERS (1990), a scrappy tale of surveillance and shoplifting, and The YOYO GANG (1992), a DIY delight in which two girl gangs—the “Yo-Yo Gang” and the “Skateboard Bitches”—wage war. That is, until they realize it’s the sexist dudes who are the true devils.

    

    THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS

    2005, Auraeus Solito (Amazon)

    This film, like its tender-hearted lead, is a lovable diamond in the rough. A coming-of-age tale set in an impoverished borough of Manila, young girlyboy Maximo comes into their queerness with the support of a fugitive family and a local policeman—despite the fact that the family and the policeman are at odds, on opposite sides of the law. Heartbreaking and heartfelt, this one’s a treasure to keep real close.

    

    I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE

    2007, Tsai Ming-liang (Amazon, DVD)

    Tsai Ming-liang. I mean, Tsai Ming-liang! This master of mood, affective isolation and stretches of silence that will burrow into your brain is, in my opinion, the un(der)sung cinematic genius of our time. All of his films are worthy of your watch. But this one is, perhaps, the queerest on the surface (although, really, all of his films are queer, in ways both blatant and indirect). I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE is ostensibly about a man who comes to take care of a migrant day labor that has been beaten and left in the streets. But, like all Tsai’s films, it’s really about the profound alienations and absurdities of life itself. My queen!

    BONUS:

    

    CALL HER GANDA

    2018, PJ Raval (AFS)

    Best for last? Well, I should let you decide, as this one’s by my boo. So, yes, I’m biased. But, yes, of course it’s the best. And, extra “bonus,” you can screen it via AFS! This unsettling, but galvanizing, documentary details the 2014 murder of transgender Filipina Jennifer Laude by a US marine—and follows the fearless women who demand justice after her death.

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    PS – While I am on the subject of shameless plugs, I have an essay about CALL HER GANDA coming out in the January, 2021 edition of Transgender Studies Quarterly. I have written about MA VIE EN ROSE and THE BLOSSOMING OF MAXIMO OLIVEROS in the anthology, Mediated Girlhoods. And, my book, Queercore: Queer Punk Media Subculture, covers the work of GB Jones and Bruce LaBruce, among others.

11. Exclusive: Watch A Restored Cult Animated Short from Marcell Jankovics

    August 17, 2020 1:20 pm Leave a Comment

    There is nothing quite like the mind-bending animations of Marcell Jankovics, a master artist who has been overlooked outside of his native Hungary for far too long. Jankovics’ films bustle with a fluid, expressionistic energy that, combined with vibrating colors and continuously shape-shifting characters, produces nothing less than a lysergic effect. For the highest dose of this mind-altering style, look to the Hungarian origin myth-inspired SON OF THE WHITE MARE (1981), which you may recall was featured on the cover of our pre-pandemic programming calendar at the beginning of this year. Now, thanks to Arbelos Films, you can take this immersive audio-visual trip beginning this Friday, August 21st in our Virtual Cinema – in a truly astonishing 4K restoration.

    To celebrate this long-anticipated release, Arbelos Films has provided AFS with an exclusive online premiere of their new restoration of Jankovics’ 1974 short that earned an Oscar nomination. SISYPHUS is an excellent introduction to Jankovics’ flowing animation style. With every pulsating brushstroke, the mythical struggle of Sisyphus becomes viscerally tangible. While this stripped-down, 2 minute black and white film foregoes the vivid colors and expansive visuals that define his features, the short is a minimalist masterclass in the expressive potential of the animated medium.

    Without further ado, enjoy SISYPHUS, then grab your munchies and head to our Virtual Cinema on August 21st for SON OF THE WHITE MARE.

     

12. Watch This: The Cutting Edge of Special Effects… In 1984

    August 12, 2020 11:37 am Leave a Comment

    We find ourselves going down odd little rabbit-holes of movie history sometimes, and it can be pretty rewarding. Like in the case of this well-made, though appealingly cheesy, hour-long doc about movie effects – both visual and sound – from 1984. This period was an important time in the development of these effects, with many technicians still in the business who had gained a mastery of optically printed compositions, and a new generation just beginning to grasp the possibilities that digital technology offered.

    It’s amusing in hindsight to see how much time is spent with the makers of ANDROID (1982), an ambitious, but not especially well-executed sci-fi movie. The whole presentation is interesting now in ways that were not necessarily obvious in 1984. The workspaces, the laborious techniques that are now achieved with the push of a computer key, in many ways, it is most fascinating as the end of an era rather than the beginning of one.

    Enjoy.