Selected Shorts: Walerian Borowcyck & the Franco-Polish Space Program
While the US and the Soviets were busy using Third Reich rocket technology to send jocks into space, the joint French/Polish Space Program were deploying creativity and imagination to create this film, which may very well prove to have benefits which outweigh those of the more well known space programs. Walerian Borowcyck is an interesting […]
Polish Films All Weekend In Austin, Including Part Two of the Scorsese-Selected Polish Classics
An important reminder from AFS Director Of Programming Chale Nafus: The 9th annual Austin Polish Film Festival opens tonight (Oct 16) and runs through Sunday at the Marchesa. As always, there is a wealth of exciting, challenging new Polish features, ranging from the marriage-on-the-rocks LOVING to the sweet coming-of-age ONE WAY TICKET TO THE MOON, […]
Catherine Breillat On Money, Kings, The Hermaphrodism of Artists and The Future Of Cinema in 01:35
Catherine Breillat is a filmmaker whose work will make you think hard about a lot of things. Gender, sexuality, taboo, power, for example. Her films (36 FILLETTE, ROMANCE, FAT GIRL, THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, etc.) place her among the most interesting and rewarding auteurs working today. She is a true original and a master. Here is […]
FORCE MAJEURE Director Ruben Östlund On His Method & Meanings
Those who saw Ruben Östlund’s new film FORCE MAJEURE at Toronto or Fantastic Fest already know that Östlund is one of the most interesting filmmakers working today. In this wide-roving discussion (long, discursive interviews are now just called “master classes” apparently) he talks about instinct, face-saving, and the predominant place in image culture now occupied by […]
Roy Andersson’s Commercials are Wild & Great, Just Like His Features
Not sure how many people would use a hyped up version of “Surfing Bird” to underscore a series of humorously deadpan injustices, maybe only Roy Andersson, Swedish director of SONGS FROM THE SECOND FLOOR, YOU THE LIVING and the new A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE. He has also directed a ton […]
Fabulous Bizarre Filipino Oddness DARNA VS. THE PLANET WOMEN
The Philippines is a huge, vast nation that has nearly as many separate cultures as it has islands. Many people are familiar with the great films of Lino Brocka, as well as many of the exciting new films are producing (soon to be showcased by AFS). Some others know about the golden era of Filipino […]
Jerry Lewis, Filmmaking Master
It’s always fun watching Jerry Lewis trying to contain his comic demon, as he does here in his lecture at USC in 1967. He took his filmmaking classes very seriously. There is a series of transcripts of his lectures collected in a book called “The Total Filmmaker” that is full of all kinds of practical […]
The (Paper) Art of Satyajit Ray
In addition to being one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century, Satyajit Ray was a musician, composer and graphic artist. Graphic art was the way Ray made his living before he became a full-time filmmaker. Here is a selection of some of Ray’s art for books, advertising and his own films. […]
