I’m getting pumped for GENaustin’s Girls Now! conference, which is taking place today at the Ann Richards School. I’m doing two music history workshops with Kristen, along with GRCA alums Izzy and LaRessa and we’re gonna rock. 

I also wanted to remind you that the Austin Asian American Film Festival is still going strong this weekend. AAAFF is showing Persepolis for free tonight at Town Lake. I’ll be at a friend’s birthday party and won’t be able to make it, but hopefully I’ll see you at the JenRo/MenRG show at the Music Gym later tonight. Before swinging by Nomad for Karaoke Underground, of course. And while I won’t be able to attend the first Paradise Titty show at the Creekside Lounge, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

Since AAAFF’s got me thinking about independent and/or arthouse cinema, I thought I’d highlight a music video that was clearly inspired by the avant-garde. I present Milla Jovovich’s “The Gentleman Who Fell” music video, which was inspired by Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon.” If you have any arthouse-inspired music video suggestions, please share!

Milla Jovovich
“The Gentleman Who Fell”
The Divine Comedy
Directed by Archard/Garner

Inspired by Maya Deren’s “Meshes of the Afternoon”

Ma blonde a trouvé ce court film aujourd’hui et je voulais le partager avec vous. Il aurait été fait en 6 mois avec un budget de 300$ et pourtant il a de quoi rivaliser avec les millions d’Hollywood.

J’aime beaucoup le visuel et le style du film, avec sa palette brun-grise et juste assez de mouvement de caméra pour se sentir sur place. Même la musique est intense à souhait.

     
Internationally renowned as a filmmaker, writer and composer, Sally Potter has always been a provocateur: as a feminist filmmaker and performer, a leading light of the BFI Production Board generation, a British filmmaker Oscar-nominated for a low-budget costume drama, and a pioneer of digital cinema. Drawing on exclusive access to archival materials and in-depth interviews with Britain’s most independent director, The Cinema of Sally Potter: A Politics of Love opens up vivid historical, political, and cultural vistas to give the first full account of this extraordinary career.
            
“It seems only fitting that Sally Potter’s interactive digital archive is called SP-ARK. Fire is at the heart of her work, both visually and metaphysically. Onscreen, it signals the intensity of artistic labour that her films record, metaphorising both the ‘spark’ of inspiration and the energy of work. Fire’s meaning alters to trace the progress of empire in Orlando, from the burning torches that herald Elizabeth I to the burning trenches that mark Orlando’s passage into the reign of Elizabeth II. Fire burns on ice in the reign of King James, as Orlando falls in love. Fire makes steam in the hammam in Khiva. It burns in the hearths of the Great House in contrast to the damp green of the Victorian era as Orlando tends to Shelmerdine’s ankle. In early drafts of the screenplay, fire burnt the house to the ground as Orlando’s class rage turned her into the first Mrs. Rochester. In the finished film, torches burn in the Khan’s courtyard just before war breaks out, but fire is never simply associated with danger or madness. It marks moments of transformation. When fire meets ice, it is an elemental reflection of Orlando’s divided self. Flames burn on water at the opening of The Man Who Cried. They are like a screen of ‘reverie’ in which Suzie sees her memories unfolding.”
    
from The Cinema of Sally Potter: A Politics of Love by Sophie Mayer (Wallflower Press, 2009)
      

Sally Potter

  
More about Sally Potter
  
Sally Potter’s work has, from the early 1970’s, embraced dance, performance, theatre, music and film. Since her first cult hit with Thriller (1979), Potter has concentrated on film and directed her first feature, The Gold Diggers, starring Julie Christie, in 1983. Potter then made a short, The London Story, and several documentaries before the internationally acclaimed and multi-award winning Orlando, starring Tilda Swinton. This was followed by The Tango Lesson (1996) and The Man Who Cried (2000), starring Christina Ricci, Johnny Depp, Cate Blanchett and John Turturro. In 2004 Potter made Yes, starring Joan Allen, Simon Abkarian, and Sam Neill. Potter then directed Carmen for English National Opera in Autumn 2007. Potter’s new film, Rage, starring Judi Dench, Jude Law, Steve Buscemi, Simon Abkarian and Dianne Wiest is released in 2009.
  
Visit Sally’s website and blog.
   
Book for the forthcoming Sally Potter showcase at the
British Film Institute.

by Matthew Groves

There are some films that attempt so much and while doing many things write can sometimes be only partially successful in their goals.  One such film is the indie musical, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.

With an engaging and masterful score, this film is about Guy (Jason Palmer) and a girl he’s in a relationship with Madeline (Desiree Garcia), a relationship that ends in the opening credits.  Guy then jumps quickly to another relationship with Elena (Sandha Khin).  The rest of the story through jazz, dance, and random bursts of singing tell the story of Guy and Madeline and where they go relationally in their lives.  Guy being looser, carefree, and less serious about relationships and more wrapped up in music, whereas Madeline is more focused on having a lasting connection with men.

Shot in black and white and in a number of close-ups with random bursts of music and song, this is special and interesting exercise in a non-traditional musical, but by no means, is this 100% original.  Particularly the cinematic ghosts of Jacques Demy, John Cassavetes, and Jean-Luc Godard are alive and well in the film.  At Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench’s best moments it seems to really be alive and drive by really fun spontaneous action.  Yet more often then not these ghosts also haunt this piece that is so indebted to those cinematic geniuses from before that it comes off merely as style more than something substantively new and interesting and it’s kind of stale.  When you see films like Cassavetes’ Faces or Godard’s A Woman Is A Woman, this seems wholly apparent and almost looks like a carbon copy with a more modern Boston rather than Los Angeles or Paris being the backdrop.

It’s shame because honestly for the moments the actors get, they really try to make something of this story, but whereas Faces or A Woman Is A Woman had a dramatic or emotional thread to lock onto, Guy and Madeleine is kind of just meanders never strikes the match and does something more than films that have come before. I hate to play the what-if game with this one, but it could have been a really interesting study of cross cultural relationships in the Millenial Age with a jazz cultural background for its backdrop, but it kind hopes to be that and never fully accomplishes it.  Despite it’s shortcomings though the film still is trying something interesting and worth a watch even if it doesn’t go too deep or as far as it could and built upon its influences.  If you love jazz and musicals it is a great watch, but it would have been nice if the filmmaker, Damien Chazzelle had decided to take it in a new direction whereas he kind of just hits the mark and nothing more.

Picture Source:

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1730317056/tt1337193

Halloween (1978)
★★★★ / ★★★★

“I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face and, the blackest eyes… the devil’s eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply… evil.”

John Carpenter’s 1978 independent “Halloween” masterpiece will forever be one of my favorite films. With such a microscale budget, Carpenter, the production team and the actors managed to accomplish so much. “Halloween” stars Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode who, among with her friends Lynda (P.J. Soles) and Annie (Nancy Loomis), was stalked by a masked killer named Michael Myers (Tony Moran). Michael killed his sister when he was six years old and was sent to a psychiatric hospital under the care of Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasence). Michael’s madness became much worse over the years and he escaped the night before Halloween 1978 to return to his hometown in Haddonfield, Illinois.

This picture invented the slasher flick that plagued the 1980’s because of its craft. The first scene of this film was an absolute milestone because we saw Michael kill his sister through his eyes as he wore a clown mask. The way he grabbed the knife from the kitchen drawer, walked up the stairs, and went for the kill was terrifying because it was done by a child without any sort of reason (or emotion) behind his actions. After the murder, when his parents discovered him with the knife, it looked as if he had no idea what he had done, like he was possessed by the devil.

Fast-forward to 1978, we got to meet Laurie and two of her friends. Laurie, obviously different from the other two because she’s actually interested in books and not so much interested in boys (or maybe her shyness often got the best of her), was established as the protagonist. She cared about the children she babysat (unlike the other two) by letting them have fun on Halloween, such as carving pumpkins, making popcorn, and watching scary rated R movies on TV, as long as they remained safe and refrained from scaring each other. In broad daylight, we were able to see Michael following them around–appearing in an area one minute and disappearing the next–something that slasher movies of today rarely do. (Not all stalkers only come out at night after all.) There were also very amusing scenes between the three friends, which I thought was a good move from Carpenter because it made them very relatable. That was important because we all know that Michael would eventually go after them. Why was he obsessed with the three girls? We don’t exactly know. Maybe he saw qualities of sister in them or maybe not. To me, that’s why I thought the picture worked: it retained elements of mystery and it was up to us to draw our own conclusions.

The soundtrack was something I would never forget because it was downright creepy and it set the tone of certain scenes. A particular track was specific to an event that was about to transpire so we came to know what to expect (a stalking scene, a false alarm, or going for the kill). However, the brilliance of it was we don’t know when exactly the scare or “Boo!” moment would happen. When they finally do happen, they come with maximum effect due to excellent timing. Unlike most modern horror films, the soundtrack in this movie was used as little as possible. It also means that Carpenter knew when to use silence. Sometimes silence meant nothing but sometimes silence meant something really bad was about to happen.

My absolute favorite scene was the showdown between Laurie and Michael in the last twenty minutes. It still gives me the chills whenever I watch Laurie crossing the street to go into the house where two of her friends were murdered. Since the lights were all off yet she was getting phone calls from the house pretty much all night, at first she thought they were playing a joke on her. But when she finally reached the bedroom, she realized that none of it was a joke. While she was busy entertaining the kids across the street, Michael was busy with the body count. There was also that scene when she finally got out from the neighbor’s house (not an easy feat considering Michael blocked the exits) as she tried screaming for help but no one would open their doors to offer her refuge. She then had no choice but to go back to the house where she was babysitting… but she couldn’t find the keys in her pocket.

There’s a plethora of social commentaries that could be drawn from this film, which were immortalized as clichés in future slasher flicks like “Friday the 13th,” “Prom Night,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and the like. However, I’m not going to mention them all here because I think it’s best for you to try to see them yourself. But I do want to mention how impressed I was with how the concept of the “boogeyman” evolved from a simple folklore (when the kids tried to scare each other) to a personification of evil that one cannot kill (when Laurie tried to kill Michael time and time again but he always managed to “return from the dead”). The concept of the boogeyman finally culminated in the last minute of the film when Laure conceded, “It WAS the boogeyman” and the movie showed us familiar places with Michael breathing in the background–places that have been touched by evil and would never be the same again.

For those who have seen a plethora of movies, “Halloween” is almost always on their list of being one of the best horror films ever made. It’s not difficult to understand why considering how much it impacted the collective media unconscious. I consider it one of the best movies I’ve seen, not just in the horror genre, because of how it made me feel when I first watched it. There was a certain darkness to it that shook me to the core and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. And when I see it again from time to time on television as Halloween nears, I may smile during certain scenes and not look as scared as before. But the same thoughts regarding “What if I was in her shoes?” quickly flood my mind and I can’t help but feel affected. Though it may not scare you because you’re used to seeing blood delivered in gallons in modern horror movies (personally, I think blood is just gross and not at all scary), it would most likely earn your respect for being well ahead of its time in terms of craft and context.

by Matthew Groves

The AFI Fest as of last night has officially started.  What is the AFI Fest exactly though?  The AFI Fest is a film festival that plays in Los Angeles every late October, early November and features a variety of films in independent, arthouse, documentary, and other world cinema.  I have glad been to the festival the last two years prior, although the first year, I was only financially able to see one film and the next only about six.  One of the great and exciting this about this year though is that the festival is doing something wholly different from most others.  Besides the patron passes which can get into a lot of the exclusive films, the entire festival has been presented by the American Film Institute for free.  Yes, FREE.  With this being the case, the pre-sale of tickets sold out within 24-48 hours of the window opening online, but if you are a brave and determined cinephile, you can try to rush line, get in a line an hour before the film, and there are bound to be people who don’t show up for particular screenings.

While I didn’t get all of the films I wanted to see, I am excited about the festival and the six films I did get tickets for.  I am overjoyed because mostly I have heard a few small things, like a film being a foreign language Oscar entry or it being popular and talked about at a particular festival, so for the most parts the films I chose are kind of on a whim.  My colleagues, Andrew Bowcock and a new contributor and talented critic, Nate Bell will be writing about films all this week.  Most of them will be small and obscure, but we are also hoping to get into some of the bigger ones like Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans, Marco Bellocchio’s Vincere, Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank.  There is possibility we may not get into any of those films, but we are going to try and even if we don’t we’ll have plenty write about for you all to read about as well.  So I hope you enjoy our coverage and if the films sound interesting, write them down and check them out in theaters or if they don’t come to your area, look for them on Netflix, Blockbuster online, Redbox, etc.

For more information check out:

http://afi.com/afifest

Picture Source:

http://blog.afi.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/AFIFEST09_Webbanner_300×275.jpg

ARIZONA UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL 2009

The Rules of Cinema Will Be Broken!

TUCSON, AZ – The Arizona Underground Film Festival returns for a second year to screen the best of underground and cult independent cinema in Tucson, AZ from Nov. 2th through the 7th. From the bizarre to the beautiful, from shorts to features, films from all corners of the globe will embrace screens in Tucson the first week of November. Locations for the festival are The Loft Cinema, Crossroads Cinema, The Screening Room, and other locations in downtown Tucson. For a complete rundown of the schedule including times and all locations, visit www.azundergroundfilmfest.com

After a successful first year in 2008, founder, festival director and acclaimed independent filmmaker, David Pike, decided to pursue another year of the film festival to give Tucson a taste of the eclectic and edgy side of filmmaking. The festival’s mission is to showcase the work of filmmakers with defiantly independent visions with films that challenge the audience, break the rules and offer something different than a standard Hollywood movie.

Many filmmakers and actors will be in attendance this year including William Forsythe (Devil’s Rejects, Halloween, Raising Arizona), Noah Segan (Cabin Fever 2, Deadgirl), and others still yet to be announced. There will also be many local to international filmmakers making appearances with their films and doing Q&A’s with the audience.

For more information about this topic, please contact Festival Director David Pike at info@azundergroundfilmfest.com or Co-Festival Director Michael Hojjatie at hailthehodge@gmail.com.

Here’s an Observer article on the American Independent cinema movement as it stands today. Some of you may have seen the Duplass Brothers’ Baghead last year — worth checking out, if you haven’t. Snip:

Back in the 80s when Arnie, Sly and Bruce  ruled the world’s box office, there was another level of American cinema that catered for more, shall we say, sophisticated tastes. The “indie scene” operated at a distance from Hollywood, often out of New York, and gave the cinema names such as Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley, Spike Lee, the Coen brothers and Steven Soderbergh. Ushered, via the Sundance film festival, to commercial and awards success by visionary (perhaps mercenary) producers such as Harvey Weinstein, the indie scene became part of mainstream Hollywood with films such as Pulp Fiction and Good Will Hunting. By the end of the 1990s, most of the big studios had opened speciality boutique divisions such as Fox Searchlight, Sony Pictures Classics and Paramount Vantage to deal with and foster “indie” film-makers, although by now they could hardly be called independent.

…

Lynn Shelton’s “bromance”, Humpday, could have been shaped into a high-grossing Hollywood concept comedy starring, say, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson. But the Seattle-based director didn’t want to hang around to make her movie. “It’s very simple,” she says. “We had the cameras, we had the script and the actors, we borrowed some houses and rented a motel room and we shot a film. It makes you wonder what they do all day in Hollywood, doesn’t it?” The result is a very funny, wholly audible comedy confronting modern masculinity.

Paranormal Activity (2007)
★★★ / ★★★★

Written and directed by Oren Peli, “Paranormal Activity” claims to be real but it is far from it because, well, it was written and directed by someone. So save yourself the embarrassment and don’t yell out, “It’s real! It’s real!” in front of everyone. A couple from San Diego, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, decided to record the paranormal happenings in their house from September to October 2006. Katie was apprehensive of the idea because she has a history of a ghost following her ever since she was a child. Micah went ahead anyway because, a typical guy that he was, he wanted to record something awesome instead of taking the safer route. The movie started off with funny moments between the couple but it became more grim the deeper we got into the film. I’m not talking about just scary noises in the hallway. I’m talking about footprints, shadows, Ouija boards, sleepwalking, possession, and exploring the idea of a possible exorcism.

Comparisons with the highly influential and effective horror film that everyone thought was real at the time of its release in 1999, “The Blair Witch Project,” is inevitable. (I wonder why suddenly most people nowadays really dislike that movie.) Both movies used a hand-held camera that was shaky and it played upon one of people’s greatest fears: the unknown. Both movies also used the technique of a continuous rising action and ending the movie during its climax for full effect (and discussions after walking out of the multiplex). Although I consider “The Blair Witch Project” to be a better movie, it’s really all a matter of personal taste. I believe “Paranormal Activity” more than held its own because it captured genuine thrills and chills that most movies with big budgets (and far better special and visual effects) cannot. That fact alone should make the actors and the director proud of their work.

Essentially, “Paranormal Activity” thrived on realism. If you believe in demons or ghosts (or even if you’re not sure they exist–a group of which I belong in), chances are you will be cowering in your seat. If you don’t believe it demons or ghosts at all, chances are you’re going to laugh at the whole thing and maybe you shouldn’t even spend money to watch it. (Maybe catch it on DVD because it really is quite impressive.) I thought the movie was scary because it’s a classic haunted house movie: we see shadows, noises, and the things they do to the objects around the couple. And yes, they eventually do something to our protagonists other than scaring them out of their minds and desperately wanting to call an exorcist for help. I loved the bedroom scenes because those are when things started to get very… interesting. Even though the setting was rendundant (the whole movie was shot in one house), the things that were happening (that shouldn’t happen in the first place) was not. With each bedroom scene, the level of scare factor was amplified exponentially–by the fourth of fifth bedroom scene, I really wanted to look away because I found myself imagining the “What Ifs” when I would be the one sleeping and all the lights would be off.

This is not the scariest movie I’ve ever seen. But it is one of those movies that I couldn’t help but think about afterwards. Despite what we know (or “understand” might be a better word) of science, and as a person who values science, we shouldn’t disregard certain possibilities just because we haven’t gathered enough support about them. If you’re tired of the same generic slasher films and remakes that Hollywood is spitting out every week, then do yourself a favor and see this one. Stop reading spoilers and hoping that the fear will wane after you’ve read a description. Because chances are, images are stronger than words. And even if you don’t end up liking it, at least you’re supporting a small movie. By doing so, perhaps big studio executives would stop being so elitist and support smaller films in the future–a movement that I strongly believe in because, in my experience as a young cinéphile, most of the time smaller films have great ideas and better execution than big Hollywood movies.

Ja & si & alright & seh’ ich ein & klar & logo werde ich euch jetzt hier den nächsten Omnidiet-Veranstaltungshinweis präsentieren – Zeit um mit den Englisch-Kenntnissen zu brillieren, here we go:

30th, 31st October and 1st November 2009

NEW MIRAPURI LITERATURE, AUDIO-BOOKS,
POETRY & MUSIC FUSIONS, POETRY & ART MOVIES
WITH FREE ENTRANCE, FREE CAMPING AND FRIENDLY PRICES FOR DRINKS, FOOD AND HOTEL ACCOMMODATION

CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION, REGISTRATION AND ROOMRESERVATION:
Mirapuri World Literature Fest
c/o Omnidiet Resort and Business Hotel
Via Monte Falò 8
28011 Mirapuri – Coiromonte (Prov. di Novara), Italy
Phone: ++39 – 0322 – 999 009, Fax: ++39 – 0322 – 999129
eMail: Omnidiet@Mirapuri-Enterprises.com

THE MIRAPURI WORLD LITERATURE FEST 2009 PRESENTS:
“POETRY AND LITERATURE
OF
COURAGE, LOVE AND CLIMATE CHANGE”

PROGRAM:

Also, wer es echt nicht hinbekommt (mit dem Brillieren in Englisch), dies ist die Ultra-Kurz Version in Deutsch:

Was: Mirapuri World Literature Fest – 3 tägiges Literaturfestival in Mirapuri; Eintritt frei; freies Camping; freundliche Preise für Essen & Getränke und Hotelunterbringung

Thema: Neue Mirapuri Literatur, Audio-Bücher, Fusionen aus Dichtung & Musik; Poesie & Kunstfilme

Wann: 30.10 – 1.11.2009

Wo: Omnidiet Resort and Business Hotel
Via Monte Falò 8
28011 Mirapuri – Coiromonte
Prov. di Novara
Italien

Info & Zimmer-Reservierung:
tel: +39 – 0322 – 999 009, Fax: +39 – 0322 – 999129
eMail: Omnidiet@Mirapuri-Enterprises.com

www.Omnidiet-Hotel.com

Internet: www.Mirapuri-LiteratureFest.com

Trainspotting | Danny Boyle, 1996

Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting is one of those films that always crops up on Top British Movie lists. It’s often used as a benchmark and quite rightly so, such is the impact it had upon independent filmmaking in the United Kingdom during that particular period. Only recently it topped a Channel 4 poll to find the Best British Film, a somewhat suspicious accolade seeing that the broadcasting company actually produced the film back in 1995. Either way it made a resounding impression, enough to become somewhat synonymous with the term ‘influential’; a label that may be accurate to a point, though I’d say the word ‘influenced’ better fits this particular gem. Trainspotting is a frenetically-paced shot-to-the-arm (pardon the pun) of drug culture in nineties Britain, one that follows a pale and skinny addict named Renton (played by Ewan McGregor) as he attempts to shake the habit. Set and shot primarily in Scotland, the film is a trimmed-down adaptation of Scottish novelist Irvine Welsh’s book of the same name. Having not yet experienced my teen years when Trainspotting arrived, I’ve always found it quite difficult to comment on this film. The culture idolised here is and has always been somewhere out of reach. I see it, just as I did as a kid, represented as the class above me in school. I see the clothes and I hear the songs yet still somehow find difficulty when attempting to relate. It feels somewhat underwhelming to look at it in this way and from a fresh standpoint, for the film itself achieved near legendary status among the youth of nineties Britain when it was released back in 1996.

Trainspotting is part of a wave of indie filmmaking that gripped Britain during the nineties and was influenced in no small amount by a certain industry-defying American movie named Pulp Fiction. Much like this earlier effort the film draws heavily upon pop culture – ideas, idols and images from all over. The slew of references one can notice becomes somewhat dizzying in places, and seemingly random in the greater scheme of things. Still, they go a long way in creating an overall tone that is maintained throughout. Of these aforementioned references Boyle spends a great deal of effort, for example, comparing his group of run-down addicts to the Beatles. A decision sometimes subtly realised – the scene where a blanket-covered Renton wakes up after a one-night stand and says “hello” to someone passing through the hallway, reminiscent of a scene in the 1965 film Help! – and on other occasions quite blatantly drilled home – the scene where our characters cross a street in London, shot to resemble the cover of Abbey Road. And Boyle doesn’t stop there: James Bond, Montgomery Clift, Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player, Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America; and these are just some of the easier nods to spot. Trainspotting is a visceral experience and one that succeeds in tapping into the nineties subculture in Britain where so many others failed. It does so, however, without wishing to say too much, despite taking what is clearly an anti-drugs stance. Boyle doesn’t wish to bash his viewer over the head with messages – just visuals – and while this is quite an admirable feat in itself, it still somehow detracts from the end product: there is a shallowness here that eluded me in the past.

Our Rating:

Released in 1990, Trust has only been available on DVD in some territories. I discovered the fact of its availability in France relatively recently. Thinking to avoid the extortionate Amazon.fr postage costs, I decided to look for it in Fnac, a well-known entertainment/electronics emporium, on one of my regular visits to France. No luck there (the film is called Trust Me in France), so I attempted to order from Fnac when I returned to the UK this August (it being indisponible at Amazon.fr by now). It appeared to be available, but then the delivery kept getting delayed. Then, amazingly, I decided to search again on Find Any Film, and it turned out that Trust had just been released on DVD – for the first time -in the UK.

Cause for celebration. I’ve been hesitant over the past 18 years to describe Trust as my favourite film, but I do remember absolutely loving it when I first saw it, at the Broadway cinema in Nottingham in late 1991, during my first year at university. It wasn’t The Unbelievable Truth, which I saw later, but first impressions count. I like the feeling that Trust was made in a few days. I like quick shoots. Psycho was a quick shoot, for example.

I don’t think I’d seen anything like it before. It’s not as if Hal Hartley invented independent film, but he did, probably, influence a whole generation of American independent filmmakers. You can spot the Trust DNA in such gems as Beautiful Girls, Flirting with Disaster, through to Juno, and (natch) Waitress. You can’t discount the influence on indie cinema of such directors as Barry Levinson (Diner) and Coppola (The Outsiders, Rumble Fish), or Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy), but for quirky low-budget wit and charm, Hal Hartley is God. Hal Hartley is the Douglas Coupland of film.

So it was with some trepidation that I pushed the drawer of the DVD player in and settled down to watch Trust again.

You see the bold strokes immediately. The unmoving camera, focused on Adrienne Shelly (Maria) as she applies shocking pink lipstick in the foreground while her blurred and cropped parents argue with her. No shot-reverse-shot, no attempt – at this stage – to follow the usual conventions. The acting in the opening seems somewhat stilted, mannered, wooden, slightly unreal. Shelly has a huge tumble of curly strawberry blonde hair; she wears shocking, clashing, pink, luminous orange, trashy clothes. She slaps her father, who collapses and dies like something out of a high school drama production.

Is this bad? Is this deliberate? Similar scenes follow, with Martin Donovan (Matthew) being abused, physically, mentally, endlessly by his father, and then taking his rage and frustration out on the imperfect world. The people in his life, too, seem like clockwork mannequins.

Then Matt meets Maria and everything changes. The dialogue sparks, the film ignites. Her world tones down, her hair straightens, the puts on her glasses, she wears his mothers’ clothes. In every scene they share, the witty one-liners flow, but this is no ordinary romance. The film is almost devoid of sentimentality; they discuss love, which Matt denies. Respect and admiration is what he believes in – to which she adds trust, and there we have our definition of what non-romantic love is: trust, respect, and admiration (Oxford comma optional).

This pithy one-liner had a profound effect on my outlook. After this, I stopped fucking up my fucked up relationships and began to live with that definition in my mind.

I still love this film, which has many precious moments. Matt angrily exits a TV repair shop and knocks a TV out of a queueing woman’s hands. Looking down at the smashed wreckage on the pavement, he says, “It was busted anyway.”

Later, someone asks him, “How you doin’?” and he replies, “Feel like smashing things up.”

The locations seem anonymous, anonymous enough to be real. It’s not anamorphic wide screen, but Hartley still makes use of negative space: empty concrete backdrops, blank grey skies. In the accompanying mini-documentary, Adrienne Shelly, back from the dead, remembers that she felt ill throughout the filming, remembers especially feeling desperately ill in the last scene, as she watches Matt get taken away. She says it was right for the role, though, that she felt weak but had to pull herself together and be strong for every scene. The ageless Martin Donovan remembers arguing with Hartley but learning from this experience how to act, how to do less.

Still a fantastic film.

The British contribution: 'The Battle for Haditha'

NB This is extracted from Image and Representation (Palgrave, 2nd edition, 2009), pp.268-71 and includes spoilers

Unlike during the Vietnam War, when Hollywood barely noted the war’s existence in its films, the conflict in Iraq, which started with the (primarily) American-British invasion in 2003, saw many films released on the subject. Most of these films were, in some way, critical of the way the conflict was being managed by the American government; and virtually all of them were box office disappointments. These fictional features were preceded by a large number of documentaries; these also failed to find much of an audience.

We can only speculate as to why audiences weren’t interested in seeing representations of such an important event. It is possible that, as cinema is seen primarily as an entertainment medium, that audiences didn’t want reminding of the death and destruction occurring in Iraq. The films, as is usual, received a mixed critical reaction from ‘lukewarm’ – to be polite – for Lions for Lambs (2007) to generally positive, for example In the Valley of Elah (2007). Unsurprisingly, given the divided nature of the support for the war in Iraq, a number of these films, such as Redacted (2007), were seen as particularly controversial.

Most of the films, typically of Hollywood, use generic conventions. Rendition (2007) works as a political thriller focusing on two narratives: the ‘rendered’ Egytian-born El-Ibrahimi who is taken to another country to be tortured, and his American wife who desperately tries to find out why he didn’t return home. In political thrillers:

‘The basic plot is an ordinary man pulling an innocent thread which leads to a mess of corruption. The corruption should be political or governmental in nature.’ (Lundegaard, 2006)

Powerless protagonists

It is usual in the genre for the ‘ordinary man’ to succeed, at least to an extent, in revealing the corruption to the world; as is the case in The Interpreter (UK-US-France, 2005); though this may be tempered by a suggestion that the corruption will continue, as in Three Days of the Condor (1975). In Rendition the ordinary man is simply a victim, powerless to do anything, whilst his wife, though dogged in her attempts to find her husband, similarly fails to achieve anything. Although, as a mainstream film, it is unsurprising that there is a ‘happy’ ending, courtesy of a disgusted CIA officer, the twist on the genre of making the protagonists powerless is a powerful indictment of the current political climate where torture appears to be official policy in America.

In the Valley of Elah is a mix of melodrama and police investigation. The protagonist Hank Deerfield, played by Tommy Lee Jones, is a patriotic ex-serviceman who supports the war. Early in the film he helps an immigrant put right an American flag that is flying upside down, he says that an upside down flag means the country is in mortal danger. However, his investigation into his son’s death, just after he’d returned from Iraq, reveals to him how war dehumanises soldiers and the film concludes with him deliberately flying the flag upside down.

'In the Valley of Elah': Melodrama as politics

Melodrama is a non-realist genre and so consciously uses both characters and settings symbolically. Deerfield, the name itself evokes the American pastoral, represents someone who naturally supports the country in times of war. He is a deeply repressed male, contrasted by Susan Sarandon’s character, who plays his sometimes-desperate wife. Deerfield’s investigations reveal the ‘dark heart’ at the core of this war and so, even though he is patriotic, he realises that the war is wrong.

Elah uses the device of a corrupted mobile phone video, which is slowly revealed throughout the film, as part of unravelling the mystery of what had happened to Deerfield’s son. Redacted, the most unconventional of the ‘Iraq films’, also uses new media technologies to represent the rape of a 15-year-old girl and the murder of herself, and her family, by US marines. The film starts with a disclaimer that the film is ‘a fiction inspired by true events’. The writer-director, Brian DePalma, uses a mix of texts to show what (might have) happened: a ‘home video’ made by one of the marines; a pastiche of a French (intellectual) documentary about Iraq; CCTV cameras; Internet postings; a video made on a mobile phone; photojournalism. Although it may seem that it is a realist text, the multimedia mixing instead draws attention to the artifice of what is shown. This may suggest that such horrendous events cannot be convincingly rendered by realism. Indeed DePalma also deploys melodrama; the one good guy, who tries to publicise what’s happened, is called Lawyer McCoy. This melodrama extends to the use of an aria from Puccini’s opera Tosca, the protagonist of which murders the man who is trying to rape her. This, highly passionate, aria could be seen as an ironic comment upon the Iraqi teenager’s inability to kill her rapists. However, the last image of the film is an actual photograph of the dead girl which needs no melodramatic heightening to appall its audience and so, ultimately, DePalma’s film comes across as exploitative.

'Redacted': obscene views

One British film to deal with a similar topic is The Battle of Haditha (2007). This is a dramadoc that recreates the massacre of 24 men, women and children in Haditha by (allegedly) US marines. Director Nick Broomfield’s intensely realist aesthetic, signified by the handheld camera and utterly convincing performances, manages to humanise both the perpetrators of the atrocity – we understand that these are young men, badly led, and out of their depth – as well as getting to ‘know’ the victims. It also features a sex scene between Muslim husband and wife, where the woman removes her veil; this in itself should not be remarkable but such representations are extremely rare. From a western perspective, the lifting of he veil individualises the character and makes it easier to identify with her.

Gung-ho

All these films are critical of America’s conduct in the war; it would be difficult to offer a gung-ho representation of events whilst the victory, heralded by George Bush in May 2003, had still failed to materialise. The Kingdom (2007) was one mainstream film (all the others were independently produced) that was actually set in the Middle East, albeit Saudi Arabia. Here Jamie Foxx plays an FBI investigator Ronald Fleury who bulldozes his way through political objections to investigate, and bring to justice, the perpetrators of a terrorist attack against American families. The film is progressive in its casting of African-American in a lead where his ethnicity is absolutely irrelevant, however its portrayal of backward, foreigners, needing American assistance, plants its perspective as being firmly of the view that the ‘west is the best’.

It certainly isn’t wholly simplistic. An opening montage succinctly lays out the geopolitical history of the region and sites oil as the driving force behind America’s involvement in the region and not ‘freedom’ as politicians suggest. And Foxx’s ‘local’ helper is a well-drawn character though ‘a sequence showing Al Ghazi’s family’s evening Salah in parallel Fluery phoning his son was almost cut from the film during the editing process’ (Miller, 2007, p. 63b) is evidence of Hollywood’s reluctance to humanise non-western characters. Because of the nature of international cinema it is rare that we get to see how other cultures represent both themselves and the west.

K.Miller (2007) ‘The Kingdom’, Sight & Sound, vol. 17, no. 7, November

Out of this world

As the critical response has suggested, this is an impressive war film about Iraq. Stylistically similar to the hyper-real visual style seen in Cloverfield (US, 2008), it uses extreme handheld shake to signify ‘thereness’. If you’re filming defusing an unexploded bomb the niceties of framing and composition are going out of the window. The cinematographer is Barry Ackroyd who shot United 93 (US, 2006) and The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Ire-UK, 2006), both realist films. However, although documentary-style camerawork, that follows rather than leads the action, is evident in these films, they remain carefully composed; I felt mildly nauseous watching The Hurt Locker such is the camera shake on the big screen. Ironically, this effect makes it more of a ‘roller coaster’ than Hollywood blockbusters even though this is nothing like a mainstream movie.

The best review I’ve read is by the reliably excellent Philip French in  The Observer and I agree with much of what he said. I’ve written about most of the Iraq movies in my latest book (I’ll extract the relevant section and blog it later) and The Hurt Locker is certainly a fascinating addition. Its focus on the American viewpoint is slightly problematic for me as all Iraqis are filmed as potential terrorists; take the shot of the DVD vendor that suddenly makes him look sinister when he’s simply a guy trying to make a living. However, if we accept that this is a function of the film’s viewpoint, the protagonist and addicted risk-taker SSgt William James, then this is acceptable. Peter Bradshaw, in The Guardian, suggests this is a challenge to ‘political correctness’ as if there’s something wrong in questioning the representation of the antagonists.

The British do get to show their face but are so money-seeking and inept, once the shooting starts those that haven’t been shot yet don’t even fire a gun, that we descend into a gung-ho Hollywood movie despite the fact that the sequence is brilliant.

The sound design is spectacular, by Paul N.J. Ottosson, adding to the visceral discomfort of the experience. This is cinema that is about experience; experience that most of us, thankfully, won’t have. I don’t know any serving soldiers but met one on leave from Afghanistan on a train journey. The soldier obviously needed to talk about their experiences and now I know of someone in the front line each time I hear of casualties they won’t be in the abstract. Cinema can also do this, to an extent, allowing us to understand the experiences of others. If we learn nothing of the ridiculous politics fueling East-West conflict from The Hurt Locker, we do get a sense of what it might be like to be there.

This isn’t a film that’s widely available to watch, it’s only on at The Showroom in Sheffield and a handful of other independent cinemas around the UK, but if it’s on near you I recommend you check it out if only to remind yourself that America can produce some great art movies as well as that Hollywood dross that I write about all the time on this blog.

The 26 year old director of Afterschool, Antonio Campos, has already won acclaim for a couple of short films he’s produced over the last few years, and this is his first feature. The plot revolves around Robert, a pupil at an East Coast private school that’s all about tradition, money and a ‘progressive’ approach to pupil-teacher relationships (the guidance councillor gets the boys to open up to him by telling ‘I fucked your mum’ jokes). Robert is an outcast who loves to watch online videos of innocent, funny, violent and sexual acts which anyone of my generation will be familiar with. He joins the audio/video club as an after school activity and during the process of shooting some stock footage he captures the deaths of two beautiful twins who have succumbed to the effects of cocaine cut with rat poison. The deaths have a massive impact on the school community, and Robert is roped in to making a memorial video about the twins as a kind of therapeutic reprieve for the trauma he is supposed to have suffered. The video he produces is troubling and inspired by his love of the profane, dark and violent world of online video clips. And of course completely inappropriate in the eyes of the Principle.

This film really hits the mark when it comes to examining the culture of online videos, in which the funny and irreverent can be unexpectedly mixed with stark or violent images at the click of a button. It also evokes the way that the brevity of such videos can intensify their impact, an instant stiletto point of white pressure rather than a flat boot to the gut spreading its impact over time. This obsession and experience has given Robert a very detached view of the real world, and he views life as if he were watching YouTube. The relationships he has with other pupils, the teachers and his parents come into play, and the story is angsty in a fairly realistic way just about avoids becoming whiny or clichéd. This is almost a coming of age story for the YouTube generation, but with none of the hope or joy that that would normally entail. Instead it’s a story about what lies ahead in the lives of a youth who has already seen and been desensitised by too much.

The film itself is shot in a deliberately frustrating way, refusing to use deep focus or stick to traditional techniques at all in an attempt to produce a work that is consciously amateur in style. Although it’s pretentious in a way and does wear as the film goes on, it’s nice to see some art injected into the misframing of a shot or the cutting off of an actor’s head. It’s almost Bressonian, though the style is rightly identifiable as similar to a less polished Gus Van Sant. As I said, see it if and while you can, it’s worth a watch even if what it’s trying to say will only be relevant to the younger members of the audience.

Mala Noche | Gus Van Sant, 1985

American-born writer/director Gus Van Sant has arguably been a central figure in independent cinema for most of his career. His unwillingness to be moved from this circle has attracted both praise and ridicule, however, as has his insistence in attempting to portray the youth of America in his work. Such filmmakers, who openly categorise themselves through the work that they do, are fairly common, but it is often difficult – given the specific nature of their work and passion for it – to tell the good ones from the bad ones. I order to do so, one must go back and discover the earlier work of each artist, for it is here that we become exposed to any raw talent. It is clear from his debut 1985 feature Mala Noche that Gus Van Sant has an incredible amount of talent. Yes, the film is rough around the edges and was obviously made on a shoestring budget, but neither of these points can obscure the fact. Like Jim Jarmusch before him and Allison Anders after, Van Sant’s ability is there for all to see – even at the beginning. Mala Noche introduces an aspect of the man’s work that we have since come to know well; that of homosexuality. Here we witness the classic idea of a virile, young gay man pining after a beautiful and unattainable straight guy – though this is never delivered in a cliché manner, nor does the approach feel heavy-handed. Indeed, it is an early showing of the kind of tenderness that can be seen throughout Van Sant’s later work.

Walt Curtis (played by Tim Streeter) is a lost poet, wandering the backstreets of Portland, Oregon. He works in a broken down local store by day and takes a fancy to brown-eyed young Mexican immigrants by night – in particular a boy named Johnny (Doug Cooeyate). The problem is that Johnny doesn’t speak a word of English, neither does he appreciate the unrelenting sexual interest from Walt. Mala Noche is similar in this way to Van Sant’s skit for the recent episodic effort Paris, Je T’aime, in which two young guys from different backgrounds just happen to cross paths, but are hampered in their communication by the language barrier. This central idea of amour fou is what drives Mala Noche and is ultimately its most rewarding facet. The choice to use young non-actors was no doubt a necessary one but obviously doesn’t aid the film overall, unlike the decision to shoot with 16mm in grainy black and white which really complements the grittiness of the landscape and story itself. The film manages to create a sensitive edge to what is a rather unconventional tale without becoming too sentimental or overbearing. While we feel no sympathy for the protagonist and his setbacks, it is Van Sant showing us that love comes in all shapes and sizes, and it is the work of a person who clearly has a bright future ahead of him – something that, perhaps, I wish I could proudly say without the ultimate advantage of hindsight.

Our Rating:

“Carlos Atanes seems to be an uncompromising director, who doesn’t take the easy way out. That is the big part (along with the bunch of great actors and actresses) of extraordinary feel that gushes from Atanes’ intriguing low-budget or no-budget films. Even the grainy image of video camera fits perfectly into the bizarre imagery. There are no holds barred, so you have been warned (…)“

(From EMVG)

There are two great American filmmakers who comes to mind for acting in films they direct – Woody Allen and Clint Eastwood.  Mr. Allen is best known for his sometimes dark and light romantic comedies such as the acclaimed Annie Hall (1977), Bullets over Broadway (1994) and Everyone Says I Love You (1996).  Mr. Eastwood, recently awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Cannes Film Festival in February, on the other hand practices competent classical and old-fashioned filmmaking and gave the world Unforgiven (1992), Million Dollar Baby (2004), and Gran Torino (2008).   Although working within the confines of Hollywood, these two brilliant filmmakers are able to cast their personal influence and vision in the production of their films.

It may well be quite early to declare, but these directors reminds me of Daniel Razon, the popular Filipino radio and television news and public service program anchor known as Kuya Daniel.   He may be quite new in the field having just screened his first directorial effort titled Isang Araw Lang (Just One Day, 2009), but he already showed some signs of directorial promise.

The film, influenced by the local television  situation comedies and melodramas of the 80s, centered on this man named Kuya Daniel (played by Mr. Razon himself), a jeepney driver whom his colleagues want to run as president of their association. Through a series of flashbacks every once in a while, we get to know Kuya Daniel and the reasons why he is doing what he is doing now.

He adopts several orphaned children and showed them what it means to be cared of.  As a father figure and big brother to these kids, he strive hard as a jeepney driver to earn  in hopes of raising the children and give them a bright future.  He refuses not a single soul who begs or prays for his help and not expecting any payment in return.  He do all he can to help, to the point of risking his own life for his adopted family.

However, there are some detractors along the way to put the good man down: the greedy and media-savvy politician-congressman (played by Rey PJ Abellana), the syndicate head who exploits children to do petty crimes of pickpocketing and snatching (Robert Miller), and the incumbent abusive president of the jeepney drivers association (Rene Jose).  But Kuya Daniel who served a short-term stint in the police academy ironically never really expressed physical violence against anybody, even to his detractors and enemies in the film.

However, the film cleverly showed through illusion that Kuya Daniel can avenge or exact the same physical violence against his oppressors.  But since he is guided by biblical principles, the film showed us that this man is not like anybody in most films that when pushed to the limits will do some vengeful acts.   In the film, we learn that after Kuya Daniel left the police ranks when he realizes that corruption and moral decay will engulf him soon if he will not do something, he started to open the Scriptures.

The film ended happily (obviously) but there is a hook few seconds before the film closes: Kuya Daniel’s phone rang. He answered. We hear the voice of an old man and sounds familiar, especially among the crowd who broke a deafening clapping and enthusiastic reactions that ensued as the film credit rolls. This single, last scene may have literally break the glass that holds dear the illusion of cinema as imagined reality.  The origin of the voice was never named in the film, but it may be the voice of someone dear to Kuya Daniel in the film, or Mr. Razon in real life, who’s been his source of inspiration and bear a big influence on him.

The inclusion of this  “call” is bravado filmmaking at its best, simply because it mirrors exactly the double meaning of Mr. Razon’s once sad experience of running as Congressman but he was robbed of this chance despite winning.  Notwithstanding what his detractors ever hoped for to destroy him in the eyes of the public by sabotaging his bid, Mr. Razon, in real life, remains unfazed and continues with his humanitarian works for the needy and impoverished sector of the society until today.

In the spirit of independent filmmaking, you can see a lot of promise in the directorial debut of  Mr. Razon whose only experience in creative directing is producing television programs that are centered on news and public service.

Working on a limited budget and tight production schedule, it is however  hard to expect the polish, grandeur and voluptuousness present in most Hollywood commercial films.  But given a much bigger budget and a longer span to direct his film, he could have improved the film’s use of sound and editing.

As it is, the film is competently-made compared with other films directed by more experienced directors in the country.  Because even though inexperienced, the personal vision of Mr. Razon is clearly manifested in every frame from the opening flashback until the end credit rolls.

As an actor in his own film, Mr. Razon is natural and may be likened to Mr. Allen than Mr. Eastwood.  Whereas Mr. Allen showed his sardonic genius in his wordplay for romance and comedy, Mr. Razon utters several golden wisdom about showing genuine kindness without sounding too pontificating.  One of these lines clearly expressed the theme of the film: no goodness shared will bear evil fruits. As a director, however, it may be early to assume who may have influenced him.

The world witnessed a new brand of humanist cinema from the Philippines with the arrival of Lino Brocka (Insiang, Jaguar), Ishmael Bernal (Manila By Night, Himala), Mike De Leon (Sister Stella L., Kisapmata)and Mario O’ Hara (Babae sa Breakwater, Pangarap ng Puso).  Recently, a wave of new Filipino auteurs are making a splash in film festival circuits and reaping acclaim for their masterful, original works.  Among these independent filmmakers are Raya Martin (Now Showing, Independencia), Lav Diaz (Batang Westside, Death in the Land of Encantos), Jeffrey Jeturian (Pila Balde, Kubrador), Aureus Solito (Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, Pisay) and Brillante Mendoza (Serbis, Kinatay).  The films of these directors dealt more about the country’s poverty, social malaise, military assaults, dysfunctional family and government oppression.

Mr. Razon’s vision of humanist cinema is different.  His film provide a welcome relief to another level of realism in cinema where the humanism shines over the visual motifs and symbolisms.  With humanism used here, I refer it to the sense that kindness and goodwill shine through versus most Filipino independent directors’ realistic depiction of crimes, violence and sex in their films.

I have yet to see Mr. Razon’s follow up to his debut film to conclude my assumption that perhaps Mr. Razon may well become one of the frontrunners of this new humanist cinema in the Philippines.  However, I hope that this film and next get released widely for the world to discover and hope that, after all, Philippine cinema is not yet dead. And while alive, can still do good, not just for a day, but continuously.

Rumble Fish | Francis Ford Coppola, 1983

To consider Francis Ford Coppola nowadays: with his noble beard, successful wine business and Hollywood family friends, it’s quite easy to forget that he was one of America’s most influential and daring directors. Although he made a relatively early graduation to mainstream motion pictures, Coppola has always exhibited attributes of an independent filmmaker. Indeed, the tales one can unearth of his 1971 feud with Paramount while making The Godfather go a long way in illustrating his particular distaste for studio involvement. In a recent interview with National Public Radio, Coppola can be quoted as saying “I think in my heart I’ve always been an independent filmmaker … oddly, and very strangely, I became wealthy in other businesses.” This was of course in reference to his recent critical and commercial failure Youth Without Youth, which with its unconventional narrative and over-ambitious themes drew more than a few uses of the word “indie” from critics upon release. This side of Coppola is one that few comment on, yet one that can be seen in much of his later work including the 1983 effort Rumble Fish; an adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s novel of the same name. This tale of youthful folly in urban Oklahoma follows a young and hostile protagonist named Rusty James (Matt Dillon) as he searches to truly understand what his fabled older brother (Mickey Rourke) expects of him. The film employed a largely young but promising cast, most of which were also used in Coppola’s other Hinton adaptation – The Outsiders – released a few months earlier.

Teen flicks in the late seventies and early eighties opened many an executive eye to this fifteen-and-up demographic that had remained mostly untapped until the turn of the decade. Shiny action ballads such as The Warriors joined coming-of-age films like American Graffiti to compete for this pocket money. And while it traverses much more experimental waters, I believe Rumble Fish draws something from each of these two seventies cult hits. The film owns an unashamed level of theatricality, promoted in its characters and the landscapes upon which they frolic. With smoke billowing in even the most mundane of scenes, Coppola appears to be hinting strongly at the gang movies that came before his, yet also alludes to some much more weathered cinematic trends. The stark black-and-white photography and undeniable Avant-garde style has caused many to mention French New Wave and German Expressionist cinema when discussing Rumble Fish, though I believe Coppola draws more from Italian Neorealism in this way; such is the over-exaggerated harshness of our city backdrop and awkward nature of the film’s dubbed voices – not to mention its notable anti-establishment swagger. Despite its overt style and suitably shaky young performances, Rumble Fish is an extremely effective take on the angry disillusioned youth of a city. One that resides below the surface of Coppola’s studded filmography yet proves the great man still had something to say in his post-apocalypse period.

Our Rating:

The Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and Competition,  also dubbed as Cinemalaya Cinco, since it is already on its fifth year,  will  present twenty (20) new digital films that will compete from July 17 to 26, 2009 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).  The films that will compete in  full length category are:

24K by Ana Agabin

Ang Panggagahasa kay Fe by Alvin B. Yapan;

Astig by GB Sampedro;

Colorum by Jon Steffan Ballesteros;

Dinig Sana Kita by Mike E. Sandejas;

Engkwentro by Pepe Diokno;

Last Supper No. 3 by Veronica Velasco  and Jinky Laurel;

Mangatyanan by Jerrold Tarog,

Nerseri by Vic Acedillo, Jr. and

Sanglaan by Milo Sogueco.

For the short film category, the following would compete:  Behind Closed Doors by Mark Philipp Espina, Blogog by Rommel “Milo” Tolentino, Bonsai by Alfonso “Borgy” K. Torre III, Hulagpos by Maita Lirra Lupac, Latus by John Paul S. Seniel, Musa by Dexter B. Cayanes, Si Bok at ang Trumpoby Hubert Tibi, Tatang by Jean Paolo “Nico” Hernandez, Ugat sa Lupa by Ariel Reyes and Wat Floor Ma’am by Mike Sandejas and Robert Seña.

In addition to the Competition films, Cinemalaya will feature the following sections—World Premieres and NetPac films, Lino Brocka Retrospective, Kids’ Treats, Gay/Lesbian films, The City in Focus, Women in Indies, Off Center, Documentary and Ani:  Best of Last Year.

THE SCREENING SCHEDULE:

24K by Ana Agabin
• 19 July/Sun, 6:15PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 21 July/Tue, 12:45PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 22 July/Wed, 9:00PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 23 July/Thu, 6:15PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 24 July/Fri, 9:00PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 25 July/Sat, 12:45PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 26 July/Sun, 3:30PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

ANG NERSERI by Vic Acedillo Jr.
• 18 July/Sat, 6:15PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 19 July/Sun, 12:45PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 21 July/Tue, 12:45PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 23 July/Thu, 3:30PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 24 July/Fri, 9:00PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 25 July/Sat, 3:30PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre
• 26 July/Sun, 3:30PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall

ANG PANGGAGAHASA KAY FE by Alvin Yapan
• 21 July/Tue, 6:15PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 18 July/Sat, 3:30PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre
• 19 July/Sun, 9:00PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 22 July/Wed, 12:45PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 23 July/Thu, 3:30PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 24 July/Fri, 12:45PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 25 July/Sat, 3:30PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute

ASTIG by GB Sampedro
• 18 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 19 July/Sun, 3:30PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 21 July/Tue, 3:30PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 22 July/Wed, 9:00PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 23 July/Thu, 6:15PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 24 July/Fri, 12:45PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre
• 25 July/Sat, 6:15PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall

COLORUM by Jon Stefan Ballesteros
• 18 July/Sat, 3:30PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 19 July/Sun, 6:15PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 22 July/Wed, 9:00PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 23 July/Thu, 9:00PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 24 July/Fri, 3:30PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 25 July/Sat, 12:45PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre
• 25 July/Sat, 6:15PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute

DINIG SANA KITA by Mike Sandejas
• 18 July/Sat, 6:15PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 19 July/Sun, 12:45PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre
• 21 July/Tue, 9:00PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 22 July/Wed, 3:30PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 23 July/Thu, 6:15PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 24 July/Fri, 12:45PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 25 July/Sat, 6:15PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre

ENGKWENTRO by Pepe Diokno
• 18 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 19 July/Sun, 6:15PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 21 July/Tue, 6:15PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 22 July/Wed, 3:30PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 23 July/Thu, 12:45PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre
• 24 July/Fri, 9:00PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 25 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall

LAST SUPPER NO.3 by Roni Velasco & Jinky Laurel
• 18 July/Sat, 3:30PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 19 July/Sun, 3:30PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre
• 21 July/Tue, 3:30PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 22 July/Wed, 3:30PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 23 July/Thu, 9:00PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 24 July/Fri, 6:15PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 25 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre

MANGATYANAN by Jerrold Tarog
• 18 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 19 July/Sun, 3:30PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 21 July/Tue, 6:15PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 22 July/Wed, 12:45PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 23 July/Thu, 3:30PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre
• 24 July/Fri, 6:15PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 25 July/Sat, 12:45PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute

SANGLAAN by Milo Sogueco
• 18 July/Sat, 12:45PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre
• 19 July/Sun, 9:00PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 21 July/Tue, 9:00PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 22 July/Wed, 6:15PM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 23 July/Thu, 12:45PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 24 July/Fri, 3:30PM at VENUE 1 – CCP Main Theatre
• 25 July/Sat, 3:30PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall

The Cinemalaya Cinco SINE TAKTAKANS
(Meet the Cinemalaya 2009 Filmmakers)

23 & 24 July/The & Fr, from 2:00PM to 5:00PM
Tanghalang Huseng Batute
(Free Admission)

The CINEMALAYA/NETPAC Premieres

AURORA by Adolfo B. Alix, Jr.
• 18 July/Sat, 6:15PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

BASECO BAKAL BOYS by Ralston Jover
• 19 July/Sun, 6:15PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

BAYAW by Monti Parungao
• 21 July/Tue, 9:00PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

BOY by Auraeus Solito
• 24 July/Fri, 6:15PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

KARERA by Adolfo B. Alix Jr.
• 23 July/Thu, 6:15PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

LATAK by Jowee Morell
• 23 July/Thu, 9:00PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

PRINCE OF COCKFIGHTING by Yeng Grande
• 18 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

WALANG HANGGANG PAALAM by Paolo Villaluna & Ellen Ramos
• 25 July/Sat, 6:15PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

Cinemalaya Cinco SPECIAL SCREENINGS

INDEPENDENCIA by Raya Martin
• 19 July/Sun, 9:00PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

LUPANG HINARANG by Ditsi Carolino (Documentary)
• 21 July/Tue, 6:15PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

MELANCHOLIA by Lav Diaz (9 hours – counts as 1 screening)
• 26 July/Sun, 10:00AM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

SERBIS by Brillante Mendoza
• 25 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

World Premiere: WALKING THE WAKING JOURNEY by Ferdie Balanag (Documentary)
• 22 July/Wed, 6:15PM at VENUE 2 – CCP Little Theatre

Cinemalaya Cinco: TRIBUTE TO LINO BROCKA

BONA (1980)
• 22 July/Wed, 6:15PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

INA KA NG ANAK MO (1979)
• 22 July/Wed, 12:45PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

BINATA SI MISTER DALAGA SI MISIS (1981)
• 23 July/Thu, 12:45PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

CADENA DE AMOR (1971)
• 19 July/Sun, 6:15PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

CHERRY BLOSSOMS (1972)
• 21 July/Tue, 12:45PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

JAGUAR (1979)
• 22 July/Wed, 3:30PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

MACHO DANCER (1989)
• 23 July/Thu, 6:15PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

MAKIUSAP SA DIYOS (1991)
• 24 July/Fri, 12:45PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

MAYNILA SA MGA KUKO NG LIWANAG (1975)
• 21 July/Tue, 6:15PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

OROPRONOBIS (1989)
• 24 July/Fri, 3:30PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

SANTIAGO (1970)
• 19 July/Sun, 3:30PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

STARDOOM (1971)
• 21 July/Tue, 3:30PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

TUBOG SA GINTO (1971)
• 18 July/Sat, 6:15PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

WANTED PERFECT MOTHER (1971)
• 18 July/Sat, 3:30PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

WHITE SLAVERY (1985)
• 23 July/Thu, 3:30PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

Plus
SIGNED LINO BROCKA: A Documentary by Christian Blackwood (1987)
• 24 July/Fri, 6:15PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

Cinemalaya Cinco KIDS TREATS
In Cooperation with the National Council for Children’s Television

Kids Treats Shorts Program A
ANDONG by Rommel “Milo” Tolentino, DIAMANTE SA LANGIT by Vic Acedillo Jr., MAIKLING KWENTO by Hubert Tibi, PUTOT by Jeck Cogama, TRAILS OF WATER by Sheron R. Dayoc
• 18 July/Sat, 10:00AM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 26 July/Sun, 10:00AM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute

Kids Treats Shorts Program B:
ANGAN-ANGAN by Sheron R. Dayoc, GABON by Emmanuel Dela Cruz, MY PET by Anna Bigornia, PARANG PELIKULA by Hubert Tibi, ROLYO by Alvin Yapan, TO NI by Vic Acedillo Jr.
• 19 July/Sun, 10:00AM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute
• 25 July/Sat, 10:00AM at VENUE 5 – Tanghalang Huseng Batute

Full-Lengths:

BATAD by Benjie Garcia & Vic Acedillo Jr. (Cinemalaya 2006)
• 18 July/Sat, 12:45PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 26 July/Sun, 10:00AM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

BOSES by Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil (Cinemalaya 2008)
• 18 July/Sat, 12:45PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall
• 26 July/Sun, 10:00AM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall

BRUTUS by Tara Illenberger (Cinemalaya 2008)
• 18 July/Sat, 10:00AM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall
• 26 July/Sun, 12:45PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall

GULONG by Jeanne Lim & Socorro Fernandez (Cinemalaya 2007)
• 19 July/Sun, 12:45PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 25 July/Sat, 10:00AM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

KADIN by Adolfo B. Alix, Jr (Cinemalaya 2007)
• 19 July/Sun, 12:45PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall
• 25 July/Sat, 10:00AM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall

PEPOT ARTISTA by Clodualdo Del Mundo (Cinemalaya 2005)
• 18 July/Sat, 10:00AM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 26 July/Sun, 12:45PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

PISAY by Auraeus Solito (Cinemalaya 2007)
• 19 July/Sun, 10:00AM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall
• 25 July/Sat, 12:45PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall

SAAN NAGTATAGO SI HAPPINESS? by Real Florido & Florida Bautista (Cinemalaya 2006)
• 19 July/Sun, 10:00AM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall
• 25 July/Sat, 12:45PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

Cinemalaya Cinco LGBT SPECIALS

DED NA SI LOLO by Soxie Topacio (Sine Direk)
• 24 July/Fri, 9:00PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

DOSE by Senedy Que (Cinema One)
• 21 July/Tue, 9:00PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

HEAVENLY TOUCH by Joel Lamangan
• 19 July/Sun, 9:00PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

JAY by Francis X. Pasion (Cinemalaya 2008)
• 25 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

QUICK TRIP by Cris Pablo
• 25 July/Sat, 6:15PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

SELDA by Paolo Villaluna & Ellen Ramos
• 22 July/Wed, 9:00PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

THANK YOU GIRLS by Charlie Gohettia
• 18 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

THE AMAZING TRUTH ABOUT QUEEN RAQUELA by Olaf De Fleur Johanneson
• 23 July/Thu, 9:00PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

INDIE ANI: A Harvest of Recent Full-Length Features

100 by Chris Martinez (Cinemalaya 2008)
• 18 July/Sat, 6:15PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

AGATON & MINDY by Peque Gallaga (Sine Direk)
• 19 July/Sun, 9:00PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

ALON by Ron Bryant (Cinema One)
• 22 July/Wed, 6:15PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

BENTE by Mel Chionglo (Sine Direk)
• 21 July/Tue, 9:00PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

CONCERTO by Paul Morales (Cinemalaya 2008)
• 19 July/Sun, 6:15PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

CONFESSIONAL by Jerrold Tarog (Cinema One)
• 24 July/Fri, 3:30PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

FAUSTA by Felino Tanada
• 21 July/Tue, 3:30PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

FORGOTTEN WAR by Carlo Marco Cruz
• 25 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

FUSCHIA by Joel Lamangan (Sine Direk)
• 22 July/Wed, 9:00PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

IMBURNAL by Sherrad Sanchez (Cinema One)
• 24 July/Fri, 6:15PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

KAMOTENG KAHOY by Maryo J. Delos Reyes (Sine Direk)
• 18 July/Sat, 9:00PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

KOLORETE by Ruello Lozendo (Cinema One)
• 23 July/Thu, 3:30PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

LITSONERO by Lore Reyes (Sine Direk)
• 23 July/Thu, 9:00PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

MANONG by Arnold Argano
• 19 July/Sun, 3:30PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall

MOTORCYCLE by Jon Red (Cinema One)
• 23 July/Thu, 6:15PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

NEXT ATTRACTION by Raya Martin
• 18 July/Sat, 3:30PM at VENUE 4 – CCP MKP Hall

PADYAK by Aloy Adlawan
• 25 July/Sat, 3:30PM at VENUE 6 – CCP Silangan Hall

UPCAT by Roman Olivares (Cinema One)
• 22 July/Wed, 3:30PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

YANGGAW by Richard Somes (Cinema One)
• 21 July/Tue, 6:15PM at VENUE 3 – CCP Dream Theatre

KITA KITS TAYO SA CCP!

SOURCES:

cinemalaya

cultural center of the philippines