Cold War
Film director:
Longman LEUNG
Year:
2012
Running time:
102'
Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine
time 11.25 AM
Annakarinaland
Anna Karina in Pierre le Fou
2013-04-23
2013-04-20
The Revolution Will Be Twitterized
Established Mainstream Media vs Twitter News Snippets?
The way we get our news is changing. Paper newspapers are going digital. Digital subscriptions have forced newsprint to come up with inventive ways to package news. Nothing seems to last for long since it is impossible to compete with the immediacy of digital information. Even reading the entire paper in digital format is time consuming.
"We know from crisis communication research that people typically search for corroborating information before they take a corrective action—their TV tells them there's a tornado brewing and they talk to relatives and neighbors. And now they look at Twitter." Bill Braniff, Executive Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism.
"I have been following my friend's Facebook who is near the scene and she is updating everyone before it even gets to the news". Email sent during Boston Marathon.
The way we get our news is changing. Paper newspapers are going digital. Digital subscriptions have forced newsprint to come up with inventive ways to package news. Nothing seems to last for long since it is impossible to compete with the immediacy of digital information. Even reading the entire paper in digital format is time consuming.
Twitter is becoming the news preference.
Marcus Messner, a communications professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the rash of mainstream media errors [of Boston Marathon bombing news coverage] stemmed at least in part from pressure to compete with fast-flowing social media.
"If you look at Twitter, the news snippets on the events are a lot more advanced than what you're seeing on websites or even what you're seeing on the air," Messner said. "Twitter, especially, has put a lot more pressure on news organization to get it out fast."
Social media is changing everything, that is the need for quick, cinematic messages that may or may not be accurate, information that can be skimmed in a heartbeat, and forgotten in a nano second. The paradigm shift awaits for the entire work force to adapt to the digital revolution. Standing with your pitchfork in protest as the agrarians did during the industrial revolution will not matter.
The revolution IS digitalized and will continue.
The Boston Marathon Patriot Race
Social Media and the Boston Bombings
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| From Palestine to Boston |
I am a part of it all too.
CinéFemme Forum
2013-04-10
Créteil Films de Femmes Celebrates 35 years
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| 35 th Year Poster by Karine Saporta |
The Créteil International Women’s Film Festival, which was held from March 22 to 31 honored veteran filmmakers and actresses who have attended previous festivals such as Margareta Von Trotta, Suzanne Osten, Mira Nair, Ulrike Ottinger, Agnes Varda, Carmen Maura, Maria Schneider and Anna Karina.
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| Jeanne Balifor |
Youth from the Créteil high schools and university are involved in the festival, documenting the festival on film teams, and the government supports the festival. During the year, the festival creates video workshops for them with selected themes and their films are screened in the Créteil Prefecture.
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| Nayat Valaud-Belkacem |
Créteil nevertheless devotes itself to “the privileged exhibition of film directors around the world; it has become over time the only professional event on a major international auteur cinema long discriminated against and poorly dispersed”. It is a festival supported by both the Ministry of Culture in France, and the Creteil borough. Director Jackie Buet has been with the festival since 1979.
An invitation to the “L’Étrange” or Strange Film Festival in Paris featured two films by French filmmaker Angélique Bosio.
The first was the world première of a documentary about a virtually unknown French designer– Fifi Chachnil. In Pretty en Rose (Pretty in Pink). Fifi is known for designing fashionable lingerie and attire for women and has worked with filmmakers such as the gay team of Pierre and Gilles. Bosio spend six years making the film which she also successfully crowdfunded in part.
Bosio’s “Llik your Idols” from 2007 was also screened about the Cinema of Transgression movement of the 80’s coined by the American Nick Zedd, films which were inexpensively underground films created for shock value, often having a humorous effect.
On the final evening of the festival was a special event called an ‘avant première’ of Margareta Von Trotta's biopic “Hannah Arendt”. Barbara Sukorow plays the German American political theorist. Arendt wrote several important books and also covered the trial of Eichmann as a reporter for the New Yorker. She was critical to how the trial was conducted and a large part of Von Trotta’s film treats this.
The international jury selected Hemel as the best feature film of Créteil festival this year.
Grand prix du Jury Meilleur long métrage fiction
Hemel by Sacha Polak (Netherlands 2012):
The story of a woman who is lost in a series of relationships and whose father soon becomes seriously interested in a new woman, which shakes Hemel’s foundation.
Hemel by Sacha Polak (Netherlands 2012):
The story of a woman who is lost in a series of relationships and whose father soon becomes seriously interested in a new woman, which shakes Hemel’s foundation.
Honorable mention. Mention special. The Mirror Never Lies by Kamila Andini (Indonesia, 2011):
The story of an Indonesian mother Tayung and her 12-year-old daughter Pakis whose husband is missing at sea. The film is set in the Coral Triangle and portrays the lives of the Bajo people today
The story of an Indonesian mother Tayung and her 12-year-old daughter Pakis whose husband is missing at sea. The film is set in the Coral Triangle and portrays the lives of the Bajo people today
Public prize for feature film. Prix du Public Meilleur long métrage fiction
Inch’Allah by Anaïs de Barbeau-Lavalette (Canada, 2012)
The story of Chloe, a young Canadian obstetrician working in a makeshift clinic in a Palestinian refugee camp of the West Bank.
Inch’Allah by Anaïs de Barbeau-Lavalette (Canada, 2012)
The story of Chloe, a young Canadian obstetrician working in a makeshift clinic in a Palestinian refugee camp of the West Bank.
Public prize for best documentary. Prix du Public Meilleur long métrage documentaire
Même un oiseau a besoin de son nid (Even a bird needs a nest) by Christine Chansou and Vincent Tritignant-Corneau (France, 2012).
The film about one million Cambodians who have lost their homes to make way for commercial development, which elicited a massive protest led by women.
Même un oiseau a besoin de son nid (Even a bird needs a nest) by Christine Chansou and Vincent Tritignant-Corneau (France, 2012).
The film about one million Cambodians who have lost their homes to make way for commercial development, which elicited a massive protest led by women.
Best feature, Jury Youth Prize. Prix du jury Graine de Cinéphage
Sac de Farine (Sack of Flour), Kadija Leclere Tunisia, 2012): the story about a young girl in Belgium whose father one day arrives at her school to take her to live in Morocco. She grows up learning how to sew and knit rather than study math science and art. One day everything changes.
Sac de Farine (Sack of Flour), Kadija Leclere Tunisia, 2012): the story about a young girl in Belgium whose father one day arrives at her school to take her to live in Morocco. She grows up learning how to sew and knit rather than study math science and art. One day everything changes.
Créteil is clearly up to date, and defies the protocol of rival festivals with its special programming criteria. After 35 years the festival remains a maverick in the arena.
2013-04-09
Annette Funicello was the darling of the original Mouseketeers
Annette Funicello was the darling of the original Mouseketeers
Annette Funicello as "Annette McCloud" is new in town and is invited to a party.
Walt Disney
Annette Funicello was the popular "Mouseketeer" whose career continued with over 20 films and television appearances after her childhood TV roles. Her passing on April 8 was sad news for babyboomers who had grown up with her. Diane Disney Miller posted a personal letter on the Walt Disney Museum blog with a poem written by Byron that she feels could have been written about Annette.
Walt Disney
Walt Disney
What made Funicello so endearing to the public was her wholesome and beautiful good looks, her demeanor, her ability to stand up to her boyfriends in her films, and her perpetual cheer in life. She lived her life almost as the person in her films, sticking up for herself, helping others, making others happy. There were never stories of a different persona behind Annette. She was genuine on screen, as in life.
The original Mouseketeers of the Mickey Mouse Club were only on the air from 1955 to 1960 but their faces are immortal for those who watched the popular TV show. They could all dance and sing and each had a unique personality. One of the best things about the program was that it was educational but the commercials and merchandising that were used to pay for it were not lucrative enough, which was exactly why Disney and ABC could not hammer out a deal and later cancelled it. However, the show did help in part to finance Disneyland.
Annette was the darling of them all. She seemed taller than most of them and was a big sister to the younger ones like, Cubby O'Brien and Karen Pendelton.
The Mouseketeers continued up through 1997 with new children such as Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears who are big stars now, so it goes to show what Disney magic can do.
In interviews in the 90s's Funicello said her eternal friend was Mickey Mouse. Even if Annette retired from entertainment due to her long illness with MS, her passing yesterday evokes one of the newspaper cartoons at the Walt Disney Museum in San Franciscoshowing Mickey crying when Walt Disney passed away in 1966. This cartoon could just as well apply to Annette as one of Mickey's ardent champions.
Listen to an interview of Annette Funicello starting April 10, 10 pm Pacific time in the Movie Magazine Listening Room, a San Francisco based streaming radio program for 20 seasons nationally. The interview will be on there for a week for national and international audiences.
2013-03-15
Romanian drama 'Beyond the Hills' sets lesbian characters back years
Romanian drama 'Beyond the Hills' sets lesbian characters back years
Beyond the Hills
Wildbunch
The award for one of the most backward portraits of lesbians in recent film history would have to go to "Beyond the Hills" opening in San Francisco March 15. The film is set in a Romanian convent where a young woman comes to visit her past lover after working in Germany. They had plans to live together and Alina (Cristina Flutur) was even saving up to buy land for a home. But Voichita (Cosmina Stratan) decides she doesn't want to leave the monastery with her and Alina flips out.
Wildbunch
The "Father" and "Mother" as they are called of the monastery do a "pray in", chaining Alina to a wooden board in a bizarre sort of exorcism. The treatment raised the eyes and ears of critics in the recent Cannes Film Festival and it was considered a front-runner for the Palme d’Or. You could either love it or hate it. The film is an indictment on the religious and medical persecution of "hysterical" women, who usually have some background that qualifies them to be "hysterical", as in this case.
The actresses in the film, Cristina Flutur and Cosmina Stratan, shared the award for best actress but the consensus of the critics is that this was not an exceptional Cannes festival year.
Director Christian Mungiu won the best screenplay for the film and this must have been because of the cinematography that adorns this barren story.
To create a lesbian couple where only one of the two is willing to admit it, and the other in the worst throws of unrequited love keeps hurling herself at a religious fanatic, her former girlfriend, is a screenplay nightmare considering all the inroads that have been made about lesbian characters in recent years. It would be well to avoid Romanian monasteries for the adventuresome lesbian of today. Run for the hills! There are no good female role models in the film either, where nuns try to remedy the two girls and get Alina to calm down and pray to God to be relieved of same sex love. All rely on the priest who is the father figure of the convent and who tries to be a father to the wayward lesbians amidst his Christian colony.
Not even the jury of the Queer Palm felt this picture of a closeted lesbian and a victimized love addict was strong enough to motivate an award in opposition to the ideas of the official jury. Take note that jury decisions at film festivals are arbitrary but the Cannes awards for this film were eye-opening.
2013-02-26
'Silver Linings Playbook' gives Jennifer Lawrence her first Oscar
By Moira Sullivan
When Jennifer Lawrence was asked to be on the Actor’s Studio she declined claiming she has no 'method' of acting. She has played strong women in 'Winter’s Bone' and 'The Hunger Games', and now in 'Silver Linings Playbook'. Since declining to be interrogated by the caustic James Lipton she may inspire many young actors who haven't had a formal acting, singing and dancing education from the minute they were born. There are some like Lawrence who are creative souls that are born to act.
At 22 Lawrence has made uncanny remarks that reveal introspection and wisdom. Her take on life is refreshing and her sense of humor is endearing. At the Oscar backstage press conference she remarked in gest that journalists, all issued with numbers, were taking turns making fun at her, such as if she worried that success had come too soon. "I do now", she answered clearly taken aback by the question.
In a recent interview she reveals she doesn't like to talk about herself, and that it is not healthy to do this all the time. At home she may wear the same clothes three days in a row. She also feels the penetrating eyes of the paparazzi and knows her personal freedom has been clipped. It is a bit scary to see what the fashion designers and photographers are doing with her much like Kristen Stewart where she is asked to pose as personas such as for Dior that are very much unlike the person she appears to be in her interviews. Will fame change Jennifer Lawrence? It probably will if she doesn't have good people looking out for her. This brings to mind the truthfulness of the comments of Jodie Foster at the Golden Globes who said there was a camera in her face from an early age.
"Silver Linings Playbook" directed by David O Russell is moving and engaging. Two misfits who are taking medication for depression - Tiffany (Lawrence) and Pat (Bradley Cooper) meet while jogging. Pat has been issued a restraining order towards his girlfriend and now lives at home with his parents. Down the street lives Tiffany, the widow of a local who took out her grief by sleeping with the male and female staff at her job and was consequently fired. Tiffany promises to get a letter to Pat's girlfriend but wants something in return - that Pat enter a dance contest with her.
The yin and yang of the film with complementary opposites is fairly simplistic and geared for a general audience. Dance will help make Pat feel but his father played by Robert De Niro, likes to bet on football games. He has been banned from games since he fights but wants his son to go to games for him and improve his betting odds with his neighbor. It is not hard to figure out the roots of Pat's depression growing up with this father.
Russell puts Tiffany center stage and the clever young woman suggests a bet to see if the Eagles can beat the cowboys and that she and Pat will get a score of 5 from the judges at the dance competition.
Lawrence was promoted for the Oscar by Harvey Weinstein and as she admitted at the Golden Globes she asked him "who she needed to kill" for the part. It is clear that producers push their talent for awards which increases their box office receipts. It's not altogether fair to Lawrence who shows incredible acting acumen in the film and is the lynchpin to all the other characters, even outshining Bradley Cooper.
With this award, unlike Anne Hathaway's fifteen minutes of screen space in "Les Misérables"that brought her a supporting actress Oscar, Lawrence is destined for great parts. Hopefully she won't be pigeonholed into playing women with mental problems as the result of the award, which often happens with an Oscar winning performance.
One need only look to Meryl Streep to realize that it doesn't have to go this way, and one of the reasons why she is so highly regarded in the motion picture industry.
"The Hunger Games" will continue and Lawrence knows what will happen here, but she is such a talented, insightful and resourceful actress that her future roles will be very exciting to follow. The world needs more young women like Jennifer Lawrence and her Oscar is also a nod to all of us for choosing someone like her to represent our ideas about life.
When Jennifer Lawrence was asked to be on the Actor’s Studio she declined claiming she has no 'method' of acting. She has played strong women in 'Winter’s Bone' and 'The Hunger Games', and now in 'Silver Linings Playbook'. Since declining to be interrogated by the caustic James Lipton she may inspire many young actors who haven't had a formal acting, singing and dancing education from the minute they were born. There are some like Lawrence who are creative souls that are born to act.
At 22 Lawrence has made uncanny remarks that reveal introspection and wisdom. Her take on life is refreshing and her sense of humor is endearing. At the Oscar backstage press conference she remarked in gest that journalists, all issued with numbers, were taking turns making fun at her, such as if she worried that success had come too soon. "I do now", she answered clearly taken aback by the question.
In a recent interview she reveals she doesn't like to talk about herself, and that it is not healthy to do this all the time. At home she may wear the same clothes three days in a row. She also feels the penetrating eyes of the paparazzi and knows her personal freedom has been clipped. It is a bit scary to see what the fashion designers and photographers are doing with her much like Kristen Stewart where she is asked to pose as personas such as for Dior that are very much unlike the person she appears to be in her interviews. Will fame change Jennifer Lawrence? It probably will if she doesn't have good people looking out for her. This brings to mind the truthfulness of the comments of Jodie Foster at the Golden Globes who said there was a camera in her face from an early age.
"Silver Linings Playbook" directed by David O Russell is moving and engaging. Two misfits who are taking medication for depression - Tiffany (Lawrence) and Pat (Bradley Cooper) meet while jogging. Pat has been issued a restraining order towards his girlfriend and now lives at home with his parents. Down the street lives Tiffany, the widow of a local who took out her grief by sleeping with the male and female staff at her job and was consequently fired. Tiffany promises to get a letter to Pat's girlfriend but wants something in return - that Pat enter a dance contest with her.
The yin and yang of the film with complementary opposites is fairly simplistic and geared for a general audience. Dance will help make Pat feel but his father played by Robert De Niro, likes to bet on football games. He has been banned from games since he fights but wants his son to go to games for him and improve his betting odds with his neighbor. It is not hard to figure out the roots of Pat's depression growing up with this father.
Russell puts Tiffany center stage and the clever young woman suggests a bet to see if the Eagles can beat the cowboys and that she and Pat will get a score of 5 from the judges at the dance competition.
Lawrence was promoted for the Oscar by Harvey Weinstein and as she admitted at the Golden Globes she asked him "who she needed to kill" for the part. It is clear that producers push their talent for awards which increases their box office receipts. It's not altogether fair to Lawrence who shows incredible acting acumen in the film and is the lynchpin to all the other characters, even outshining Bradley Cooper.
© 2013 - Moira Sullivan - Date: 02/26/13
2013-01-15
Jodie Foster's Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award speech was brilliant
Jodie Foster's Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award speech was brilliant
Jodie Foster at the Golden Globes awards Jan. 13
HFPA
"I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago", said Jodie Foster at the 70th Golden Globes Jan.13.
HFPA
Foster's powerful speech and upbeat message has received the praise and respect of countless fans, celebrities and members of the LGBT community around the world. It was a courageous special event during one of the most distinguished moments of the career of an actor and director in the company of peers. Foster acknowledged "her family" of children, friends, and colleagues at the Golden Globes as the broadcast was telecast around the world. She was among her supporters. She was proud of her life, of her work, of her children and of her relationship with ex-partner Cydney Bernard who were all sitting at her table. She appeared high spirited, joyous and visibly animated and announced she was "single".
“There is no way I could stand here without acknowledging one of the deepest loves of my life, my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life, my confessor, ski buddy, consigliere, most beloved, BFF of 20 years Cydney Bernard, thank you Cyd. I am so proud of our modern family, our amazing sons Charlie and Kit who are my reason to breathe, and to evolve, my blood and soul. And boys, in case you didn’t know it, this song, all of this. This song is for you.”
Since then, there has also been a bit of criticism by LGBT activists and a bit of misogyny going on about Foster's speech. Viewpoints within the LGBT community are overwhelmingly positive, but unfortunately include a transparent and unwritten protocol that is being flaunted as truth: one must come out publicly if one is a public figure.
Foster's Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Award speech has been criticized as "meandering", "unfocused", "overemotional", and "narcissistic and self-loving", which are typical comments made when women speak out. And having spoken out, Foster has been criticized for not speaking out before about her relationship, for lying, for shouting out the need for privacy and then coming out, or even that she spoke out at all. Foster has for so long been such a powerful female icon, that it is baffling that when she speaks out about herself it's been so negated.
Some of the grumbling brings to mind the reaction six years ago to the Dixie Chicks when they spoke out against the war in Iraq. They were told to "shut up and sing". Gay journalist Andrew Sullivan ("Daily Beast") claims "virtually every coming out these days is low-key, simple and no-drama" and that Foster has now "stopped lying". Sullivan trivializes her declaration and her delay after "others far less powerful had made the sacrifice to make that possible". In so doing, Sullivan equally picks apart her timing: "she waited for the safest moment of all - winning a well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award". Gay film and television actor Wilson Cruz had a similar opinion and went as far to write "f--- you" to Foster within social media channels. Here's a question to the two from Jodie Foster speaking to Robert DeNiro in 'Taxi Driver": "Didn't you ever hear of women's lib?"
That Foster revealed as much as she did to the world was inspirational. It wasn't a rehearsed speech or a polished delivery. There was a balance of vulnerability and outspokenness. The Cecil B DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment is a milestone achievement and it symbolizes a turning point in Foster's life at age 50. She is the second youngest actor to receive the award after 47 years of acting. Judy Garland was the first at 39, who started performing at two and was 47 when she passed away.
It is not surprising that Foster hesitated to speak publicly about her life given the criticism from LGBT activists who question her right to privacy and why she has not come out before. The comments at the same time also convey congratulations, albeit insincere, to the hard working, two-time Oscar winning actress. Those awards were not criticized when she did not come out publicly but the attempt to trivialize her Lifetime Achievement award is abundantly clear in the smaller, more intimate setting of the Globes, which is all the more disappointing. There is a difference between activism and personal integrity. Both command respect.
Whenever and however Jodie Foster 'came out', it was audaciously luminous. For her, it was long ago that she told her friends and colleagues. For us who don't even know her, it was worth the wait. She came out all over the world on prime time TV. Who does that? She was brilliant!
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