Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Animal Kingdom (Thomas Cailley)
In The Animal Kingdom, an Un Certain Regard-selected science-fiction romp from France, human-animal mutations are the new norm. Director Thomas Cailley begins things in media res with a familiar disaster-movie scene: François (Romain Duris) and Émile (Paul Kircher)––father and son, respectively––are stuck in traffic, making chit-chat, when something slowly begins capturing the attention of other drivers. An ambulance across the way begins to rumble. Then a man with a large winged arm bursts out, causing some damage before scurrying down a tunnel. Only mildly ruffled, François exchanges a jaded aphorism with another driver over: “Strange times.” – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli)
The ever-evolving nature of fame and infamy gets examined in Dream Scenario,...
The Animal Kingdom (Thomas Cailley)
In The Animal Kingdom, an Un Certain Regard-selected science-fiction romp from France, human-animal mutations are the new norm. Director Thomas Cailley begins things in media res with a familiar disaster-movie scene: François (Romain Duris) and Émile (Paul Kircher)––father and son, respectively––are stuck in traffic, making chit-chat, when something slowly begins capturing the attention of other drivers. An ambulance across the way begins to rumble. Then a man with a large winged arm bursts out, causing some damage before scurrying down a tunnel. Only mildly ruffled, François exchanges a jaded aphorism with another driver over: “Strange times.” – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli)
The ever-evolving nature of fame and infamy gets examined in Dream Scenario,...
- 3/15/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"Please keep me from giving birth to a chicken." Kino Lorber has revealed a new trailer for a 4K restoration of this 1990s indie film called Household Saints, made by NYC-native filmmaker Nancy Savoca. This originally premiered at the 1993 Toronto Film Festival, and it screened again at this year's New York Film Festival for its 30th anniversary. Adapted from Francine Prose's novel of the same name, it's an unsettling drama about three generations of Italian-American women struggling to get by in post-wwii New York's Little Italy. Kino Lorber and Milestone Films are proud to present a new 4K restoration of Nancy Savoca's Household Saints, featuring a cast inclduing Tracey Ullman, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lili Taylor, Judith Malina, and Michael Imperioli. The film has been digitally restored and remastered by Lightbox Film Center at University of the Arts (Philadelphia) in collaboration with Milestone Films with support from Ron and Suzanne Naples.
- 12/18/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One of the great restorations of the last year––in the sense that not only is it of pristine quality, but that it invites an underseen gem back into the conversation––is that of Nancy Savoca’s 1993 drama Household Saints, which was executive-produced by Jonathan Demme. Led by Tracey Ullman, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lili Taylor, Judith Malina, Illeana Douglas, and Michael Imperioli, the ambitious, carefully observed drama follows the courtship of an Italian-American family before expanding into a tale of religious conviction. Scripted by Savoca and Richard Guay based on Francine Prose’s novel, the new 4K restoration premiered at New York Film Festival and now Kino Lorber and Milestone Films will open it theatrically on January 12 at the IFC Center. Ahead of the release, we’re pleased to exclusively premiere the new trailer.
Here’s the synopsis: “Based on Francine Prose’s fifth novel, Nancy Savoca’s comic chronicle of...
Here’s the synopsis: “Based on Francine Prose’s fifth novel, Nancy Savoca’s comic chronicle of...
- 12/18/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Following Main Slate and Spotlight, the 61st New York Film Festival has unveiled its Revivals lineup, featuring new restorations of classic and overlooked films. Highlights include Manoel de Oliveira’s Abraham’s Valley, Jean Renoir‘s The Woman on the Beach, Bahram Beyzaie’s The Stranger and the Fog, Abel Gance’s La Roue, Paul Vecchiali’s The Strangler, Lee Grant’s Tell Me a Riddle, Nancy Savoca’s Household Saints, Horace Ové’s Pressure, and more.
“This year’s edition of Revivals is a thrilling showcase of cinema history, packed with groundbreaking discoveries and long unseen classics alike, all in outstanding restorations,” said Florence Almozini, Senior Director of Programming at Film at Lincoln Center and NYFF Revivals Programmer. “We never cease to be amazed at the lasting influence of these cinematic gems on our collective sense of cinema, with the way they have tackled cultural, societal, or political issues with such modernity and artistry.
“This year’s edition of Revivals is a thrilling showcase of cinema history, packed with groundbreaking discoveries and long unseen classics alike, all in outstanding restorations,” said Florence Almozini, Senior Director of Programming at Film at Lincoln Center and NYFF Revivals Programmer. “We never cease to be amazed at the lasting influence of these cinematic gems on our collective sense of cinema, with the way they have tackled cultural, societal, or political issues with such modernity and artistry.
- 8/21/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Nobody knew what to make of "Night of the Hunter" when it screened in 1955. Directed by actor Charles Laughton from a script by James Agee, it broke every rule in the book. It's a fairy tale that's nastier and more adult than anything Disney could produce. It's a black-and-white film made at a time when color movies were coming into vogue. Famous actor Robert Mitchum plays one of the scariest villains in film history. There's a stretch in the middle that swings into magical realism, and the end is a Christmas movie. "Night of the Hunter" was so hated by critics at its release that Laughton decided never to make another film. These days it's heralded as not just one of the greatest pictures of its era, but one so miraculous in its construction (despite its foibles) that it might as well be a UFO.
Many have lauded Charles Laughton as the film's guiding genius,...
Many have lauded Charles Laughton as the film's guiding genius,...
- 12/24/2022
- by Adam Wescott
- Slash Film
Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s ever more timely The Meaning Of Hitler, a Doc NYC highlight, features Saul Friedländer and Francine Prose on Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph Of The Will, Martin Amis on political tactics and characterology, Klaus Theweleit on strangers, Deborah Lipstadt, Beate Klarsfeld, Serge Klarsfeld, Ute Frevert, and Yehuda Bauer. The filmmakers start in 2017 with a commuter train ride into New York City, and then on to a subway - Epperlein is seen reading books that mark the moment by the likes of Timothy Snyder, Hannah Arendt, George Orwell, Theweleit, and the one by Sebastian Haffner that gives the film its name.
A little avalanche of movie clips, from Mel Brooks’s [film id=10451]The...
A little avalanche of movie clips, from Mel Brooks’s [film id=10451]The...
- 11/22/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Francine Prose will join Roger Berkowitz, head of the Hannah Arendt Center, Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker for a conversation on Doc NYC Facebook Live this Monday at 2:00pm (Est) Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s kaleidoscopic investigation into the past and our future takes us on the road of history and the state of the world at this moment in time, featuring interviews with Saul Friedländer and Francine Prose on Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph Of The Will, Martin Amis on political tactics and characterology, Deborah Lipstadt, Beate Klarsfeld, Serge Klarsfeld, and 94-year-old Yehuda Bauer getting the last word. We enter with books by Timothy Snyder, Hannah Arendt, George Orwell, Klaus Theweleit, and the one by Sebastian Haffner that gives the film its name.
Clips from Mel Brooks’s The Producers to Bruno Ganz in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall to Anthony Hopkins in George Schaefer’s...
Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s kaleidoscopic investigation into the past and our future takes us on the road of history and the state of the world at this moment in time, featuring interviews with Saul Friedländer and Francine Prose on Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph Of The Will, Martin Amis on political tactics and characterology, Deborah Lipstadt, Beate Klarsfeld, Serge Klarsfeld, and 94-year-old Yehuda Bauer getting the last word. We enter with books by Timothy Snyder, Hannah Arendt, George Orwell, Klaus Theweleit, and the one by Sebastian Haffner that gives the film its name.
Clips from Mel Brooks’s The Producers to Bruno Ganz in Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Downfall to Anthony Hopkins in George Schaefer’s...
- 11/15/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Robert Yapkowitz and Rich Peete’s In My Own Time: A Portrait Of Karen Dalton executive producer Wim Wenders on Nick Cave and Karen Dalton: “Just like Nick, Karen’s music had a profound effect on me.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Victor Kossakovsky’s Gunda, co-written with Ainara Vera, executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix, co-produced by Anita Rehoff Larsen from Sant & Usant with Joslyn Barnes and Susan Rockefeller of Louverture Films and a Main Slate selection of the 58th New York Film Festival; Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s ever more timely The Meaning Of Hitler; Malia Scharf and Max Basch’s intimate portrait, Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide, produced with David Koh (featuring remembrances from Kenny of Keith Haring, Klaus Nomi, <a...
Victor Kossakovsky’s Gunda, co-written with Ainara Vera, executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix, co-produced by Anita Rehoff Larsen from Sant & Usant with Joslyn Barnes and Susan Rockefeller of Louverture Films and a Main Slate selection of the 58th New York Film Festival; Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker’s ever more timely The Meaning Of Hitler; Malia Scharf and Max Basch’s intimate portrait, Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide, produced with David Koh (featuring remembrances from Kenny of Keith Haring, Klaus Nomi, <a...
- 11/15/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Everyone is familiar with the classic Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark book series from the '80s and '90s. Author Alvin Schwartz drew heavily from folklore and urban legends to write the short stories in his books intended for children. Millennials and older generations will remember the terrifying illustrations depicted by Stephen Gammell. With the release of the film adaption of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, directed by André Øvredal and produced by Guillermo del Toro, Daily Dead has a few book recommendations to get you in the spirit before its' release!
In A Dark, Dark Room And Other Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz
"In a dark, dark wood, there was a dark, dark house. "
Fans of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark will be thrilled to read In A Dark, Dark Room, written by Alvin Schwartz and this time illustrated by Dirk Zimmer.
In A Dark, Dark Room And Other Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz
"In a dark, dark wood, there was a dark, dark house. "
Fans of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark will be thrilled to read In A Dark, Dark Room, written by Alvin Schwartz and this time illustrated by Dirk Zimmer.
- 8/9/2019
- by Madison Florea
- DailyDead
MaryAnn’s quick take… In the moment of #MeToo and #TimesUp, this tale of the relationship between an older male professor and his young female student is howlingly out of step and outrageously tone deaf. And that’s on top of its tedious clichés. I’m “biast” (pro): love Stanley Tucci
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
I have not read the source material
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film
(learn more about this)
Movies can take years to make, so it’s impossible to know into what sort of cultural zeitgeist the finished project will ultimately be released. But a special booby prize must go to Submission for getting it so opposite-world, upside-down wrong. I means, sure, this film would have been offensive when it debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival last June, but since then we’ve had Harvey Weinstein,...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
I have not read the source material
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film
(learn more about this)
Movies can take years to make, so it’s impossible to know into what sort of cultural zeitgeist the finished project will ultimately be released. But a special booby prize must go to Submission for getting it so opposite-world, upside-down wrong. I means, sure, this film would have been offensive when it debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival last June, but since then we’ve had Harvey Weinstein,...
- 3/14/2018
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
Ted Swenson (Stanley Tucci) is a living cliché, and he knows it. A middle-aged writer with one “moderately successful book under my belt” (his words, via Tucci’s jaunty voiceover), Ted thought that a teaching job at a Vermont liberal arts college would be the perfect short-term gig while he penned his second novel. Ten years later, tenure is the only thing Ted has to show for his time.
At least, that’s how he feels about it — a cushy job, a full head of hair, and a healthy marriage (to Kyra Sedgwick) don’t mean a damn thing to an author who can’t make good on the promise of their own potential. He used to want his class to fall in love with him; now he just stares at the clock and hopes to wait out the hour. “When do I get more?” Ted asks one of his students,...
At least, that’s how he feels about it — a cushy job, a full head of hair, and a healthy marriage (to Kyra Sedgwick) don’t mean a damn thing to an author who can’t make good on the promise of their own potential. He used to want his class to fall in love with him; now he just stares at the clock and hopes to wait out the hour. “When do I get more?” Ted asks one of his students,...
- 3/5/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
A film about a male teacher getting it on with his female student ought to touch a nerve in the era of #MeToo. But Submission – despite valiant performances from Stanley Tucci and Addison Timlin as the parties involved – lacks the spark it needs to spring to life.
Tucci plays Ted Swenson, a prof who teaches creative writing at a second-rate New England college and fills classrooms on the success fumes from his acclaimed first book, concerning his father's fatal decision to light himself on fire to protest the war in Vietnam.
Tucci plays Ted Swenson, a prof who teaches creative writing at a second-rate New England college and fills classrooms on the success fumes from his acclaimed first book, concerning his father's fatal decision to light himself on fire to protest the war in Vietnam.
- 3/2/2018
- Rollingstone.com
Francine Prose on Stanley Tucci, Kyra Sedgwick, Addison Timlin, Jessica Hecht, Janeane Garofalo, Peter Gallagher, and Ritchie Coster in Submission: "I think the casting is extraordinary." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Based on Francine Prose's 2000 novel Blue Angel, inspired by Josef von Sternberg's 1930 film Der Blaue Engel, adapted from Heinrich Mann's book Professor Unrat from 1905, Submission links present with past. If Angela Argo in Richard Levine's Submission were to set out to do what Marlene Dietrich's Lola Lola did to Emil Jannings' Professor Immanuel Rath, what would that look like in the second decade of the 21st century?
Ted Swenson (Stanley Tucci) with his student Angela (Addison Timlin)
Submission with cinematography by Hillary Spera (Reed Morano's Meadowland) tells the wayward tale of Ted Swenson (Stanley Tucci), a professor who teaches creative writing at a small Vermont college. Once a celebrated author, he now has trouble putting anything creative on paper himself,...
Based on Francine Prose's 2000 novel Blue Angel, inspired by Josef von Sternberg's 1930 film Der Blaue Engel, adapted from Heinrich Mann's book Professor Unrat from 1905, Submission links present with past. If Angela Argo in Richard Levine's Submission were to set out to do what Marlene Dietrich's Lola Lola did to Emil Jannings' Professor Immanuel Rath, what would that look like in the second decade of the 21st century?
Ted Swenson (Stanley Tucci) with his student Angela (Addison Timlin)
Submission with cinematography by Hillary Spera (Reed Morano's Meadowland) tells the wayward tale of Ted Swenson (Stanley Tucci), a professor who teaches creative writing at a small Vermont college. Once a celebrated author, he now has trouble putting anything creative on paper himself,...
- 3/1/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Submission Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Richard Levin Screenwriter: Richard Levin based on Francine Prose’s novel “Blue Angel Cast: Stanley Tucci, Kyra Sedgwick, Addison Timlin, Janeane Garofalo, Peter Gallagher, Ritchie Coster, Jessica Hecht Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 1/22/18 Opens: March 2, 2018 in NY. Time’s up! This is the call of women who are […]
The post Submission Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Submission Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 2/26/2018
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Sneak Peek footage from writer/director Richard Levine's 'obsessive love' feature "Submission", based on the novel "Blue Angel" by Francine Prose, starring Stanley Tucci, Kyra Sedgwick and Janeane Garofalo:
"...'Ted Swenson' (Tucci) is a once-acclaimed author who teaches writing at a small liberal arts college. Though his marriage to 'Sherrie' (Sedgwick) is comfortable...
"...he finds himself drowning in discontent with smug colleagues and an endless stream of students who are as untalented as they are unteachable.
"But when a new pupil, 'Angela Argo' (Addison Timlin), shows promise, Ted focuses on nurturing her career and it becomes unclear whether Ted is predator or prey and Angela is victim or victimizer..."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Submission"...
"...'Ted Swenson' (Tucci) is a once-acclaimed author who teaches writing at a small liberal arts college. Though his marriage to 'Sherrie' (Sedgwick) is comfortable...
"...he finds himself drowning in discontent with smug colleagues and an endless stream of students who are as untalented as they are unteachable.
"But when a new pupil, 'Angela Argo' (Addison Timlin), shows promise, Ted focuses on nurturing her career and it becomes unclear whether Ted is predator or prey and Angela is victim or victimizer..."
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Submission"...
- 2/4/2018
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
"I wanted to talk to you about a novel I'm writing..." Paladin has released the first official trailer for an indie drama titled Submission, from writer/director Richard Levine, adapted from one of Francine Prose's novels. This edgy drama addressing sexual harassment is about a cynical college professor at a small liberal arts college who takes a keen interest in a talented young writing student who admires his work. Stanley Tucci stars as the professor, a a once-acclaimed author who meets a student named Angela that makes him question everything. "It's only a matter of time before lines are crossed and it becomes unclear whether Ted is predator or prey and Angela is victim or victimizer." Very interesting description. The full cast includes Addison Timlin, Kyra Sedgwick, Janeane Garofalo, Ritchie Coster, & Colby Minifie. Take a look. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Richard Levine's Submission, direct from Vimeo...
- 2/2/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Kayti Burt Feb 2, 2018
Stanley Tucci is headlining Seduction, a film about a college professor and his student. Here's the first trailer...
The first trailer for Submission, a film about a male college professor and his younger, female student, has just hit the web.
Stanley Tucci stars alongside Addison Timlin, Kyra Sedgwick, Janeane Garofalo, and Peter Gallagher in a story that follows Ted Swenson (Tucci), a writer and professor at a small liberal arts college. When one of his creative writing students, Angelo Argo (Timlin), begins to write a story about a young woman embarking on a sexual relationship with her professor, the lines between their relationship begins to blur.
Video of Submission Starring Stanley Tucci - Trailer
In many ways, this seems like a timely film, but from the looks of the trailer, which asks the question who is the victim and who is the victimizer in this situation, it...
Stanley Tucci is headlining Seduction, a film about a college professor and his student. Here's the first trailer...
The first trailer for Submission, a film about a male college professor and his younger, female student, has just hit the web.
Stanley Tucci stars alongside Addison Timlin, Kyra Sedgwick, Janeane Garofalo, and Peter Gallagher in a story that follows Ted Swenson (Tucci), a writer and professor at a small liberal arts college. When one of his creative writing students, Angelo Argo (Timlin), begins to write a story about a young woman embarking on a sexual relationship with her professor, the lines between their relationship begins to blur.
Video of Submission Starring Stanley Tucci - Trailer
In many ways, this seems like a timely film, but from the looks of the trailer, which asks the question who is the victim and who is the victimizer in this situation, it...
- 2/1/2018
- Den of Geek
In time for the Sundance Film Festival, UK-based media fund manager Great Point Media is launching a U.S. theatrical distribution arm that will release 8-12 titles per year in theaters across the country. The company has already assembled a full slate for 2018, with $10 million in P&A committed to date. Great Point’s new platform starts with the March release of Submission, writer/director Richard Levine's adaptation of Francine Prose's acclaimed novel Blue Angel. Stanley…...
- 1/12/2018
- Deadline
Acquisitions team Sundance-bound to scout for 2019 releases.
Heading into Sundance, London-based Great Point Media is launching a Us distribution arm and has set its first release Submission for March.
Company co-founders Robert Halmi and Jim Reeve plan to release eight to 12 titles a year and have committed $10m in P&A to a full 2018 slate. The acquisitions team will attend Sundance to scout for 2019 releases.
The company has partnered with distribution veterans Mark Urman of Paladin, Jeff Lipsky of Glass Half Full, and Michael Silberman. Commercial manager Matt Stevens oversees the releases from the company’s London office.
Richard Levine’s (Nip/Tuck) Submission is an adaptation of Francine Prose’s novel Blue Angel that stars Stanley Tucci and Kyra Sedgwick. It will open on March 2 in New York and expand a week later into multiple markets.
The pipelines includes Judy Greer’s directorial debut A Happening Of Monumental Proportions, an all-star comedy...
Heading into Sundance, London-based Great Point Media is launching a Us distribution arm and has set its first release Submission for March.
Company co-founders Robert Halmi and Jim Reeve plan to release eight to 12 titles a year and have committed $10m in P&A to a full 2018 slate. The acquisitions team will attend Sundance to scout for 2019 releases.
The company has partnered with distribution veterans Mark Urman of Paladin, Jeff Lipsky of Glass Half Full, and Michael Silberman. Commercial manager Matt Stevens oversees the releases from the company’s London office.
Richard Levine’s (Nip/Tuck) Submission is an adaptation of Francine Prose’s novel Blue Angel that stars Stanley Tucci and Kyra Sedgwick. It will open on March 2 in New York and expand a week later into multiple markets.
The pipelines includes Judy Greer’s directorial debut A Happening Of Monumental Proportions, an all-star comedy...
- 1/12/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Growing U.K.-based finance and sales banner Great Point Media is launching a U.S. distribution arm, with the aim of launching eight to 12 titles per year across the country.
First up on the release schedule is Submission, the adaptation by Richard Levine (Nip/Tuck) of Francine Prose’s acclaimed novel Blue Angel, starring Stanley Tucci and Kyra Sedgwick. It will open in New York on March 2 and expand March 9.
Blue Angel is just one film on a full and already prepped 2018 slate, which includes Judy Greer’s all-star directorial debut, A Happening of Monumental Proportions starring Allison Janney, Jennifer Garner,...
First up on the release schedule is Submission, the adaptation by Richard Levine (Nip/Tuck) of Francine Prose’s acclaimed novel Blue Angel, starring Stanley Tucci and Kyra Sedgwick. It will open in New York on March 2 and expand March 9.
Blue Angel is just one film on a full and already prepped 2018 slate, which includes Judy Greer’s all-star directorial debut, A Happening of Monumental Proportions starring Allison Janney, Jennifer Garner,...
- 1/12/2018
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Stories of teacher-student sex and sexual harassment on college campuses are not new. Francine Prose wrote her acclaimed novel on the subject, Blue Angel, 17 years ago. But with increasing debates about the issue and explosive sexual harassment charges during the 2016 presidential election, the new movie, Submission, adapted from Prose’s novel, seems especially timely. With a strong cast headed by Stanley Tucci, Kyra Sedgwick and young actress Addison Timlin, the film seems likely to find an audience and stir plenty of debate.
Ted Swenson (Tucci) is a professor of creative writing at a small New England college. He’s bored...
Ted Swenson (Tucci) is a professor of creative writing at a small New England college. He’s bored...
- 6/22/2017
- by Stephen Farber
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Writer-director Richard Levine’s Submission starring Stanley Tucci, Addison Timlin, Kyra Sedgwick and Janeane Garofolo has its world premiere Monday in the Premieres section at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Based on Francine Prose’s bestselling novel Blue Angel, Tucci plays novelist-professor Ted Swenson, who despite a loving and playful marriage finds his unresolved personal conflicts manifest in unexpected ways when he becomes obsessed with Angela Argo…...
- 6/15/2017
- Deadline
Steve Buscemi, Stanley Tucci and Wren Arthur’s company credits include recent Berlinale premiere Final Portrait.
The entertainment titan will serve as the studio and will control worldwide rights to television projects produced from the new partnership, which expands eOne Television’s roster of creative partnerships with renowned talent.
New York-based Olive produces an eclectic array of TV projects, fiction and documentary features.
Recent Olive Productions projects include Final Portrait (pictured), which Tucci wrote and directed and stars Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer.
The slate includes Amber Tamblyn’s directorial debut Paint It Black starring Janet McTeer and Alia Shawkat, which Imagination is set to release in May; Check It, a documentary about an African-American gay street gang directed by Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor; Submission, based on the Francine Prose novel; and Blue Angel, written and directed by Richard Levine and starring Tucci, Addison Timlin and Kyra Sedgwick.
Olive is lining up a New York-based feature...
The entertainment titan will serve as the studio and will control worldwide rights to television projects produced from the new partnership, which expands eOne Television’s roster of creative partnerships with renowned talent.
New York-based Olive produces an eclectic array of TV projects, fiction and documentary features.
Recent Olive Productions projects include Final Portrait (pictured), which Tucci wrote and directed and stars Geoffrey Rush and Armie Hammer.
The slate includes Amber Tamblyn’s directorial debut Paint It Black starring Janet McTeer and Alia Shawkat, which Imagination is set to release in May; Check It, a documentary about an African-American gay street gang directed by Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor; Submission, based on the Francine Prose novel; and Blue Angel, written and directed by Richard Levine and starring Tucci, Addison Timlin and Kyra Sedgwick.
Olive is lining up a New York-based feature...
- 2/23/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
As a film student, I, like many before me, found myself caught under the mesmerizing spell of Russian auteur Andrei Tarkovsky soon after I watched the opening shot of his seminal Stalker in class. I rushed to find a copy and, sitting on my dorm room bed — laptop open, headphones blasting — I watched, mouth agape, as the sheer poeticism and beauty of his work washed over me. For some, Russian slow cinema is a sleep-inducing slog better left on the dusty shelves of film history. For others (myself included), it proves a rapturous experience through its challenges and subsequent rewards. Steeped in philosophy, dread, and beauty, Tarkovsky’s picture is a staple and lasting example of the medium’s particular powers. With each revisit, Stalker continually unfolds new layers to the attentive viewer: though it was released in 1979, essayists and scholars (not to mention teachers and students) are still having a field day.
- 2/2/2017
- by Mike Mazzanti
- The Film Stage
The 2016 edition of Cannes coincided with the much-anticipated U.S. release of one of the standout films from last year’s festival, Yorgos Lanthimos’ English-language debut, The Lobster. The film, in which “guests at a grand, old-fashioned hotel are given 45 days to find love or face being turned into animals” (A. O. Scott), has been warmly praised by critics, including Francine Prose at The New York Review of Books:Lanthimos’s approach to sex and dance, as with so many elements in his films, make us feel that he is stripping away the familiar conventions of filmmaking (the gauzy love scene, the seemingly effortless grace of Fred Astaire) to show us something at once familiar and entirely new. Dipping into the past to borrow from Greek tragedy, picturing the future as a surreal and horrific exaggeration of the present, The Lobster frightens and entertains, saddens and inspirits us—in this case...
- 5/25/2016
- MUBI
Wim Wenders goes neo-noir in this wonderfully moody character-driven crime tale. Soulful art framer Bruno Ganz is the patsy in a murder scheme, but Dennis Hopper's sociopath / villain has a change of heart and befriends him. This modern classic looks great and features movie directors Nicholas Ray and Samuel Fuller in major guest roles. The American Friend Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 793 1977 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 127 min. / Der Amerikanische Freund / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 12, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer, Gérard Blain, Nicholas Ray, Samuel Fuller. Cinematography Robby Müller Art Direction Heidi & Toni Lüdi Film Editor Peter Przygodda Original Music Jürgen Knieper Written by Wim Wenders from the novel Ripley's Game by Patricia Highsmith Produced by Renée Gundelach, Wim Wenders Directed by Wim Wenders
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Fourteen years ago Anchor Bay released a Wim Wenders DVD collection with excellent extras provided by the director himself.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Fourteen years ago Anchor Bay released a Wim Wenders DVD collection with excellent extras provided by the director himself.
- 1/16/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Totally and tragically unconventional, Peggy Guggenheim moved through the cultural upheaval of the 20th century collecting not only not only art, but artists. Her sexual life was -- and still today is -- more discussed than the art itself which she collected, not for her own consumption but for the world to enjoy.
Her colorful personal history included such figures as Samuel Beckett, Max Ernst, Jackson Pollock, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp and countless others. Guggenheim helped introduce the world to Pollock, Motherwell, Rothko and scores of others now recognized as key masters of modernism.
In 1921 she moved to Paris and mingled with Picasso, Dali, Joyce, Pound, Stein, Leger, Kandinsky. In 1938 she opened a gallery in London and began showing Cocteau, Tanguy, Magritte, Miro, Brancusi, etc., and then back to Paris and New York after the Nazi invasion, followed by the opening of her NYC gallery Art of This Century, which became one of the premiere avant-garde spaces in the U.S. While fighting through personal tragedy, she maintained her vision to build one of the most important collections of modern art, now enshrined in her Venetian palazzo where she moved in 1947. Since 1951, her collection has become one of the world’s most visited art spaces.
Featuring: Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Arshile Gorky, Vasil Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Willem de Kooning, Fernand Leger, Rene Magritte, Man Ray, Jean Miro, Piet Mondrian, Henry Moore, Robert Motherwell, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Kurt Schwitters, Gino Severini, Clyfford Still and Yves Tanguy.
Lisa Immordino Vreeland (Director and Producer)
Lisa Immordino Vreeland has been immersed in the world of fashion and art for the past 25 years. She started her career in fashion as the Director of Public Relations for Polo Ralph Lauren in Italy and quickly moved on to launch two fashion companies, Pratico, a sportswear line for women, and Mago, a cashmere knitwear collection of her own design. Her first book was accompanied by her directorial debut of the documentary of the same name, "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel" (2012). The film about the editor of Harper's Bazaar had its European premiere at the Venice Film Festival and its North American premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, going on to win the Silver Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival and the fashion category for the Design of the Year awards, otherwise known as “The Oscars” of design—at the Design Museum in London.
"Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict" is Lisa Immordino Vreeland's followup to her acclaimed debut, "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel". She is now working on her third doc on Cecil Beaton who Lisa says, "has been circling around all these stories. What's great about him is the creativity: fashion photography, war photography, "My Fair Lady" winning an Oscar."
Sydney Levine: I have read numerous accounts and interviews with you about this film and rather than repeat all that has been said, I refer my readers to Indiewire's Women and Hollywood interview at Tribeca this year, and your Indiewire interview with Aubrey Page, November 6, 2015 .
Let's try to cover new territory here.
First of all, what about you? What is your relationship to Diana Vreeland?
Liv: I am married to her grandson, Alexander Vreeland. (I'm also proud of my name Immordino) I never met Diana but hearing so many family stories about her made me start to wonder about all the talk about her. I worked in fashion and lived in New York like she did.
Sl: In one of your interviews you said that Peggy was not only ahead of her time but she helped to define it. Can you tell me how?
Liv: Peggy grew up in a very traditional family of German Bavarian Jews who had moved to New York City in the 19th century. Already at a young age Peggy felt like there were too many rules around her and she wanted to break out. That alone was something attractive to me — the notion that she knew that she didn't fit in to her family or her times. She lived on her own terms, a very modern approach to life. She decided to abandon her family in New York. Though she always stayed connected to them, she rarely visited New York. Instead she lived in a world without borders. She did not live by "the rules". She believed in creating art and created herself, living on her own terms and not on those of her family.
Sl: Is there a link between her and your previous doc on Diana Vreeland?
Liv: The link between Vreeland and Guggenheim is their mutual sense of reinvention and transformation. That made something click inside of me as I too reinvented myself when I began writing the book on Diana Vreeland .
Can you talk about the process of putting this one together and how it differed from its predecessor?
Liv: The most challenging thing about this one was the vast amount of material we had at our disposal. We had a lot of media to go through — instead of fashion spreads, which informed The Eye Has To Travel, we had art, which was fantastic. I was spoiled by the access we had to these incredible archives and footage. I'm still new to this, but it's the storytelling aspect that I loved in both projects. One thing about Peggy that Mrs. Vreeland didn't have was a very tragic personal life. There was so much that happened in Peggy's life before you even got to what she actually accomplished. And so we had to tell a very dense story about her childhood, her father dying on the Titanic, her beloved sister dying — the tragic events that fundamentally shaped her in a way. It was about making sure we had enough of the personal story to go along with her later accomplishments.
World War II alone was such a huge part of her story, opening an important art gallery in London, where she showed Kandinsky and other important artists for the first time. The amount of material to distill was a tremendous challenge and I hope we made the right choices.
Sl: How did you learn make a documentary?
Liv: I learned how to make a documentary by having a good team around me. My editors (and co-writers)Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt and Frédéric Tcheng were very helpful.
Research is fundamental; finding as much as you can and never giving up. I love the research. It is my "precise time". Not just for interviews but of footage, photographs never seen before. It is a painstaking process that satisfies me. The research never ends. I was still researching while I was promoting the Diana Vreeland book. I love reading books and going to original sources.
The archives in film museums in the last ten years has changed and given museums a new role. I found unique footage at Moma with the Elizabeth Chapman Films. Chapman went to Paris in the 30s and 40s with a handheld camera and took moving pictures of Brancusi and Duchamps joking around in a studio, Gertrude Stein, Leger walking down the street. This footage is owned by Robert Storr, Dean of Yale School of Art. In fact he is taking a sabbatical this year to go through the boxes and boxes of Chapman's films. We also used " Entre'acte" by René Clair cowritten with Dadaist Francis Picabia, "Le Sang du poet" of Cocteau, Hans Richter "8x8","Gagascope" and " Dreams That Money Can Buy" produced by Peggy Guggenheim, written by Man Ray in 1947.
Sl: How long did it take to research and make the film?
Liv: It took three years for both the Vreeland and the Guggenheim documentary.
It was more difficult with the Guggenheim story because there was so much material and so much to tell of her life. And she was not so giving of her own self. Diana could inspire you about a bandaid; she was so giving. But Peggy didn't talk much about why she loved an artist or a painting. She acted more. And using historical material could become "over-teaching" though it was fascinating.
So much had to be eliminated. It was hard to eliminate the Degenerate Art Show, a subject which is newly discussed. Stephanie Barron of Lacma is an expert on Degenerate Art and was so generous.
Once we decided upon which aspects to focus on, then we could give focus to the interviews.
There were so many of her important shows we could not include. For instance there was a show on collages featuring William Baziotes , Jackson Pollack and Robert Motherwell which started a more modern collage trend in art. The 31 Women Art Show which we did include pushed forward another message which I think is important.
And so many different things have been written about Peggy — there were hundreds of articles written about her during her lifetime. She also kept beautiful scrapbooks of articles written about her, which are now in the archives of the Guggenheim Museum.
The Guggenheim foundation did not commission this documentary but they were very supportive and the film premiered there in New York in a wonderful celebration. They wanted to represent Peggy and her paintings properly. The paintings were secondary characters and all were carefully placed historically in a correct fashion.
Sl: You said in one interview Guggenheim became a central figure in the modern art movement?
Liv: Yes and she did it without ego. Sharing was always her purpose in collecting art. She was not out for herself. Before Peggy, the art world was very different. And today it is part of wealth management.
Other collectors had a different way with art. Isabelle Stewart Gardner bought art for her own personal consumption. The Gardner Museum came later. Gertrude Stein was sharing the vision of her brother when she began collecting art. The Coen sisters were not sharing.
Her benevolence ranged from giving Berenice Abbott the money to buy her first camera to keeping Pollock afloat during lean times.
Djuana Barnes, who had a 'Love Love Love Hate Hate Hate' relationship with Peggy wrote Nightwood in Peggy's country house in England.
She was in Paris to the last minute. She planned how to safeguard artwork from the Nazis during World War II. She was storing gasoline so she could escape. She lived on the Ile St. Louis with her art and moved the paintings out first to a children's boarding school and then to Marseilles where it was shipped out to New York City.
Her role in art was not taken seriously because of her very public love life which was described in very derogatory terms. There was more talk about her love life than about her collection of art.
Her autobiography, Out of This Century: Confessions of an Art Addict (1960) , was scandalous when it came out — and she didn't even use real names, she used pseudonyms for her numerous partners. Only after publication did she reveal the names of the men she slept with.
The fact that she spoke about her sexual life at all was the most outrageous aspect. She was opening herself up to ridicule, but she didn't care. Peggy was her own person and she felt good in her own skin. But it was definitely unconventional behavior. I think her sexual appetites revealed a lot about finding her own identity.
A lot of it was tied to the loss of her father, I think, in addition to her wanting to feel accepted. She was also very adventurous — look at the men she slept with. I mean, come on, they are amazing! Samuel Beckett, Yves Tanguy, Marcel Duchamp, and she married Max Ernst. I think it was really ballsy of her to have been so open about her sexuality; this was not something people did back then. So many people are bound by conventional rules but Peggy said no. She grabbed hold of life and she lived it on her own terms.
Sl: You also give Peggy credit for changing the way art was exhibited. Can you explain that?
Liv: One of her greatest achievements was her gallery space in New York City, Art of This Century, which was unlike anything the art world has seen before or since in the way that it shattered the boundaries of the gallery space that we've come to know today — the sterile white cube. She came to be a genius at displaying her collections...
She was smart with Art of the Century because she hired Frederick Kiesler as a designer of the gallery and once again surrounded herself with the right people, including Howard Putzler, who was already involved with her at Guggenheim Jeune in London. And she was hanging out with all the exiled Surrealists who were living in New York at the time, including her future husband, Max Ernst, who was the real star of that group of artists. With the help of these people, she started showing art in a completely different way that was both informal and approachable. In conventional museums and galleries, art was untouchable on the wall and inside frames. In Peggy's gallery, art stuck out from the walls; works weren't confined to frames. Kiesler designed special chairs you could sit in and browse canvases as you would texts in a library. Nothing like this had ever existed in New York before — even today there is nothing like it.
She made the gallery into an exciting place where the whole concept of space was transformed. In Venice, the gallery space was also her home. Today, for a variety of reasons, the home aspect of the collection is less emphasized, though you still get a strong sense of Peggy's home life there. She was bringing art to the public in a bold new way, which I think is a great idea. It's art for everybody, which is very much a part of today's dialogue except that fewer people can afford the outlandish museum entry fees.
Sl: What do you think made her so prescient and attuned ?
Liv: She was smart enough to ask Marcel Duchamp to be her advisor — so she was in tune, and very well connected. She was on the cutting edge of what was going on and I think a lot of this had to do with Peggy being open to the idea of what was new and outrageous. You have to have a certain personality for this; what her childhood had dictated was totally opposite from what she became in life, and being in the right place at the right time helped her maintain a cutting edge throughout her life.
Sl: The movie is framed around a lost interview with Peggy conducted late in her life. How did you acquire these tapes?
Liv: We optioned Jacqueline Bogard Weld’s book, Peggy : The Wayward Guggenheim, the only authorized biography of Peggy, which was published after she died. Jackie had spent two summers interviewing Peggy but at a certain point lost the tapes somewhere in her Park Avenue apartment. Jackie had so much access to Peggy, which was incredible, but it was also the access that she had to other people who had known Peggy — she interviewed over 200 people for her book. Jackie was incredibly generous, letting me go through all her original research except for the lost tapes.
We'd walk into different rooms in her apartment and I'd suggestively open a closet door and ask “Where do you think those tapes might be?" Then one day I asked if she had a basement, and she did. So I went through all these boxes down there, organizing her affairs. Then bingo, the tapes showed up in this shoebox.
It was the longest interview Peggy had ever done and it became the framework for our movie. There's nothing more powerful than when you have someone's real voice telling the story, and Jackie was especially good at asking provoking questions. You can tell it was hard for Peggy to answer a lot of them, because she wasn't someone who was especially expressive; she didn't have a lot of emotion. And this comes across in the movie, in the tone of her voice.
Sl: Larry Gagosian has one of the best descriptions of Peggy in the movie — "she was her own creation." Would you agree, and if so why?
Liv: She was very much her own creation. When he said that in the interview I had a huge smile on my face. In Peggy's case it stemmed from a real need to identify and understand herself. I'm not sure she achieved it but she completely recreated herself — she knew that she did not want to be what she was brought up to be. She tried being a mother, but that was not one of her strengths, so art became that place where she could find herself, and then transform herself.
Nobody believed in the artists she cultivated and supported — they were outsiders and she was an outsider in the world she was brought up in. So it's in this way that she became her own great invention. I hope that her humor comes across in the film because she was extremely amusing — this aspect really comes across in her autobiography.
Sl: Finally, what do you think is Peggy Guggenheim's most lasting legacy, beyond her incredible art collection?
Liv: Her courage, and the way she used it to find herself. She had this ballsiness that not many people had, especially women. In her own way she was a feminist and it's good for women and young girls today to see women who stepped outside the confines of a very traditional family and made something of her life. Peggy's life did not seem that dreamy until she attached herself to these artists. It was her ability to redefine herself in the end that truly summed her up.
About the Filmmakers
Stanley Buchtal is a producer and entrepreneur. His movies credits include "Hairspray", "Spanking the Monkey", "Up at the Villa", "Lou Reed Berlin", "Love Marilyn", "LennoNYC", "Bobby Fischer Against the World", "Herb & Dorothy", "Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present"," Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child", "Sketches of Frank Gehry", "Black White + Gray: a Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe", among numerous others.
David Koh is an independent producer, distributor, sales agent, programmer and curator. He has been involved in the distribution, sale, production, and financing of over 200 films. He is currently a partner in the boutique label Submarine Entertainment with Josh and Dan Braun and is also partners with Stanley Buchthal and his Dakota Group Ltd where he co-manages a portfolio of over 50 projects a year (75% docs and 25% fiction). Previously he was a partner and founder of Arthouse Films a boutique distribution imprint and ran Chris Blackwell's (founder of Island Records & Island Pictures) film label, Palm Pictures. He has worked as a Producer for artist Nam June Paik and worked in the curatorial departments of Anthology Film Archives, MoMA, Mfa Boston, and the Guggenheim Museum. David has recently served as a Curator for Microsoft and has curated an ongoing film series and salon with Andre Balazs Properties and serves as a Curator for the exclusive Core Club in NYC.
David recently launched with his partners Submarine Deluxe, a distribution imprint; Torpedo Pictures, a low budget high concept label; and Nfp Submarine Doks, a German distribution imprint with Nfp Films. Recently and upcoming projects include "Yayoi Kusama: a Life in Polka Dots", "Burden: a Portrait of Artist Chris Burden", "Dior and I", "20 Feet From Stardom", "Muscle Shoals", "Marina Abramovic the Artist is Present", "Rats NYC", "Nas: Time Is Illmatic", "Blackfish", "Love Marilyn", "Chasing Ice", "Searching for Sugar Man", "Cutie and the Boxer"," Jean-Michel Basquiat: the Radiant Child", "Finding Vivian Maier", "The Wolfpack, "Meru", and "Station to Station".
Dan Braun is a producer, writer, art director and musician/composer based in NYC. He is the Co-President of and Co-Founder of Submarine, a NYC film sales and production company specializing in independent feature and documentary films. Titles include "Blackfish", "Finding Vivian Maier", "Muscle Shoals", "The Case Against 8", "Keep On Keepin’ On", "Winter’s Bone", "Nas: Time is Illmatic", "Dior and I" and Oscar winning docs "Man on Wire", "Searching for Sugarman", "20 Ft From Stardom" and "Citizenfour". He was Executive Producer on documentaries "Kill Your Idols", (which won Best NY Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival 2004), "Blank City", "Sunshine Superman", the upcoming feature adaptations of "Batkid Begins" and "The Battered Bastards of Baseball" and the upcoming horror TV anthology "Creepy" to be directed by Chris Columbus.
He is a producer of the free jazz documentary "Fire Music", and the upcoming documentaries, "Burden" on artist Chris Burden and "Kusama: a Life in Polka Dots" on artist Yayoi Kusama. He is also a writer and consulting editor on Dark Horse Comic’s "Creepy" and "Eerie 9" comic book and archival series for which he won an Eisner Award for best archival comic book series in 2009.
He is a musician/composer whose compositions were featured in the films "I Melt With You" and "Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Radiant Child and is an award winning art director/creative director when he worked at Tbwa/Chiat/Day on the famous Absolut Vodka campaign.
John Northrup (Co-Producer) began his career in documentaries as a French translator for National Geographic: Explorer. He quickly moved into editing and producing, serving as the Associate Producer on "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel" (2012), and editing and co-producing "Wilson In Situ" (2014), which tells the story of theatre legend Robert Wilson and his Watermill Center. Most recently, he oversaw the post-production of Jim Chambers’ "Onward Christian Soldier", a documentary about Olympic Bomber Eric Rudolph, and is shooting on Susanne Rostock’s "Another Night in the Free World", the follow-up to her award-winning "Sing Your Song" (2011).
Submarine Entertainment (Production Company) Submarine Entertainment is a hybrid sales, production, and distribution company based in N.Y. Recent and upcoming titles include "Citizenfour", "Finding Vivian Maier", "The Dog", "Visitors", "20 Feet from Stardom", "Searching for Sugar Man", "Muscle Shoals", "Blackfish", "Cutie and the Boxer", "The Summit", "The Unknown Known", "Love Marilyn", "Marina Abramovic the Artist is Present", "Chasing Ice", "Downtown 81 30th Anniversary Remastered", "Wild Style 30th Anniversary Remastered", "Good Ol Freda", "Some Velvet Morning", among numerous others. Submarine principals also represent Creepy and Eerie comic book library and are developing properties across film & TV platforms.
Submarine has also recently launched a domestic distribution imprint and label called Submarine Deluxe; a genre label called Torpedo Pictures; and a German imprint and label called Nfp Submarine Doks.
Bernadine Colish has edited a number of award-winning documentaries. "Herb and Dorothy" (2008), won Audience Awards at Silverdocs, Philadelphia and Hamptons Film Festivals, and "Body of War" (2007), was named Best Documentary by the National Board of Review. "A Touch of Greatness" (2004) aired on PBS Independent Lens and was nominated for an Emmy Award. Her career began at Maysles Films, where she worked with Charlotte Zwerin on such projects as "Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser", "Toru Takemitsu: Music for the Movies" and the PBS American Masters documentary, "Ella Fitzgerald: Something To Live For". Additional credits include "Bringing Tibet Home", "Band of Sisters", "Rise and Dream", "The Tiger Next Door", "The Buffalo War" and "Absolute Wilson".
Jed Parker (Editor) Jed Parker began his career in feature films before moving into documentaries through his work with the award-winning American Masters series. Credits include "Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart", "Annie Liebovitz: Life Through a Lens", and most recently "Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides".
Other work includes two episodes of the PBS series "Make ‘Em Laugh", hosted by Billy Crystal, as well as a documentary on Met Curator Henry Geldzahler entitled "Who Gets to Call it Art"?
Credits
Director, Writer, Producer: Lisa Immordino Vreeland
Produced by Stanley Buchthal, David Koh and Dan Braun Stanley Buchthal (producer)
Maja Hoffmann (executive producer)
Josh Braun (executive producer)
Bob Benton (executive producer)
John Northrup (co-producer)
Bernadine Colish (editor)
Jed Parker (editor)
Peter Trilling (director of photography)
Bonnie Greenberg (executive music producer)
Music by J. Ralph
Original Song "Once Again" Written and Performed By J. Ralph
Interviews Featuring Artist Marina Abramović Jean Arp Dore Ashton Samuel Beckett Stephanie Barron Constantin Brâncuși Diego Cortez Alexander Calder Susan Davidson Joseph Cornell Robert De Niro Salvador Dalí Simon de Pury Willem de Kooning Jeffrey Deitch Marcel Duchamp Polly Devlin Max Ernst Larry Gagosian Alberto Giacometti Arne Glimcher Vasily Kandinsky Michael Govan Fernand Léger Nicky Haslam Joan Miró Pepe Karmel Piet Mondrian Donald Kuspit Robert Motherwell Dominique Lévy Jackson Pollock Carlo McCormick Mark Rothko Hans Ulrich Obrist Yves Tanguy Lisa Phillips Lindsay Pollock Francine Prose John Richardson Sandy Rower Mercedes Ruehl Jane Rylands Philip Rylands Calvin Tomkins Karole Vail Jacqueline Bograd Weld Edmund White
Running time: 97 minutes
U.S. distribution by Submarine Deluxe
International sales by Hanway...
Her colorful personal history included such figures as Samuel Beckett, Max Ernst, Jackson Pollock, Alexander Calder, Marcel Duchamp and countless others. Guggenheim helped introduce the world to Pollock, Motherwell, Rothko and scores of others now recognized as key masters of modernism.
In 1921 she moved to Paris and mingled with Picasso, Dali, Joyce, Pound, Stein, Leger, Kandinsky. In 1938 she opened a gallery in London and began showing Cocteau, Tanguy, Magritte, Miro, Brancusi, etc., and then back to Paris and New York after the Nazi invasion, followed by the opening of her NYC gallery Art of This Century, which became one of the premiere avant-garde spaces in the U.S. While fighting through personal tragedy, she maintained her vision to build one of the most important collections of modern art, now enshrined in her Venetian palazzo where she moved in 1947. Since 1951, her collection has become one of the world’s most visited art spaces.
Featuring: Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Arshile Gorky, Vasil Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Willem de Kooning, Fernand Leger, Rene Magritte, Man Ray, Jean Miro, Piet Mondrian, Henry Moore, Robert Motherwell, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Kurt Schwitters, Gino Severini, Clyfford Still and Yves Tanguy.
Lisa Immordino Vreeland (Director and Producer)
Lisa Immordino Vreeland has been immersed in the world of fashion and art for the past 25 years. She started her career in fashion as the Director of Public Relations for Polo Ralph Lauren in Italy and quickly moved on to launch two fashion companies, Pratico, a sportswear line for women, and Mago, a cashmere knitwear collection of her own design. Her first book was accompanied by her directorial debut of the documentary of the same name, "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel" (2012). The film about the editor of Harper's Bazaar had its European premiere at the Venice Film Festival and its North American premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, going on to win the Silver Hugo at the Chicago Film Festival and the fashion category for the Design of the Year awards, otherwise known as “The Oscars” of design—at the Design Museum in London.
"Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict" is Lisa Immordino Vreeland's followup to her acclaimed debut, "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel". She is now working on her third doc on Cecil Beaton who Lisa says, "has been circling around all these stories. What's great about him is the creativity: fashion photography, war photography, "My Fair Lady" winning an Oscar."
Sydney Levine: I have read numerous accounts and interviews with you about this film and rather than repeat all that has been said, I refer my readers to Indiewire's Women and Hollywood interview at Tribeca this year, and your Indiewire interview with Aubrey Page, November 6, 2015 .
Let's try to cover new territory here.
First of all, what about you? What is your relationship to Diana Vreeland?
Liv: I am married to her grandson, Alexander Vreeland. (I'm also proud of my name Immordino) I never met Diana but hearing so many family stories about her made me start to wonder about all the talk about her. I worked in fashion and lived in New York like she did.
Sl: In one of your interviews you said that Peggy was not only ahead of her time but she helped to define it. Can you tell me how?
Liv: Peggy grew up in a very traditional family of German Bavarian Jews who had moved to New York City in the 19th century. Already at a young age Peggy felt like there were too many rules around her and she wanted to break out. That alone was something attractive to me — the notion that she knew that she didn't fit in to her family or her times. She lived on her own terms, a very modern approach to life. She decided to abandon her family in New York. Though she always stayed connected to them, she rarely visited New York. Instead she lived in a world without borders. She did not live by "the rules". She believed in creating art and created herself, living on her own terms and not on those of her family.
Sl: Is there a link between her and your previous doc on Diana Vreeland?
Liv: The link between Vreeland and Guggenheim is their mutual sense of reinvention and transformation. That made something click inside of me as I too reinvented myself when I began writing the book on Diana Vreeland .
Can you talk about the process of putting this one together and how it differed from its predecessor?
Liv: The most challenging thing about this one was the vast amount of material we had at our disposal. We had a lot of media to go through — instead of fashion spreads, which informed The Eye Has To Travel, we had art, which was fantastic. I was spoiled by the access we had to these incredible archives and footage. I'm still new to this, but it's the storytelling aspect that I loved in both projects. One thing about Peggy that Mrs. Vreeland didn't have was a very tragic personal life. There was so much that happened in Peggy's life before you even got to what she actually accomplished. And so we had to tell a very dense story about her childhood, her father dying on the Titanic, her beloved sister dying — the tragic events that fundamentally shaped her in a way. It was about making sure we had enough of the personal story to go along with her later accomplishments.
World War II alone was such a huge part of her story, opening an important art gallery in London, where she showed Kandinsky and other important artists for the first time. The amount of material to distill was a tremendous challenge and I hope we made the right choices.
Sl: How did you learn make a documentary?
Liv: I learned how to make a documentary by having a good team around me. My editors (and co-writers)Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt and Frédéric Tcheng were very helpful.
Research is fundamental; finding as much as you can and never giving up. I love the research. It is my "precise time". Not just for interviews but of footage, photographs never seen before. It is a painstaking process that satisfies me. The research never ends. I was still researching while I was promoting the Diana Vreeland book. I love reading books and going to original sources.
The archives in film museums in the last ten years has changed and given museums a new role. I found unique footage at Moma with the Elizabeth Chapman Films. Chapman went to Paris in the 30s and 40s with a handheld camera and took moving pictures of Brancusi and Duchamps joking around in a studio, Gertrude Stein, Leger walking down the street. This footage is owned by Robert Storr, Dean of Yale School of Art. In fact he is taking a sabbatical this year to go through the boxes and boxes of Chapman's films. We also used " Entre'acte" by René Clair cowritten with Dadaist Francis Picabia, "Le Sang du poet" of Cocteau, Hans Richter "8x8","Gagascope" and " Dreams That Money Can Buy" produced by Peggy Guggenheim, written by Man Ray in 1947.
Sl: How long did it take to research and make the film?
Liv: It took three years for both the Vreeland and the Guggenheim documentary.
It was more difficult with the Guggenheim story because there was so much material and so much to tell of her life. And she was not so giving of her own self. Diana could inspire you about a bandaid; she was so giving. But Peggy didn't talk much about why she loved an artist or a painting. She acted more. And using historical material could become "over-teaching" though it was fascinating.
So much had to be eliminated. It was hard to eliminate the Degenerate Art Show, a subject which is newly discussed. Stephanie Barron of Lacma is an expert on Degenerate Art and was so generous.
Once we decided upon which aspects to focus on, then we could give focus to the interviews.
There were so many of her important shows we could not include. For instance there was a show on collages featuring William Baziotes , Jackson Pollack and Robert Motherwell which started a more modern collage trend in art. The 31 Women Art Show which we did include pushed forward another message which I think is important.
And so many different things have been written about Peggy — there were hundreds of articles written about her during her lifetime. She also kept beautiful scrapbooks of articles written about her, which are now in the archives of the Guggenheim Museum.
The Guggenheim foundation did not commission this documentary but they were very supportive and the film premiered there in New York in a wonderful celebration. They wanted to represent Peggy and her paintings properly. The paintings were secondary characters and all were carefully placed historically in a correct fashion.
Sl: You said in one interview Guggenheim became a central figure in the modern art movement?
Liv: Yes and she did it without ego. Sharing was always her purpose in collecting art. She was not out for herself. Before Peggy, the art world was very different. And today it is part of wealth management.
Other collectors had a different way with art. Isabelle Stewart Gardner bought art for her own personal consumption. The Gardner Museum came later. Gertrude Stein was sharing the vision of her brother when she began collecting art. The Coen sisters were not sharing.
Her benevolence ranged from giving Berenice Abbott the money to buy her first camera to keeping Pollock afloat during lean times.
Djuana Barnes, who had a 'Love Love Love Hate Hate Hate' relationship with Peggy wrote Nightwood in Peggy's country house in England.
She was in Paris to the last minute. She planned how to safeguard artwork from the Nazis during World War II. She was storing gasoline so she could escape. She lived on the Ile St. Louis with her art and moved the paintings out first to a children's boarding school and then to Marseilles where it was shipped out to New York City.
Her role in art was not taken seriously because of her very public love life which was described in very derogatory terms. There was more talk about her love life than about her collection of art.
Her autobiography, Out of This Century: Confessions of an Art Addict (1960) , was scandalous when it came out — and she didn't even use real names, she used pseudonyms for her numerous partners. Only after publication did she reveal the names of the men she slept with.
The fact that she spoke about her sexual life at all was the most outrageous aspect. She was opening herself up to ridicule, but she didn't care. Peggy was her own person and she felt good in her own skin. But it was definitely unconventional behavior. I think her sexual appetites revealed a lot about finding her own identity.
A lot of it was tied to the loss of her father, I think, in addition to her wanting to feel accepted. She was also very adventurous — look at the men she slept with. I mean, come on, they are amazing! Samuel Beckett, Yves Tanguy, Marcel Duchamp, and she married Max Ernst. I think it was really ballsy of her to have been so open about her sexuality; this was not something people did back then. So many people are bound by conventional rules but Peggy said no. She grabbed hold of life and she lived it on her own terms.
Sl: You also give Peggy credit for changing the way art was exhibited. Can you explain that?
Liv: One of her greatest achievements was her gallery space in New York City, Art of This Century, which was unlike anything the art world has seen before or since in the way that it shattered the boundaries of the gallery space that we've come to know today — the sterile white cube. She came to be a genius at displaying her collections...
She was smart with Art of the Century because she hired Frederick Kiesler as a designer of the gallery and once again surrounded herself with the right people, including Howard Putzler, who was already involved with her at Guggenheim Jeune in London. And she was hanging out with all the exiled Surrealists who were living in New York at the time, including her future husband, Max Ernst, who was the real star of that group of artists. With the help of these people, she started showing art in a completely different way that was both informal and approachable. In conventional museums and galleries, art was untouchable on the wall and inside frames. In Peggy's gallery, art stuck out from the walls; works weren't confined to frames. Kiesler designed special chairs you could sit in and browse canvases as you would texts in a library. Nothing like this had ever existed in New York before — even today there is nothing like it.
She made the gallery into an exciting place where the whole concept of space was transformed. In Venice, the gallery space was also her home. Today, for a variety of reasons, the home aspect of the collection is less emphasized, though you still get a strong sense of Peggy's home life there. She was bringing art to the public in a bold new way, which I think is a great idea. It's art for everybody, which is very much a part of today's dialogue except that fewer people can afford the outlandish museum entry fees.
Sl: What do you think made her so prescient and attuned ?
Liv: She was smart enough to ask Marcel Duchamp to be her advisor — so she was in tune, and very well connected. She was on the cutting edge of what was going on and I think a lot of this had to do with Peggy being open to the idea of what was new and outrageous. You have to have a certain personality for this; what her childhood had dictated was totally opposite from what she became in life, and being in the right place at the right time helped her maintain a cutting edge throughout her life.
Sl: The movie is framed around a lost interview with Peggy conducted late in her life. How did you acquire these tapes?
Liv: We optioned Jacqueline Bogard Weld’s book, Peggy : The Wayward Guggenheim, the only authorized biography of Peggy, which was published after she died. Jackie had spent two summers interviewing Peggy but at a certain point lost the tapes somewhere in her Park Avenue apartment. Jackie had so much access to Peggy, which was incredible, but it was also the access that she had to other people who had known Peggy — she interviewed over 200 people for her book. Jackie was incredibly generous, letting me go through all her original research except for the lost tapes.
We'd walk into different rooms in her apartment and I'd suggestively open a closet door and ask “Where do you think those tapes might be?" Then one day I asked if she had a basement, and she did. So I went through all these boxes down there, organizing her affairs. Then bingo, the tapes showed up in this shoebox.
It was the longest interview Peggy had ever done and it became the framework for our movie. There's nothing more powerful than when you have someone's real voice telling the story, and Jackie was especially good at asking provoking questions. You can tell it was hard for Peggy to answer a lot of them, because she wasn't someone who was especially expressive; she didn't have a lot of emotion. And this comes across in the movie, in the tone of her voice.
Sl: Larry Gagosian has one of the best descriptions of Peggy in the movie — "she was her own creation." Would you agree, and if so why?
Liv: She was very much her own creation. When he said that in the interview I had a huge smile on my face. In Peggy's case it stemmed from a real need to identify and understand herself. I'm not sure she achieved it but she completely recreated herself — she knew that she did not want to be what she was brought up to be. She tried being a mother, but that was not one of her strengths, so art became that place where she could find herself, and then transform herself.
Nobody believed in the artists she cultivated and supported — they were outsiders and she was an outsider in the world she was brought up in. So it's in this way that she became her own great invention. I hope that her humor comes across in the film because she was extremely amusing — this aspect really comes across in her autobiography.
Sl: Finally, what do you think is Peggy Guggenheim's most lasting legacy, beyond her incredible art collection?
Liv: Her courage, and the way she used it to find herself. She had this ballsiness that not many people had, especially women. In her own way she was a feminist and it's good for women and young girls today to see women who stepped outside the confines of a very traditional family and made something of her life. Peggy's life did not seem that dreamy until she attached herself to these artists. It was her ability to redefine herself in the end that truly summed her up.
About the Filmmakers
Stanley Buchtal is a producer and entrepreneur. His movies credits include "Hairspray", "Spanking the Monkey", "Up at the Villa", "Lou Reed Berlin", "Love Marilyn", "LennoNYC", "Bobby Fischer Against the World", "Herb & Dorothy", "Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present"," Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child", "Sketches of Frank Gehry", "Black White + Gray: a Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe", among numerous others.
David Koh is an independent producer, distributor, sales agent, programmer and curator. He has been involved in the distribution, sale, production, and financing of over 200 films. He is currently a partner in the boutique label Submarine Entertainment with Josh and Dan Braun and is also partners with Stanley Buchthal and his Dakota Group Ltd where he co-manages a portfolio of over 50 projects a year (75% docs and 25% fiction). Previously he was a partner and founder of Arthouse Films a boutique distribution imprint and ran Chris Blackwell's (founder of Island Records & Island Pictures) film label, Palm Pictures. He has worked as a Producer for artist Nam June Paik and worked in the curatorial departments of Anthology Film Archives, MoMA, Mfa Boston, and the Guggenheim Museum. David has recently served as a Curator for Microsoft and has curated an ongoing film series and salon with Andre Balazs Properties and serves as a Curator for the exclusive Core Club in NYC.
David recently launched with his partners Submarine Deluxe, a distribution imprint; Torpedo Pictures, a low budget high concept label; and Nfp Submarine Doks, a German distribution imprint with Nfp Films. Recently and upcoming projects include "Yayoi Kusama: a Life in Polka Dots", "Burden: a Portrait of Artist Chris Burden", "Dior and I", "20 Feet From Stardom", "Muscle Shoals", "Marina Abramovic the Artist is Present", "Rats NYC", "Nas: Time Is Illmatic", "Blackfish", "Love Marilyn", "Chasing Ice", "Searching for Sugar Man", "Cutie and the Boxer"," Jean-Michel Basquiat: the Radiant Child", "Finding Vivian Maier", "The Wolfpack, "Meru", and "Station to Station".
Dan Braun is a producer, writer, art director and musician/composer based in NYC. He is the Co-President of and Co-Founder of Submarine, a NYC film sales and production company specializing in independent feature and documentary films. Titles include "Blackfish", "Finding Vivian Maier", "Muscle Shoals", "The Case Against 8", "Keep On Keepin’ On", "Winter’s Bone", "Nas: Time is Illmatic", "Dior and I" and Oscar winning docs "Man on Wire", "Searching for Sugarman", "20 Ft From Stardom" and "Citizenfour". He was Executive Producer on documentaries "Kill Your Idols", (which won Best NY Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival 2004), "Blank City", "Sunshine Superman", the upcoming feature adaptations of "Batkid Begins" and "The Battered Bastards of Baseball" and the upcoming horror TV anthology "Creepy" to be directed by Chris Columbus.
He is a producer of the free jazz documentary "Fire Music", and the upcoming documentaries, "Burden" on artist Chris Burden and "Kusama: a Life in Polka Dots" on artist Yayoi Kusama. He is also a writer and consulting editor on Dark Horse Comic’s "Creepy" and "Eerie 9" comic book and archival series for which he won an Eisner Award for best archival comic book series in 2009.
He is a musician/composer whose compositions were featured in the films "I Melt With You" and "Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Radiant Child and is an award winning art director/creative director when he worked at Tbwa/Chiat/Day on the famous Absolut Vodka campaign.
John Northrup (Co-Producer) began his career in documentaries as a French translator for National Geographic: Explorer. He quickly moved into editing and producing, serving as the Associate Producer on "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel" (2012), and editing and co-producing "Wilson In Situ" (2014), which tells the story of theatre legend Robert Wilson and his Watermill Center. Most recently, he oversaw the post-production of Jim Chambers’ "Onward Christian Soldier", a documentary about Olympic Bomber Eric Rudolph, and is shooting on Susanne Rostock’s "Another Night in the Free World", the follow-up to her award-winning "Sing Your Song" (2011).
Submarine Entertainment (Production Company) Submarine Entertainment is a hybrid sales, production, and distribution company based in N.Y. Recent and upcoming titles include "Citizenfour", "Finding Vivian Maier", "The Dog", "Visitors", "20 Feet from Stardom", "Searching for Sugar Man", "Muscle Shoals", "Blackfish", "Cutie and the Boxer", "The Summit", "The Unknown Known", "Love Marilyn", "Marina Abramovic the Artist is Present", "Chasing Ice", "Downtown 81 30th Anniversary Remastered", "Wild Style 30th Anniversary Remastered", "Good Ol Freda", "Some Velvet Morning", among numerous others. Submarine principals also represent Creepy and Eerie comic book library and are developing properties across film & TV platforms.
Submarine has also recently launched a domestic distribution imprint and label called Submarine Deluxe; a genre label called Torpedo Pictures; and a German imprint and label called Nfp Submarine Doks.
Bernadine Colish has edited a number of award-winning documentaries. "Herb and Dorothy" (2008), won Audience Awards at Silverdocs, Philadelphia and Hamptons Film Festivals, and "Body of War" (2007), was named Best Documentary by the National Board of Review. "A Touch of Greatness" (2004) aired on PBS Independent Lens and was nominated for an Emmy Award. Her career began at Maysles Films, where she worked with Charlotte Zwerin on such projects as "Thelonious Monk: Straight No Chaser", "Toru Takemitsu: Music for the Movies" and the PBS American Masters documentary, "Ella Fitzgerald: Something To Live For". Additional credits include "Bringing Tibet Home", "Band of Sisters", "Rise and Dream", "The Tiger Next Door", "The Buffalo War" and "Absolute Wilson".
Jed Parker (Editor) Jed Parker began his career in feature films before moving into documentaries through his work with the award-winning American Masters series. Credits include "Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart", "Annie Liebovitz: Life Through a Lens", and most recently "Jeff Bridges: The Dude Abides".
Other work includes two episodes of the PBS series "Make ‘Em Laugh", hosted by Billy Crystal, as well as a documentary on Met Curator Henry Geldzahler entitled "Who Gets to Call it Art"?
Credits
Director, Writer, Producer: Lisa Immordino Vreeland
Produced by Stanley Buchthal, David Koh and Dan Braun Stanley Buchthal (producer)
Maja Hoffmann (executive producer)
Josh Braun (executive producer)
Bob Benton (executive producer)
John Northrup (co-producer)
Bernadine Colish (editor)
Jed Parker (editor)
Peter Trilling (director of photography)
Bonnie Greenberg (executive music producer)
Music by J. Ralph
Original Song "Once Again" Written and Performed By J. Ralph
Interviews Featuring Artist Marina Abramović Jean Arp Dore Ashton Samuel Beckett Stephanie Barron Constantin Brâncuși Diego Cortez Alexander Calder Susan Davidson Joseph Cornell Robert De Niro Salvador Dalí Simon de Pury Willem de Kooning Jeffrey Deitch Marcel Duchamp Polly Devlin Max Ernst Larry Gagosian Alberto Giacometti Arne Glimcher Vasily Kandinsky Michael Govan Fernand Léger Nicky Haslam Joan Miró Pepe Karmel Piet Mondrian Donald Kuspit Robert Motherwell Dominique Lévy Jackson Pollock Carlo McCormick Mark Rothko Hans Ulrich Obrist Yves Tanguy Lisa Phillips Lindsay Pollock Francine Prose John Richardson Sandy Rower Mercedes Ruehl Jane Rylands Philip Rylands Calvin Tomkins Karole Vail Jacqueline Bograd Weld Edmund White
Running time: 97 minutes
U.S. distribution by Submarine Deluxe
International sales by Hanway...
- 11/18/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
In today's roundup of news and views: Agata Pyzik for frieze on Vera Chytilová's Daisies; a history of censorship and the movies in Iran after the Islamic Revolution; Jonathan Rosenbaum on Alain Resnais and Chris Marker's Statues Also Die and Roberto Rossellini's Rome Open City (1945) plus a speech by Pere Portabella; Matt Connolly on Andy Warhol’s Vinyl, Fernando F. Croce on Pier Paolo Pasolini's Il vangelo secondo Matteo, Francine Prose on David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars, Peter Hogue on Raoul Walsh, Danny King on James B. Harris, Todd Field's interview with Sissy Spacek, Michael Tully's with James Gray—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 4/8/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
In today's roundup of news and views: Agata Pyzik for frieze on Vera Chytilová's Daisies; a history of censorship and the movies in Iran after the Islamic Revolution; Jonathan Rosenbaum on Alain Resnais and Chris Marker's Statues Also Die and Roberto Rossellini's Rome Open City (1945) plus a speech by Pere Portabella; Matt Connolly on Andy Warhol’s Vinyl, Fernando F. Croce on Pier Paolo Pasolini's Il vangelo secondo Matteo, Francine Prose on David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars, Peter Hogue on Raoul Walsh, Danny King on James B. Harris, Todd Field's interview with Sissy Spacek, Michael Tully's with James Gray—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 4/8/2015
- Keyframe
Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language comes in at #1 on La Furia Umana's list of the top ten films of 2014. For Michael Atkinson at In These Times, it's Sergei Loznitsa's Maidan. Christopher Orr, film critic for the Atlantic, goes for J.C. Chandor's A Most Violent Year. Meantime, the The New York Review of Books gathers 20 reviews it's run this year, including David Bromwich on Laura Poitras's Citizenfour, Zoë Heller on David Fincher's Gone Girl, J. Hoberman on Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez’s Manakamana, Geoffrey O'Brien on Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin and Francine Prose on Agnieszka Holland's Burning Bush. » - David Hudson...
- 12/23/2014
- Fandor: Keyframe
Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language comes in at #1 on La Furia Umana's list of the top ten films of 2014. For Michael Atkinson at In These Times, it's Sergei Loznitsa's Maidan. Christopher Orr, film critic for the Atlantic, goes for J.C. Chandor's A Most Violent Year. Meantime, the The New York Review of Books gathers 20 reviews it's run this year, including David Bromwich on Laura Poitras's Citizenfour, Zoë Heller on David Fincher's Gone Girl, J. Hoberman on Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez’s Manakamana, Geoffrey O'Brien on Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin and Francine Prose on Agnieszka Holland's Burning Bush. » - David Hudson...
- 12/23/2014
- Keyframe
Hillel Italie, Associated Press
New York (AP) - Maya Angelou was gratified, but not surprised by her extraordinary fortune.
"I'm not modest," she told The Associated Press in 2013. "I have no modesty. Modesty is a learned behavior. But I do pray for humility, because humility comes from the inside out."
Her story awed millions. The young single mother who worked at strip clubs to earn a living later danced and sang on stages around the world. A black woman born poor wrote and recited the most popular presidential inaugural poem in history. A childhood victim of rape, shamed into silence, eventually told her story through one of the most widely read memoirs of the past few decades.
Angelou, a Renaissance woman and cultural pioneer, died Wednesday morning at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, her son, Guy B. Johnson, said in a statement. The 86-year-old had been a professor of...
New York (AP) - Maya Angelou was gratified, but not surprised by her extraordinary fortune.
"I'm not modest," she told The Associated Press in 2013. "I have no modesty. Modesty is a learned behavior. But I do pray for humility, because humility comes from the inside out."
Her story awed millions. The young single mother who worked at strip clubs to earn a living later danced and sang on stages around the world. A black woman born poor wrote and recited the most popular presidential inaugural poem in history. A childhood victim of rape, shamed into silence, eventually told her story through one of the most widely read memoirs of the past few decades.
Angelou, a Renaissance woman and cultural pioneer, died Wednesday morning at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, her son, Guy B. Johnson, said in a statement. The 86-year-old had been a professor of...
- 5/28/2014
- by The Associated Press
- Moviefone
1.) Word is Beasts of the Southern Wild star and Oscar nominee, Quvenzhane Wallis, is up for the lead role in Sony's upcoming remake of Annie with Will Gluck (Easy A) set to direct. The film will serve as a remake of the Broadway musical based upon the popular comic strip and featuring songs with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin and a book by Thomas Meehan. The show originally penned on April 21, 1977, and immediately became a hit, winning seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. In 1982, Columbia Pictures released a film adaptation directed by John Huston and starring Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Tim Curry, and Aileen Quinn as Annie. Wallis would replace the once attached Willow Smith, daughter of producer Will Smith. EW 2.) Ryan Gosling is busy putting together his directorial debut, How To Catch a Monster. He's already cast Christina Hendricks, Eva Mendes, Matt Smith...
- 2/11/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
K5 International has picked up Richard Levine's psychological thriller "Blue Angel" which Clive Owen is attached to headline.
Based on the Francine Prose’s novel, the story follows a once successful novelist turned disillusioned college professor who is brought back to life by a gifted young female writing student who brings new energy to his class of no-hopers.
Sounds fairly chaste, but the story also deals in sex, seduction and emotional manipulation. Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy will produce.
Source: THR...
Based on the Francine Prose’s novel, the story follows a once successful novelist turned disillusioned college professor who is brought back to life by a gifted young female writing student who brings new energy to his class of no-hopers.
Sounds fairly chaste, but the story also deals in sex, seduction and emotional manipulation. Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy will produce.
Source: THR...
- 2/11/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Clive Owen has joined Blue Angel.
He will take the lead role in the adaptation of Francine Prose's novel, according to Variety.
Nip/Tuck showrunner Richard Levine is writing and directing the "psychological roller coaster ride between sex, seduction and emotional manipulation".
Blue Angel centres around Swenson, a washed up professor in a New England creative writing programme.
When a new student joins his class, he finds the inspiration he has been lacking for years until their relationship takes a sinister turn.
Owen was most recently seen as Ernest Hemingway in the television miniseries Hemingway & Gellhorn.
He will take the lead role in the adaptation of Francine Prose's novel, according to Variety.
Nip/Tuck showrunner Richard Levine is writing and directing the "psychological roller coaster ride between sex, seduction and emotional manipulation".
Blue Angel centres around Swenson, a washed up professor in a New England creative writing programme.
When a new student joins his class, he finds the inspiration he has been lacking for years until their relationship takes a sinister turn.
Owen was most recently seen as Ernest Hemingway in the television miniseries Hemingway & Gellhorn.
- 2/11/2013
- Digital Spy
Clive Owen is set to headline writer/director Richard Levine's Blue Angel , Variety reports. The film is adapted from Francine Prose's novel of the same name, officially described as follows: It has been years since Swenson, a professor in a New England creative writing program, has published a novel. It's been even longer since any of his students have shown promise. Enter Angela Argo, a pierced, tattooed student with a rare talent for writing. Angela is just the thing Swenson needs. And, better yet, she wants his help. But, as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions... Owen, best known for films like Closer and Children of Men , recently starred opposite Nichole Kidman in the television miniseries "Hemingway & Gellhorn." Lars...
- 2/10/2013
- Comingsoon.net
Brit thesp Clive Owen has signed on to star in director Richard Levine‘s Blue Angel, a film based on the novel by Francine Prose, the president of Pen American Center. Owen will play a college professor Ted Swenson whose career is not going well. Swenson’s also a blocked novelist and family man whose ‘life has been passing in tenured tranquillity while inwardly he seethes with discontent. Swenson is disappointed with his students until he meets a talented writing student, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ The film is described as a ‘psychological roller coaster ride between sex, seduction and emotional manipulation.’...
- 2/10/2013
- by Nick Martin
- Filmofilia
London, Feb 9: Actor Clive Owen has been signed on to star in Richard Levine's "Blue Angel".
The British actor will play a disillusioned college professor and former novelist whose life is re-energised by a gifted young writing student, reports variety.com
The film is the big screen adaptation of a novel by Francine Prose. It is described as a "psychological roller coaster ride between sex, seduction and emotional manipulation."
Ians...
The British actor will play a disillusioned college professor and former novelist whose life is re-energised by a gifted young writing student, reports variety.com
The film is the big screen adaptation of a novel by Francine Prose. It is described as a "psychological roller coaster ride between sex, seduction and emotional manipulation."
Ians...
- 2/9/2013
- by Anita Agarwal
- RealBollywood.com
Despite the fact that our country has been drooping all over in the education department, cinema rarely offers a scathing, true-to-life look at how twisted schooling systems can be. Perhaps it.s still a taboo area to throw criticism, since it reveals something about everyone from the student to the government funding it. One of Hollywood.s next novel adaptations will be a good step in the scandalous direction. According to Variety, international sales are going on for Richard Levine.s Blue Angel adapted from Francine Prose.s wicked novel of the same name, which stars Clive Owen in the leading role. Owen.s career has been steady, with the action Killer Elite and the creepy Spanish horror Intruders as two of his more recent efforts. He.ll soon be seen in the brotherly Brooklyn crime drama Blood Ties. None of that sounds anything like what his Blue Angel character...
- 2/9/2013
- cinemablend.com
Five writers give their personal takes on the appeal that makes Anna Karenina a literary masterpiece
Francine Prose, author of Blue Angel and My New American Life
Anna Karenina is probably my favourite novel. More than any other book, it persuades me that there is such a thing as human nature, and that some part of that nature remains fundamentally unaffected by history and culture. I try to re-read it every few years. Each time, perhaps because I'm older and have experienced more, I find things I never noticed before. Not only is it a great source of pleasure, but I inevitably feel as if I'm getting a sort of pep talk from Tolstoy: Go deeper. Try harder. Aim higher. Pay closer attention to the world. It's orchestral, symphonic, full of distinctive melodies, parallels and variations that keep reappearing, some of which we notice, none of which we need to...
Francine Prose, author of Blue Angel and My New American Life
Anna Karenina is probably my favourite novel. More than any other book, it persuades me that there is such a thing as human nature, and that some part of that nature remains fundamentally unaffected by history and culture. I try to re-read it every few years. Each time, perhaps because I'm older and have experienced more, I find things I never noticed before. Not only is it a great source of pleasure, but I inevitably feel as if I'm getting a sort of pep talk from Tolstoy: Go deeper. Try harder. Aim higher. Pay closer attention to the world. It's orchestral, symphonic, full of distinctive melodies, parallels and variations that keep reappearing, some of which we notice, none of which we need to...
- 9/3/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Christopher Smith Kwame Dawes at the Poets & Writers gala dinner.
At the Poets & Writers gala benefit dinner last night, before the glass doors to Capitale’s large hall were opened, we found ourselves squeezed into a roped-off cocktail reception with writers, publicists, agents and lawyers. This mirrored the packed subway car that we took during rush hour to get there, and even the packed sidewalk in Chinatown we negotiated on our way to Bowery Avenue.
It made for many quick,...
At the Poets & Writers gala benefit dinner last night, before the glass doors to Capitale’s large hall were opened, we found ourselves squeezed into a roped-off cocktail reception with writers, publicists, agents and lawyers. This mirrored the packed subway car that we took during rush hour to get there, and even the packed sidewalk in Chinatown we negotiated on our way to Bowery Avenue.
It made for many quick,...
- 3/30/2012
- by Barbara Chai
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Today sees an odd confluence of stories on Asghar Farhadi, his Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign Film, A Separation, and his follow-up, which will "center on a love story between a young Iranian woman and a North African man, and will begin filming within weeks," as the Afp reports. And while it'll be shot in France, Farhadi is insisting that "I love my country and I will not change it for anywhere in the world… I will never emigrate from Iran."
Meantime, the Center for Directors of Iranian Cinema and the High Council of Producers of Iranian Cinema had been planning a ceremony in Tehran, welcoming Farhadi back home, a gesture of appreciation. But as the AP reports, authorities called off the event, "even though the government had hailed his win as a triumph over a competitor from Israel."
For Salon, Rod Bastanmehr accompanied Payman Maadi, who plays Nadar, on...
Meantime, the Center for Directors of Iranian Cinema and the High Council of Producers of Iranian Cinema had been planning a ceremony in Tehran, welcoming Farhadi back home, a gesture of appreciation. But as the AP reports, authorities called off the event, "even though the government had hailed his win as a triumph over a competitor from Israel."
For Salon, Rod Bastanmehr accompanied Payman Maadi, who plays Nadar, on...
- 3/13/2012
- MUBI
Everett Daniel Handler, or “Lemony Snicket”
Lemony Snicket, the pen name for Daniel Handler, has written 13 observations on Occupy Wall Street for his young readers on the Occupy Writers website, which lists authors who support the movement.
In addition to Lemony Snicket, there are original works by Francine Prose, D.A. Powell, Duncan Murrell, and Anne Waldman.
One of Lemony Snicket’s observations is, “99 percent is a very large percentage. For instance, easily 99 percent of people want a roof over their heads,...
Lemony Snicket, the pen name for Daniel Handler, has written 13 observations on Occupy Wall Street for his young readers on the Occupy Writers website, which lists authors who support the movement.
In addition to Lemony Snicket, there are original works by Francine Prose, D.A. Powell, Duncan Murrell, and Anne Waldman.
One of Lemony Snicket’s observations is, “99 percent is a very large percentage. For instance, easily 99 percent of people want a roof over their heads,...
- 10/18/2011
- by Barbara Chai
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
I think it is so fascinating how Sofia Coppola has gone from being one of the primary aspects of The Godfather Part III detractors immediately point to as one of the film's major flaws, to a writer/director we anxiously await what she's going to deliver next. Between The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette and Somewhere, I've yet to see a film from Coppola I have not enjoyed on some level.
Last year Coppola delivered Somewhere, which was a film I described in my review as "minimalism at Sofia Coppola's most extreme." The script for the picture was only 42-pages long and yet she delivered a 98-minute movie. It turned some people off, I wasn't entirely blown away, but it is nevertheless fascinating and it appears we may not have to wait long to be fascinated all over again.
As republished by The Playlist, Australian actress Olivia DeJonge...
Last year Coppola delivered Somewhere, which was a film I described in my review as "minimalism at Sofia Coppola's most extreme." The script for the picture was only 42-pages long and yet she delivered a 98-minute movie. It turned some people off, I wasn't entirely blown away, but it is nevertheless fascinating and it appears we may not have to wait long to be fascinated all over again.
As republished by The Playlist, Australian actress Olivia DeJonge...
- 9/27/2011
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Sneak Peek the cover to Mulholland Books' "La Noire: The Collected Stories", a compilation of short stories from noted crime authors, based on Rockstar Games' "L.A. Noire" video game universe, available June 6, 2011 :
"...In 1940's Hollywood, murder, deception and mystery take center stage as readers reintroduce themselves to characters seen in the video game 'L.A. Noire'. Explore the lives of actresses desperate for the Hollywood spotlight, heroes turned into defeated men and classic 'Noir' villains. Readers will come across not only familiar faces, but familiar cases from the game that take on a new spin to tell the tales of emotionally torn protagonists..."
Short fiction authors in the collection include Megan Abbott, Lawrence Block, Joe Lansdale, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine Prose, Jonathan Santlofer, Duane Swierczynski and Andrew Vachss.
Click the images to enlarge...
"...In 1940's Hollywood, murder, deception and mystery take center stage as readers reintroduce themselves to characters seen in the video game 'L.A. Noire'. Explore the lives of actresses desperate for the Hollywood spotlight, heroes turned into defeated men and classic 'Noir' villains. Readers will come across not only familiar faces, but familiar cases from the game that take on a new spin to tell the tales of emotionally torn protagonists..."
Short fiction authors in the collection include Megan Abbott, Lawrence Block, Joe Lansdale, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine Prose, Jonathan Santlofer, Duane Swierczynski and Andrew Vachss.
Click the images to enlarge...
- 6/6/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
In the latest cross-cultural move that seems to just make sense, Rockstar Games announced that their upcoming crime thriller "L.A. Noire" will tie into a collection of short stories. Published by Little, Brown and Company, "L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories" brings together literary luminaries to deliver lurid tales about sex, crime and skullduggery in the City of Angeles after the Second World War. The contributors list is a real murderers' row of crime writers: Megan Abbott, Lawrence Block, Joe Lansdale, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine Prose, Jonathan Santlofer, Duane Swierczynski and Andrew Vachss. Some of the eight stories will connect directly to characters you meet throughout the course of the game. From the press release:
"L.A. Noire draws on a rich history of not just film, but also great crime literature for inspiration," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "Using the game's world as a springboard, we...
"L.A. Noire draws on a rich history of not just film, but also great crime literature for inspiration," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "Using the game's world as a springboard, we...
- 5/4/2011
- by Evan Narcisse
- ifc.com
We're only two weeks away from the release of Rockstar's next title, "L.A. Noire." Just in case all the details that have been slowly trickling out are not enough to sedate your need for pulpy, 1940's crime drama, the Rockstar blog just announced that they're releasing a selection of short stories in honor of the game.
The aptly named "L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories" is an anthology of short fiction inspired by the game's world. The stories are penned by some leading genre writers, expanding on the game's characters, setting, and cases. It's certainly not the first time a developer has used novelization to market a game, but given "L.A. Noire's" deep, story-heavy pulp themes, these collected stories could be an enjoyable addition to the game experience.
There are eight short-stories, penned by Lawrence Block, Duane Sierczynski, Joe R. Lansdale, Jonathan Santlofer, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine Prose,...
The aptly named "L.A. Noire: The Collected Stories" is an anthology of short fiction inspired by the game's world. The stories are penned by some leading genre writers, expanding on the game's characters, setting, and cases. It's certainly not the first time a developer has used novelization to market a game, but given "L.A. Noire's" deep, story-heavy pulp themes, these collected stories could be an enjoyable addition to the game experience.
There are eight short-stories, penned by Lawrence Block, Duane Sierczynski, Joe R. Lansdale, Jonathan Santlofer, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine Prose,...
- 5/3/2011
- by Matt Clark
- MTV Multiplayer
Sundance Channel has acquired U.S. broadcast rights to Loic Prigent's documentary "Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton," which captures fashion designer Jacobs at work.
The docu also features interviews with some of Jacobs' friends and admirers, including Sofia Coppola, author Francine Prose, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and art dealer Larry Gagosian.
The docu is set to make its U.S. television premiere on Sundance in February. The deal was negotiated by Sundance Channel's Christian Vesper and Arte France's Emmanuelle Erbsmann on behalf of the filmmakers.
The docu also features interviews with some of Jacobs' friends and admirers, including Sofia Coppola, author Francine Prose, Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and art dealer Larry Gagosian.
The docu is set to make its U.S. television premiere on Sundance in February. The deal was negotiated by Sundance Channel's Christian Vesper and Arte France's Emmanuelle Erbsmann on behalf of the filmmakers.
- 10/9/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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