Orson Welles

Recently I watched “Orson Welles and Me” a very entertaining film about Welles and the Mercury Theater.  I also would recommend “The Prodigal Sons” an amazing documentary with a surprise Welles connection.

A Tour of Lucasfilm, LucasArts and Industrial Light and Magic

The tour is brought to us by Laughing  Squid.

Lucasfilm, LucasArts & ILM

Black & White

“We are most of us too busy, too worried, too intent on proving ourselves right, too obsessed with ideas, to stand and stare. We look at a thing and we believe we have seen it. And yet what we see is often only what our prejudices tell us to expect to see, or what our past experiences tell us should be seen, or what our desires want to see. Very rarely are we able to free our mind of thoughts and emotions and just see for the simple pleasure of seeing. And so long as we fail to do this, so long will the essence of things be hidden from us.” Bill Brandt

Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina in La Strada

“Whispers” by Shirin Neshat

Louise Brooks

Belzoni, Mississippi Delta, Mississippi

Robert Mitchum as preacher Harry Powell in “Night of the Hunter”

Writer James Ellroy

http://www.telerama.fr/techno/24007-000_frames_of_hitchcock.php

Edith Shain, the white-clad nurse in the famous Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstadt’s V-J Day photo dies at the age of 91.

Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killing”

Salvador Dali & Harpo

The NYC District Attorney’s office decided the posters were “indecent” so Lowes had to past on paper panties.

http://hollywoodheyday.blogspot.com/

Fritz Lang, Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler

Bram Stoker

Bela Lugosi as Dracula

Boris Karloff is The Mummy

wonders in the dark

deteriorated 35mm film turning to liquid

Ice Cream Truck photo from A Sampler of Things

Brown Bobby donuts

Stage Curtain, Atkins Theater, Marysville

Vassar, Michigan

UC Theatre, Berkeley, California

Silent Cinema

Lyric Theatre, Manhattan

Al Ringling Theater

Sound technicians setting up the turn-table and amplifiers for the first “talkies” in Australia, 1927-1928

Odeon Carlton Theatre, Toronto, 1948

Dan Talbot & Alfred Hitchcock

Bleecker Street Cinema

35mm splicer

From “If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats” for the series: Twilight of the Dreamboats

Twilight of the Dreamboats #22

The Invisible Edge

Photographer Vivian Maier

Duane Michals

Stressed fella

http://kinoslang.blogspot.com/

Susannah Breslin

Vinyl record groove

Movie Morlocks

Cinema Styles

Mad City’s Movie Mania

2010 Traverse City Film Festival

Three partys, two panels and 15 films!

My favorite film When We Leave features an outstanding performance by Sibel Kekilli as Umay, a young Turkish mother.

I was also taken with Heartbreaker, Cherry Blossom, Castaway On The Moon, Viva Cuba and Budrus.

A special shout out goes to Alloy Orchestra and their performance to Joseph Von Sternberg’s The Last Command. After their Sunday show I got to hang out with Ken Winokur of Alloy Orchestra and heard his story of how they almost played Radio City Music Hall.

Wednesday’s panel was on film literacy with faculty from University of Michigan Department of Screen Arts and Culture. Professor Hugh Cohen stated how he found the film The Children Are Alright to be shallow. Michael Moore quipped that that was why it was chosenas the opening night film.

Thursday’s panel with Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, co-presidents of Sony Pictures Classics was thoroughly entertaining. Michael Moore presented a life time achievement award to each of them. The story of their pursuit of a distribution deal on Roger & Me was particularly memorable. Many of the points made can be heard in this interview done on DP/30.

This festival gets better every year. Congratulations to staff, volunteers and all the film people and musicians who made it happen.

Psycho’s Northern Michigan Premier

No one… BUT NO ONE will be admitted to the theatre after the start of each performance of PSYCHO.

*This is to help you enjoy PSYCHO more. By the way, after you see the picture, please don’t give away the ending. It’s the only one we have.

July 30, 1960 – Traverse City Record Eagle

More coverage of the 50th anniversary of Psycho is at The Village Voice and the Wall Street Journal has a fascinating piece on Bernard Hermann’s soundtrack and the making of the film.

Elk Rapids Cinema

Joe Yuchasz of the Elk Rapids Cinema was recognized on opening night of the 2010 Traverse City Film Festival along with the restored Garden Theatre in Frankfort for keeping cinema alive in small towns. The Traverse City Record Eagle has a story about Joe’s efforts and the history of the theatre.

The Elk Rapids Cinema was once named the State. The following story ran on June 17, 1960 in the Traverse City Record Eagle. Admission at the State in 1960 were .60 & .25.

Harold Coddington’s exhibition of foreign films at the State was preceded by Northern Michigan College in Traverse City. “NMC French Club Opens Foreign Film Festival” was the headline that ran April 1, 1954 in the Record Eagle. Helen Milliken was on the selection committee and Series tickets were $3.50.

The Coddington Furriers ad below ran December 20, 1945 in the Record Eagle.

This & That

“Thompson of Hollywood” blogs on Indiewire and posted an interesting overview of where we are with 3D Cinema.

Michael Karagosian, digital cinema consultant for the National Association of Theatre Owners gives us his assessment of where we are now with the rollout of digital projection.

Jeff Lipsky, co-founder of the late October Films with Bingham Ray, is returning to film distribution. He feels, the “theatrical business is flourishing.” Jeff Lipsky: “Why I am encouraged and excited…”

The FCC deliberates over Net Neutrality; Anne Thompson posts comments here.

The must-see complete Metropolis with the Alloy Orchestra is the closing night presentation of the first TCM Classic Film Festival.
David Bordwell discusses the restoration on his blog “Observations on film art”.

The shameful case of Jafar Panahi, Iranian director of “The White Balloon” has been imprisioned in his homeland.

Cinefest celebrated its 30th year of old-movie buffs gathering in Syracuse, New York. Leonard Maltin writes a nice tribute to the event.

Film scholar and archivist David Pierce has initiated a privately-funded project called Media History Digital Library to bring important early film magazines to the masses. These include Photoplay, Motion Picture Classic and Moving Picture World.

“Cinema Interruptus” and “Aguirre, the Wrath of God”

Mike Jones has a nice post about reasons for blogging.

Frank Beaver is a film historian and critic, and professor emeritus of Screen Arts and Cultures at the University of Michigan. He shares basic tips for deepening our understanding and appreciation of movies in a piece he wrote for Michigan Today.

Dan Talbot of New Yorker Films and New York art-house Lincoln Plaza Cinemas was honored by IFP/New York with the Gotham Award for Industry Lifetime Achievement in 2004. Here is the text of his speech. His wife Toby has just authored a book on the New Yorker Theater

ArtPrize, The Map?

Jerry Gritzinger of Maple City is competing with over 1200 other artists to be one of ten finalist in ArtPrize. His Map is a work in progress; work that he has been doing his whole adult life. Of the 2000 map panels he is displaying one third on a vertical wall at the The Old Federal Building.

120 venues in downtown Grand Rapids are hosting the artists. Each venue chose the artist they wanted to host; the public will vote on what they like. The ten finalist will be selected by the public vote with the top prize being $250,000. The Urban Institute of Contemporary Art is the sponsoring organization. ArtPrize is taking place in Grand Rapids, Michigan from September 23 – October 10, 2009.

Two elephants from Ringling Bros. Circus will paint a Grand Rapids city bus at noon Thursday, September 24th.

Larry Fox is long time friend also exhibiting in ArtPrize. His work is one of the standout pieces on display at the BOB. His piece is a 3-D work in wood, metal and paint. “The work draws from three areas of my background;arcitectural design,film set construction/design, and furniture design.”

Nicole Caruth

Nicole Caruth is walking and observing ArtPrize; sharing her thoughts at ArtPize’s blog. She states that “judging from the list of top ranking works after day one, I’m inclined to believe that the collective public might be just as discerning an audience as a group of so-called experts. (This is in fact James Surowiecki’s theory in The Wisdom of Crowds…)”

A PICTORIAL MEDIA ARCHEOLOGY and Media Transformation

Thomas Weynants’ website explores early visual media in a wonderfully deep detail. I would love to bring a magic lantern show to The Bay

Henry Jenkins is the Director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program. He tells the story of our media transformation in this video.

Making Choices at 2009 Traverse City Film Festival

Scenes from two movies have special resonance for me. Both scenes are poignant and especially cinematic, underlining the depth and range of program set out at the fifth Traverse City Film Festival.

In Jan Troll’s masterful “Everlasting Moments” we follow a woman as she picks up a camera and becomes empowered in unexpected ways. This poignant story has many special moments; my favorite has a young woman wiping away flowing water from a window so she and her boyfriend can more clearly see each other.

“The Chaser” follows a man as he desperately tries to save a woman from a serial killer. He takes into his care a young girl. As she sits in a car she reads the lips of this man and discerns that her mother is likely dead. We watch at a distance seeing but not hearing as she weeps uncontrollably as a downpour washes over the car.

It was my pleasure meet Thom Powers curator of nonfiction film for the Toronto Film Festival. His involvement was a welcome addition to the Festival giving boost to film introductions and Q & A’s at “Learning Gravity” with filmmaker Cathal Black and poet Thomas Lynch.

The screening of “Burma VJ” was greeted with a five minute standing ovation when Thom escorted VJ Aung Htun on to the stage for a Q & A. which ended with another standing ovation.

Aung Htun filming protesting monks

My viewing ranged from delightful “Sita Sings The Blues” to the scary Food Inc.. “Salt of the Sea” was poignant look at the Palestine side of the conflict with Israelis.

“The Rest Is Silence” was an epic look at silent film making in Bucharest circa 1911. The fiery death of young actress rivaled “The Chase” and “The Cove” for most brutal film scene of the festival. “In The Loop” was an English film that I missed a lot of the dialogue and would have appreciated it more if I had understood what was being said.

“Revanche” was an outstanding thriller that ended surprisingly softly. “Winnebago Man” the story of Jack Rebney’s unwanted fame on the internet was interesting and funny. “The Answer Man” was okay while “Registered Sex Offender” I found sophomoric and walked out of it before the half way point.

“Mike Surprise” treated us to work print of a trailer for his upcoming “Capitalism, A Love Story” and the first film he was involved in “Blood in the Face”. The Bijou Orchestra from Bay City, Michigan was commissioned to accompany Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis”. They were good but I prefer the Alloy Orchestra original music. “Herb & Dorothy” was a delightful art history lesson. Including “Azur and Asmar” I saw 18 films; The Michigan Film Commission was the one panel I attended.

Three films that I missed are slated to play The Bay Theatre: “Seraphine”, “The Lemon Tree” and “Waterlife”. Three others may also come to The Bay: “The Cove”, “Food Inc.” and “Departures”. I would have liked to have seen many more but as with life you have to make choices.