“It’s very dirty, and I know dirty.” Near the end of Brian De Palma’s oneiric exercise in sleaze, Dressed To Kill, high-class prostitute Liz Blake (Nancy Allen) recounts a recurring dream where she strips in front of a phantom intruder before he puts a razor blade to her neck. It’s remarkably similar to the film’s first scene — a dream sequence where a showering Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson) vainly attempts to attract her shaving husband’s attention, only to be murdered behind a thin veil of glass.
This time, it’s notably described in real-time as Blake’s voice becomes shaky. She’s a women who’s used to sexual kinks, but this dream is something more confusing. It’s threatening, but also cathartic in the details.
But for a film obsessed with the presence of skin and the possibility of sex, Dressed to Kill is excessively...
This time, it’s notably described in real-time as Blake’s voice becomes shaky. She’s a women who’s used to sexual kinks, but this dream is something more confusing. It’s threatening, but also cathartic in the details.
But for a film obsessed with the presence of skin and the possibility of sex, Dressed to Kill is excessively...
- 6/20/2016
- by Michael Snydel
- The Film Stage
The setup to De Palma, Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow's engrossing new documentary about the life and career of controversial filmmaker Brian De Palma (opening in theaters on June 10th), couldn't be simpler: The 75-year-old director dissects most of his films and shares analyses and behind-the-scenes anecdotes in between clips. Forget talking-head testimonials from collaborators, flashy visuals or dramatic reenactments. You just get the man himself, looking back and holding court in all his verbose, insightful glory.
And that is more than enough. Known primarily for his obsession with voyeurism,...
And that is more than enough. Known primarily for his obsession with voyeurism,...
- 6/9/2016
- Rollingstone.com
The X Factor celebrated the music of Whitney Houston and Elton John tonight (November 22) – leading to Only The Young being sent home as part of a double elimination.
As the competition narrows down as we head towards the final, the public's opinion is more important than ever!
Digital Spy rounds up the best Twitter reactions to The X Factor Week 7 below:
1. The world of Twitter watching The X Factor had another career in mind for Lauren after an audience-panned performance:
Lauren's got a West End career coming. She's not interesting enough to be a pop star #xfactor
— Churlish Meg (@churlishmeg) November 22, 2014
Lauren's performance is still boring even with fast music and her trying to dance #xfactor
— Ciara (@Ciara_Loughlin) November 22, 2014
Lauren Platt is probably the most boring X Factor contestant there has ever been.
— Ryan Bodell (@RyanBodell) November 22, 2014
2. Debate raged over whether 'I Will Always Love You...
As the competition narrows down as we head towards the final, the public's opinion is more important than ever!
Digital Spy rounds up the best Twitter reactions to The X Factor Week 7 below:
1. The world of Twitter watching The X Factor had another career in mind for Lauren after an audience-panned performance:
Lauren's got a West End career coming. She's not interesting enough to be a pop star #xfactor
— Churlish Meg (@churlishmeg) November 22, 2014
Lauren's performance is still boring even with fast music and her trying to dance #xfactor
— Ciara (@Ciara_Loughlin) November 22, 2014
Lauren Platt is probably the most boring X Factor contestant there has ever been.
— Ryan Bodell (@RyanBodell) November 22, 2014
2. Debate raged over whether 'I Will Always Love You...
- 11/22/2014
- Digital Spy
"Film or art?" was the first question I was greeted with upon arrival at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, a question essentially inquiring whether I was attending to watch "films" or "art" (i.e. video art) at the festival. But since no such demarcation really exists in the program, the question therefore expanded beyond its modest confines to provoke all kinds of immediately doubting self-inquiry such as: (1) Oh God, what if I'm here just for film?; (2) Wait, who says film isn't art?; (3) Is this person picking a fight?; and (4) How come no one asks me this in Cannes?
Still, it was a question I should have expected, since a festival dedicated to short moving image media—now; it had "just" films to consider—implicitly posits a number of questions about its chosen subject. As someone with a cinephile background in, let's say, traditional cinema, it is both frightening and...
Still, it was a question I should have expected, since a festival dedicated to short moving image media—now; it had "just" films to consider—implicitly posits a number of questions about its chosen subject. As someone with a cinephile background in, let's say, traditional cinema, it is both frightening and...
- 5/9/2014
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
The 26th annual Images Festival will be taking over Toronto on April 11-20 with an epic series of experimental film screenings, media installations, expanded cinema performances, workshops, artist talks and tons more. With so much going on, the Underground Film Journal is just listing all the screening events below. For everything Images has to offer, please visit their official website.
Before the screenings list, here are some of the highlights:
Opening Night: Accompanying the documentary imagery of prolific filmmaker Robert Todd will be live music performed by electronic music deconstructionist Tim Hecker. Plus, there will be a new audiovisual work by SlowPitch called Emoralis, which pairs images of snails with crackly and droning rhythms.
Closing Night: Corredor will be a live performance piece combining South American imagery by artist Alexandra Gelis, accompanied by live music by drummer Hamid Drake and saxophonist David Mott.
Live Performances: Jodie Mack will provide live...
Before the screenings list, here are some of the highlights:
Opening Night: Accompanying the documentary imagery of prolific filmmaker Robert Todd will be live music performed by electronic music deconstructionist Tim Hecker. Plus, there will be a new audiovisual work by SlowPitch called Emoralis, which pairs images of snails with crackly and droning rhythms.
Closing Night: Corredor will be a live performance piece combining South American imagery by artist Alexandra Gelis, accompanied by live music by drummer Hamid Drake and saxophonist David Mott.
Live Performances: Jodie Mack will provide live...
- 4/11/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
With Major League Baseball officially starting up this week, Indiewire's latest curation of Hulu's Documentaries page turns to films about the national pastime. Watch these films now for free! One of the most acclaimed baseball documentaries of recent years, Aviva Kempner's "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" offers a love letter to the Detroit Tigers' first baseman and to a different era. Appealing not only to fans of the sport, the film depicts American life in the 1930s and '40s, a country's love for the game, and how a Jewish American player who defied prejudice to become a beloved Hall of Famer. Greenberg also figures in Peter Miller's "Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story." The film, narrated by Dustin Hoffman, debunks the commonly-held misperception that Jews are non-athletic by examining the rich history of Jewish ballplayers. Looking at the careers of such star players as Greenberg and Sandy Koufax,...
- 4/2/2013
- by Basil Tsiokos
- Indiewire
The Ann Arbor Film Festival, having survived their half-a-century blowout in 2012, is back with another rip-roarin’ 51st edition in 2013, which will run from March 19-24, screening a mind-boggling amount of experimental short films and a few features.
Highlights of the fest include:
Special presentations by this year’s jurors, including Marcin Gizycki round-up of Polish animation from the 1950s to the present; Laida Lertxundi’s selection of some of her films as well as her biggest influences; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s mini-retrospective of his own films.
There’s also special tributes to Pat O’Neill, including a retrospective of his short films from the ’70s to the present as well as a screening of his 1989 35mm experimental epic Water and Power; Suzan Pitt, with selections of short films from her career; and a screening of Ken Burns’ latest doc The Central Park Five, co-directed with his daughter Sarah Burns and son-in-law David McMahon,...
Highlights of the fest include:
Special presentations by this year’s jurors, including Marcin Gizycki round-up of Polish animation from the 1950s to the present; Laida Lertxundi’s selection of some of her films as well as her biggest influences; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s mini-retrospective of his own films.
There’s also special tributes to Pat O’Neill, including a retrospective of his short films from the ’70s to the present as well as a screening of his 1989 35mm experimental epic Water and Power; Suzan Pitt, with selections of short films from her career; and a screening of Ken Burns’ latest doc The Central Park Five, co-directed with his daughter Sarah Burns and son-in-law David McMahon,...
- 3/19/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The market for advertising delivery systems is set to become more competitive following this week’s acquisition of local start up eBUS by the London-based IMD.
eBUS has a presence in Australia, Nz, Singapore and India. It is a competitor to the biggest two players AdStream and Dubsat.
No price on the deal has been released.
Carmine Masiello, CEO of eBUS, said in a statement: “IMD’s investment in eBUS will speed up our expansion in the Asia Pacific region.”
Peter Miller, boss of AdStream, told Mumbrella: “They haven’t had any impact on the market yet, but we’re up for a fight.”
Declaration of interest: AdStream, Dubsat and eBUS are all occasional advertisers on Mumbrella or sister title Encore
The post Ad delivery service eBUS sells to IMD appeared first on mUmBRELLA.
eBUS has a presence in Australia, Nz, Singapore and India. It is a competitor to the biggest two players AdStream and Dubsat.
No price on the deal has been released.
Carmine Masiello, CEO of eBUS, said in a statement: “IMD’s investment in eBUS will speed up our expansion in the Asia Pacific region.”
Peter Miller, boss of AdStream, told Mumbrella: “They haven’t had any impact on the market yet, but we’re up for a fight.”
Declaration of interest: AdStream, Dubsat and eBUS are all occasional advertisers on Mumbrella or sister title Encore
The post Ad delivery service eBUS sells to IMD appeared first on mUmBRELLA.
- 2/5/2013
- by mumbrella
- Encore Magazine
With cinema one of the winning advertising platforms over the last 12 months, advertisers would be smart to consider product placement says Peter Miller.
As a devotee of high art I took myself to see Skyfall. Aside from the mayhem and the beautifully cut suits, I noticed that Macallan Single Malt had replaced the Martini, 007 is back behind the wheel of an Aston Martin but he still loves his Omega Seafarer. That’s seven Bond movies in a row now for the Seafarer, which may be a record.
It’s hard to get accurate numbers on individual sponsorships but the producers accumulated $52 million from brands to help fund the $150 million movie. This business model means they can afford really big explosions. Presumably if they run a bit short of cash they can just sign up another brand, or perhaps a gun brand.
The idea of having a gun brand chip in...
As a devotee of high art I took myself to see Skyfall. Aside from the mayhem and the beautifully cut suits, I noticed that Macallan Single Malt had replaced the Martini, 007 is back behind the wheel of an Aston Martin but he still loves his Omega Seafarer. That’s seven Bond movies in a row now for the Seafarer, which may be a record.
It’s hard to get accurate numbers on individual sponsorships but the producers accumulated $52 million from brands to help fund the $150 million movie. This business model means they can afford really big explosions. Presumably if they run a bit short of cash they can just sign up another brand, or perhaps a gun brand.
The idea of having a gun brand chip in...
- 2/3/2013
- by Brooke Hemphill
- Encore Magazine
Riach
McGregor
The sales director of News Limited’s Wa newspaper The Sunday Times is to join AdStream in the newly created role of sales and marketing director.
Angus McGregor will be replaced by Fairfax Media’s Michael Riach.
McGregor has also held senior commercial and sales roles at The Week, News Magazines and Acp.
MacGregor said: “I am delighted to be joining Adstream at an exciting time. Adstream has a well-earned reputation for excellence in providing client service and solutions, and I’m looking forward to contributing.”
Peter Miller, MD of Adstream Australia, said: “Adstream is strengthening its core services whilst diversifying its capabilities, so it is really important we focus on our sales and marketing resources.”
Meanwhile The Sunday Times has announced that McGregor will be succeeded by Riach, who was previously sales director for Victoria, Sa, Wa and Queensland for Fairfax Metro Media.
Riach will also be responsible for perthnow.
McGregor
The sales director of News Limited’s Wa newspaper The Sunday Times is to join AdStream in the newly created role of sales and marketing director.
Angus McGregor will be replaced by Fairfax Media’s Michael Riach.
McGregor has also held senior commercial and sales roles at The Week, News Magazines and Acp.
MacGregor said: “I am delighted to be joining Adstream at an exciting time. Adstream has a well-earned reputation for excellence in providing client service and solutions, and I’m looking forward to contributing.”
Peter Miller, MD of Adstream Australia, said: “Adstream is strengthening its core services whilst diversifying its capabilities, so it is really important we focus on our sales and marketing resources.”
Meanwhile The Sunday Times has announced that McGregor will be succeeded by Riach, who was previously sales director for Victoria, Sa, Wa and Queensland for Fairfax Metro Media.
Riach will also be responsible for perthnow.
- 1/10/2013
- by mumbrella
- Encore Magazine
In this guest post, AdStream’s Peter Miller argues that the public are ready top spend if advertisers give them reasons to.
The scene I am surveying right now resembles a Rugby League Mad Monday event. The newspapers started the year poorly and have and continue to cough and splutter. TV is flat. Magazines have been hammered. Radio has gone really well. Cinema has gone mental; Outdoor continues to go well and Digital has slowed to normal double digit growth.
It all adds up to slightly wonky flat. As a good media mate of mine declared, “Pete, flat’s the new black”.
Given that marketers rarely predict their own conservatism, this suggests that there are large bags of un-spent cash weighing heavily in the pockets of CMOs all over the country.
These cashed up marketers must be simply desperate for a decent sales pitch and an ounce of hope.
Frankly,...
The scene I am surveying right now resembles a Rugby League Mad Monday event. The newspapers started the year poorly and have and continue to cough and splutter. TV is flat. Magazines have been hammered. Radio has gone really well. Cinema has gone mental; Outdoor continues to go well and Digital has slowed to normal double digit growth.
It all adds up to slightly wonky flat. As a good media mate of mine declared, “Pete, flat’s the new black”.
Given that marketers rarely predict their own conservatism, this suggests that there are large bags of un-spent cash weighing heavily in the pockets of CMOs all over the country.
These cashed up marketers must be simply desperate for a decent sales pitch and an ounce of hope.
Frankly,...
- 12/3/2012
- by mumbrella
- Encore Magazine
Oscar nominated Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man), Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade) and Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) have signed on to the John F. Kennedy feature film Parkland. Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are producing in association with Exclusive Media, who will also be financing, It was announced today by Exclusive Media Co-Chairmen Nigel Sinclair and Guy East.
As part of the production deal, Exclusive Media has optioned the rights to the book which provides the source material for the film . the epic Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, by renowned author and former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. The work was published in 2007 by W.W. Norton & Company and won the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. Bugliosi, a three time Edgar Award winner, also wrote the number one New York Times bestsellers; .Helter Skelter,. .And The Sea Will Tell. and .Outrage..
The...
As part of the production deal, Exclusive Media has optioned the rights to the book which provides the source material for the film . the epic Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, by renowned author and former prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi. The work was published in 2007 by W.W. Norton & Company and won the 2008 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. Bugliosi, a three time Edgar Award winner, also wrote the number one New York Times bestsellers; .Helter Skelter,. .And The Sea Will Tell. and .Outrage..
The...
- 10/30/2012
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
By merging the former Visions into the Wavelengths section, Cameron Bailey has essentially made a new incontournable programme. Headed by Andréa Picard, the section which at a time was populated by medium to short run times now includes some of the bigger names in innovative feature film filmmaking who have no qualms about bending the medium. This year the sections includes long, medium and short length works from the likes of Ben Rivers, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Carlos Reygadas (pic of his controversial Post Tenebras Lux above), Wang Bing, Mati Diop (actress from Claire Denis and Antonio Campos films) and our very own writer Blake Williams who makes it two for two at Tiff with Many a Swan – he previously had Coorow-Latham Road programmed last year. Here’s the complete A to Z listing and well-worth reading descriptions.
Pairings
The Capsule Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece, 37’ A bevy of gorgeous Gothic...
Pairings
The Capsule Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece, 37’ A bevy of gorgeous Gothic...
- 8/14/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The jury members for this year’s Mumbrella Awards can be today revealed.
The 27 jurors are among the most senior and experienced panels seen for an industry awards.
The official closing date for the Mumbrella Awards is this Friday.
The chairman of the juries is Telstra’s chief marketing officer Mark Buckman.
The jury features marketers from some of Australia’s biggest brands, recruiters and headhunters who have had a hand in some of the biggest roles in the industry and consultants whose expertise spans the entire landscape. To minimise conflict, there are few people on the jury with current agency roles, although many of the jurors have in depth experience on agency side.
The jury:
Chairman of juries – Mark Buckman, chief marketing officer, Telstra
Peter Cornelius, principal, Kinesis Media Nick Williams, principal, Williams International William Leach and Sangeeta Leach, owners, The Leach Partnership Esther Clerehan, owner, Clerehan David Thomason,...
The 27 jurors are among the most senior and experienced panels seen for an industry awards.
The official closing date for the Mumbrella Awards is this Friday.
The chairman of the juries is Telstra’s chief marketing officer Mark Buckman.
The jury features marketers from some of Australia’s biggest brands, recruiters and headhunters who have had a hand in some of the biggest roles in the industry and consultants whose expertise spans the entire landscape. To minimise conflict, there are few people on the jury with current agency roles, although many of the jurors have in depth experience on agency side.
The jury:
Chairman of juries – Mark Buckman, chief marketing officer, Telstra
Peter Cornelius, principal, Kinesis Media Nick Williams, principal, Williams International William Leach and Sangeeta Leach, owners, The Leach Partnership Esther Clerehan, owner, Clerehan David Thomason,...
- 8/1/2012
- by mumbrella
- Encore Magazine
In this guest post, Peter Miller argues that management upheaval can give newsrooms a common enemy to unite against
In the last couple of weeks I have enjoyed posts by Cathie McGinn on her giddying experience inside Photon, and by Anonymous from inside one of the Fairfax newsrooms, described by the correspondent as ‘toxic’.
These posts conjured up a conversation I recall with a gifted but aggrieved Smh journalist who joined Acp in the early 1990s after the Warwick Fairfax-led Tourang take over and subsequent shambles. She described leaving a great newspaper company that she described as having lost its soul.
To my surprise, only a few short months later she was on her way back to her old job at Fairfax. Over dinner I asked her what on earth had happened, imagining that she had fallen victim to an editorial witch hunt, common at the time and quite probably as common today.
In the last couple of weeks I have enjoyed posts by Cathie McGinn on her giddying experience inside Photon, and by Anonymous from inside one of the Fairfax newsrooms, described by the correspondent as ‘toxic’.
These posts conjured up a conversation I recall with a gifted but aggrieved Smh journalist who joined Acp in the early 1990s after the Warwick Fairfax-led Tourang take over and subsequent shambles. She described leaving a great newspaper company that she described as having lost its soul.
To my surprise, only a few short months later she was on her way back to her old job at Fairfax. Over dinner I asked her what on earth had happened, imagining that she had fallen victim to an editorial witch hunt, common at the time and quite probably as common today.
- 7/19/2012
- by mumbrella
- Encore Magazine
Adstream has promoted Rob Manning, formerly business development manager to global head of digital products.
The announcement:
London-based Adstream Holdings has promoted Rob Manning to Global Head of Digital Products to lead the company’s global push in the digital marketplace.
Peter Miller, managing director, Adstream Australia said: “Adstream has a track record of streamlining advertising processes across print and broadcast media. Rob is driving our next great project to developing streamlined digital advertising processes to similar effect.”
Manning said: “The opportunity to drive the global direction for Adstream to deliver solutions for the digital space is something I am very excited about. Products like ViziAdsTM for Advertisers and AdReach really bring a new value proposition to the market by creating new efficiencies in the advertising process.”
Manning joined Adstream as Business Development Manager in September 2011, when the company’s first digital offering encompassed delivery of online video to publishers through adstream4. Since then,...
The announcement:
London-based Adstream Holdings has promoted Rob Manning to Global Head of Digital Products to lead the company’s global push in the digital marketplace.
Peter Miller, managing director, Adstream Australia said: “Adstream has a track record of streamlining advertising processes across print and broadcast media. Rob is driving our next great project to developing streamlined digital advertising processes to similar effect.”
Manning said: “The opportunity to drive the global direction for Adstream to deliver solutions for the digital space is something I am very excited about. Products like ViziAdsTM for Advertisers and AdReach really bring a new value proposition to the market by creating new efficiencies in the advertising process.”
Manning joined Adstream as Business Development Manager in September 2011, when the company’s first digital offering encompassed delivery of online video to publishers through adstream4. Since then,...
- 6/18/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
In this guest post, Peter Miller warns of the dangers of listening to consumer feedback.
I’m not sure whether or not it’s fashionable to undertake 360 degree reviews any more but here at Adstream we persist. I have long been of the view that it’s the only feedback I can trust, though not the only feedback I can use.
Anything I find unthinkable and insulting I dismiss as a statistical error or vileness, thus rising above it. Any finding that rewards I consider commonsense and a credit to my hiring skills.
I dismiss the poor scores from my direct reports on the basis that they are paid a lot and don’t deserve happiness as well. It helps if you can consistently wander around in a blind haze of self deception.
Speaking of which, I want to acknowledge the Communications Council for putting on Circus – The festival of commercial creativity.
I’m not sure whether or not it’s fashionable to undertake 360 degree reviews any more but here at Adstream we persist. I have long been of the view that it’s the only feedback I can trust, though not the only feedback I can use.
Anything I find unthinkable and insulting I dismiss as a statistical error or vileness, thus rising above it. Any finding that rewards I consider commonsense and a credit to my hiring skills.
I dismiss the poor scores from my direct reports on the basis that they are paid a lot and don’t deserve happiness as well. It helps if you can consistently wander around in a blind haze of self deception.
Speaking of which, I want to acknowledge the Communications Council for putting on Circus – The festival of commercial creativity.
- 4/5/2012
- by Robin Hicks
- Encore Magazine
I like this title, so I found the news.
During our recent interview with Ellis Perez, the Director General of the Dominican Republic's film organization DGCine which you can read tomorrow, he mentioned an interesting factoid about Dr. Aside from its being the site of Christopher Columbus' second landing in 1492 and his naming the country Hispanola, its being the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, its sharing 1/3 of the island with Haiti, and its reign of terror by the dictator Trujillo from 1930 until his assassination in 1961, there was one good act performed by El Jefe. That was his open-door policy which accepted Jewish refugees from Europe, Japanese migration during the 1930s, and exiles from Spain following its civil war. In 1939 Trujillo took in German and Austrian Jewish refugees and gave them a safe haven in Puerto Plata province's town Sosua where many still live or have returned after being educated abroad. Another coincidental connection of the Dr to the Jews is that the current President Leonel Fernandez spent most of his childhood and teenaged years in Washington Heights during its transition from being a German Jewish neighborhood to becoming the Dominican neighborhood it is today.
And speaking of New York, here is a second Jews in the News item which also includes a doc about Sosua!
The New York-based Foundation for Jewish Culture has granted finishing funds to six documentaries.
Finishing funds ranging between $12,000 and $40,000 have recently been granted to six documentaries. The funds are designed to enable the filmmakers to pay licence fees for music and archival footage, complete additional editing and shooting and build audience awareness through outreach and engagement strategies.
The grants fall under the Foundation’s Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film which supports projects expanding understanding of the Jewish experience. 80 projects made applications this year and the final six recipients were selected by a panel including Moma’s Sally Berger, filmmaker Nicole Opper, film critic George Robinson and Daniella Tourgeman from the Jerusalem Cinematheque/ Israel Film Archive.
The fund has supported the completion of over 80 films since 1996 including Waltz With Bashir, Budrus, William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe and The Rape Of Europa.
The winning projects are:
· Sosua: Dare To Dance Together directed and produced by Peter Miller and Renee Silverman, which follows Jewish and Dominican teenagers over the course of the year as they create a musical theatre piece about German Jews finding refuge in the Dominican Republic in the late 1930s.
How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire directed by Dan Edelstyn, which traces the history of the film-maker’s Jewish grandmother who fled the Bolshevik revolution and settled in strife-torn Belfast.
· Miss World directed by Cecilia Peck (Shut Up And Sing), which is the story of Israeli beauty pageant queen Linor Abargil and her crusade to combat sexual violence against women.
· My Father Evgeni directed and produced by Andrei Zagdansky, follows the filmmaker’s history working with his father for the Kiev Popular Science Film Studios.
· The Return directed and produced by Adam Zucker (Greensboro: Closer To The Truth), which follows four young Polish women who were raised Catholic only to discover that they were born Jewish.
· Watchers Of The Sky directed by Edet Belzberg (Children Underground) which interweaves stories of four visionaries with the journey of lawyer Raphael Lemkin who drafted and pushed through the Un Genocide Convention.
During our recent interview with Ellis Perez, the Director General of the Dominican Republic's film organization DGCine which you can read tomorrow, he mentioned an interesting factoid about Dr. Aside from its being the site of Christopher Columbus' second landing in 1492 and his naming the country Hispanola, its being the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas, its sharing 1/3 of the island with Haiti, and its reign of terror by the dictator Trujillo from 1930 until his assassination in 1961, there was one good act performed by El Jefe. That was his open-door policy which accepted Jewish refugees from Europe, Japanese migration during the 1930s, and exiles from Spain following its civil war. In 1939 Trujillo took in German and Austrian Jewish refugees and gave them a safe haven in Puerto Plata province's town Sosua where many still live or have returned after being educated abroad. Another coincidental connection of the Dr to the Jews is that the current President Leonel Fernandez spent most of his childhood and teenaged years in Washington Heights during its transition from being a German Jewish neighborhood to becoming the Dominican neighborhood it is today.
And speaking of New York, here is a second Jews in the News item which also includes a doc about Sosua!
The New York-based Foundation for Jewish Culture has granted finishing funds to six documentaries.
Finishing funds ranging between $12,000 and $40,000 have recently been granted to six documentaries. The funds are designed to enable the filmmakers to pay licence fees for music and archival footage, complete additional editing and shooting and build audience awareness through outreach and engagement strategies.
The grants fall under the Foundation’s Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film which supports projects expanding understanding of the Jewish experience. 80 projects made applications this year and the final six recipients were selected by a panel including Moma’s Sally Berger, filmmaker Nicole Opper, film critic George Robinson and Daniella Tourgeman from the Jerusalem Cinematheque/ Israel Film Archive.
The fund has supported the completion of over 80 films since 1996 including Waltz With Bashir, Budrus, William Kunstler: Disturbing The Universe and The Rape Of Europa.
The winning projects are:
· Sosua: Dare To Dance Together directed and produced by Peter Miller and Renee Silverman, which follows Jewish and Dominican teenagers over the course of the year as they create a musical theatre piece about German Jews finding refuge in the Dominican Republic in the late 1930s.
How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire directed by Dan Edelstyn, which traces the history of the film-maker’s Jewish grandmother who fled the Bolshevik revolution and settled in strife-torn Belfast.
· Miss World directed by Cecilia Peck (Shut Up And Sing), which is the story of Israeli beauty pageant queen Linor Abargil and her crusade to combat sexual violence against women.
· My Father Evgeni directed and produced by Andrei Zagdansky, follows the filmmaker’s history working with his father for the Kiev Popular Science Film Studios.
· The Return directed and produced by Adam Zucker (Greensboro: Closer To The Truth), which follows four young Polish women who were raised Catholic only to discover that they were born Jewish.
· Watchers Of The Sky directed by Edet Belzberg (Children Underground) which interweaves stories of four visionaries with the journey of lawyer Raphael Lemkin who drafted and pushed through the Un Genocide Convention.
- 3/4/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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