Film Forum is turning back the clock to the ’80s and celebrating golden era cinemas with the New York premiere of Richard Shepard’s “Film Geek.”
Emmy winner Shepard writes and directs the cine-memoir feature centered on moviegoing in the ’70s and ’80s. “Film Geek” debuts as part of Film Forum’s “Out of the ’80s” programming, which includes over 50 films ranging from blockbusters to cult classics.
Films such as “Blue Velvet,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” and more will screen at the theater. Actors such as Griffin Dunne and Isaac Mizrahi will revisit their own ’80s features, while directors like Charlie Ahearn, Charles Lane, and Jerry Schatzberg discuss their filmmaking styles.
The series is programmed by Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum’s Repertory Artistic Director, and was inspired by Richard Shepard’s documentary “Film Geek.” The festival centers on the debut of “Film Geek,” which is...
Emmy winner Shepard writes and directs the cine-memoir feature centered on moviegoing in the ’70s and ’80s. “Film Geek” debuts as part of Film Forum’s “Out of the ’80s” programming, which includes over 50 films ranging from blockbusters to cult classics.
Films such as “Blue Velvet,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” and more will screen at the theater. Actors such as Griffin Dunne and Isaac Mizrahi will revisit their own ’80s features, while directors like Charlie Ahearn, Charles Lane, and Jerry Schatzberg discuss their filmmaking styles.
The series is programmed by Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum’s Repertory Artistic Director, and was inspired by Richard Shepard’s documentary “Film Geek.” The festival centers on the debut of “Film Geek,” which is...
- 4/25/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Welcome to The B-Side from The Film Stage. Here we usually talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today, we talk to a music supervisor! And one of the great music supervisors! Randall Poster!
We discuss his new film Priscilla, how working with Sofia Coppola compares to working with someone like Wes Anderson, and––most importantly––how they chose what music would be in the movie.
There’s also talk of Poster’s early career. There’s the film he co-wrote (A Matter of Degrees) in 1990 and the early indies he made with Christine Vachon (including Office Killer). There’s also Maid in Manhattan, directed by past guest Wayne Wang. Finally, Poster worked on the criminally-underrated indie Diggers, which you should watch.
This is a fun, special episode about the kind of crew member...
We discuss his new film Priscilla, how working with Sofia Coppola compares to working with someone like Wes Anderson, and––most importantly––how they chose what music would be in the movie.
There’s also talk of Poster’s early career. There’s the film he co-wrote (A Matter of Degrees) in 1990 and the early indies he made with Christine Vachon (including Office Killer). There’s also Maid in Manhattan, directed by past guest Wayne Wang. Finally, Poster worked on the criminally-underrated indie Diggers, which you should watch.
This is a fun, special episode about the kind of crew member...
- 11/3/2023
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Anthony Chen (“The Breaking Ice”) is attached to direct and Shinho Lee to write “Sunset Park” for Barunson C&c, a film and TV production subsidiary of Barunson E&a, the Korean company that produced Oscar-winning hit “Parasite.”
“Sunset Park” recounts a surprising journey in the U.S. made by a Korean father with his son’s room mate, after the man receives tragic news about his son. The project is being developed by Jane Hyojin Kwon (Lucky Jane Title) and Woo-sik Seo (Barunson C&c), with Chen’s production outlet Giraffe Pictures boarding as producing partner. New York-based Lee is the writer of Na Hong-jin’s breakout Korean actioner “The Chaser” as well as Wayne Wang’s drama film “While The Women Are Sleeping.”
The cross-cultural story is only one of several high-profile global projects that the company is launching in and around the Busan International Film Festival and on...
“Sunset Park” recounts a surprising journey in the U.S. made by a Korean father with his son’s room mate, after the man receives tragic news about his son. The project is being developed by Jane Hyojin Kwon (Lucky Jane Title) and Woo-sik Seo (Barunson C&c), with Chen’s production outlet Giraffe Pictures boarding as producing partner. New York-based Lee is the writer of Na Hong-jin’s breakout Korean actioner “The Chaser” as well as Wayne Wang’s drama film “While The Women Are Sleeping.”
The cross-cultural story is only one of several high-profile global projects that the company is launching in and around the Busan International Film Festival and on...
- 10/4/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
We recently had the good fortune to speak with the talented, prolific filmmaker Wayne Wang about his long career, in particular his film Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, whose Director-Approved Special Edition Blu-ray is now available from Criterion and also streaming on the Criterion Channel. Additional B-Sides we chatted about with Wang included Eat a Bowl of Tea, Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive (also on Criterion Channel), Smoke (and its own B-Side Blue in the Face), Chinese Box, and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
Wang elaborated on making films efficiently, his career-long ambition to make a different kind of picture every time, how he constructed the perfect “pillow shot” (an homage to filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu) in Dim Sum, and some smaller films of his that he hopes more people discover. There’s also talk about his faltering first steps into Hollywood (Slam Dance) and...
Wang elaborated on making films efficiently, his career-long ambition to make a different kind of picture every time, how he constructed the perfect “pillow shot” (an homage to filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu) in Dim Sum, and some smaller films of his that he hopes more people discover. There’s also talk about his faltering first steps into Hollywood (Slam Dance) and...
- 9/6/2023
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
The bread and butter of film festivals is the unveiling of new movies. And in the case of the major festivals taking place in the late summer and early fall — Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York — the selections offer a preview of potential Oscar nominees and winners. Remember the eight-minute standing ovation Brendan Fraser received last year at Venice for “The Whale”? It kicked off his comeback and journey to a best Oscar win this year.
And with the 50th annual Telluride Film Festival kicking off August 31 at in the picturesque Colorado mountain burg, let’s take the cinematic time machine back 1993 when the fest was a mere 20 years old. John Boorman of “Deliverance” and “Hope and Glory” fame was the guest director of the festival. Jennifer Jason Leigh, then just 31 and whose latest film was Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts,” was honored with a tribute as was socialist British director Ken Loach,...
And with the 50th annual Telluride Film Festival kicking off August 31 at in the picturesque Colorado mountain burg, let’s take the cinematic time machine back 1993 when the fest was a mere 20 years old. John Boorman of “Deliverance” and “Hope and Glory” fame was the guest director of the festival. Jennifer Jason Leigh, then just 31 and whose latest film was Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts,” was honored with a tribute as was socialist British director Ken Loach,...
- 8/31/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.
Surprise! Here’s a bonus episode in which we speak to the talented, prolific, and dynamic director Wayne Wang. Our main B-Side is Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, whose Director-Approved Special Edition Blu-ray is now available from Criterion.
Additional B-Sides include Eat a Bowl of Tea, Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive (also on Criterion Channel), Smoke (and its own B-Side Blue in the Face), Chinese Box, and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
We talk to Wang about making films efficiently, his career-long ambition to make a different kind of film every time, how to construct the perfect “pillow shot” (an homage to filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu), combating boredom on set with ambition,...
Surprise! Here’s a bonus episode in which we speak to the talented, prolific, and dynamic director Wayne Wang. Our main B-Side is Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, whose Director-Approved Special Edition Blu-ray is now available from Criterion.
Additional B-Sides include Eat a Bowl of Tea, Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive (also on Criterion Channel), Smoke (and its own B-Side Blue in the Face), Chinese Box, and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
We talk to Wang about making films efficiently, his career-long ambition to make a different kind of film every time, how to construct the perfect “pillow shot” (an homage to filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu), combating boredom on set with ambition,...
- 8/18/2023
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Wayne Wang’s Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, the filmmaker’s follow-up to his existential noir riff Chan Is Missing, again focuses explicitly on the Chinese American community in San Francisco. But where his debut feature found its protagonists constantly scrambling about the city, Dim Sum is set almost exclusively within, or just outside, the domestic space. Echoes of Ozu Yasujirō, specifically Late Spring, ring throughout Wang’s melodrama, whose tender, empathetic, and often funny examination of a loving, codependent mother-daughter relationship is reminiscent of Ryū Chishū and Haru Setsuko’s characters’ in Ozu’s masterwork.
Dim Sum, too, is a film of extended silences and often mundane conversations, and of emotions coursing beneath placid surfaces across settings where old customs collide with new ones. Wang makes evocative use of Ozu’s signature pillow shots throughout, reflecting elements of a Chinese community through shots of Chinatown and its...
Dim Sum, too, is a film of extended silences and often mundane conversations, and of emotions coursing beneath placid surfaces across settings where old customs collide with new ones. Wang makes evocative use of Ozu’s signature pillow shots throughout, reflecting elements of a Chinese community through shots of Chinatown and its...
- 8/17/2023
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
One of independent film’s key players, Ray Price, died July 16 at the age of 75 from heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his long-term partner Meg Madison confirmed.
Talking to Price about movies, past and present, was an exhilarating sport that could take a while. He knew his stuff — no one loved movies more — but more than anyone during the great indie decades of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, he was a respected innovator who thought outside the box. He began as an exhibitor in San Francisco and moved on to marketing, releasing, and distributing movies, leaning toward the outrageous in how he lured audiences to sample challenging fare.
“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” Magnolia Pictures co-ceo Eamonn Bowles wrote me in an email. “From theatre chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he...
Talking to Price about movies, past and present, was an exhilarating sport that could take a while. He knew his stuff — no one loved movies more — but more than anyone during the great indie decades of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, he was a respected innovator who thought outside the box. He began as an exhibitor in San Francisco and moved on to marketing, releasing, and distributing movies, leaning toward the outrageous in how he lured audiences to sample challenging fare.
“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” Magnolia Pictures co-ceo Eamonn Bowles wrote me in an email. “From theatre chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he...
- 7/21/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Ray Price, a respected producer of indie filmmaking, died July 16 from heart failure after a long battle with cancer. The news was confirmed by his long-term partner Meg Madison. He was 75 years old.
Price launched his film career in 1972, managing the Berkeley storefront theater the Rialto, and went on to build with Allen Michaan Renaissance Theaters, an independent art film chain that became one of the largest (33 at its peak) in the Bay Area and was later sold to the Landmark Theatre circuit.
A tough negotiator and exacting exhibitor, under Price’s stewardship, Renaissance Theaters were renowned for redesigning marketing materials, from posters to press books — designs that fledgling distributors often adopted when the films hadn’t found success in other markets.
At a time when most top arthouse distributors focused on established auteurs from Europe and Asia, Renaissance Theaters exploded those norms by programming new American directors like Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes.
Price launched his film career in 1972, managing the Berkeley storefront theater the Rialto, and went on to build with Allen Michaan Renaissance Theaters, an independent art film chain that became one of the largest (33 at its peak) in the Bay Area and was later sold to the Landmark Theatre circuit.
A tough negotiator and exacting exhibitor, under Price’s stewardship, Renaissance Theaters were renowned for redesigning marketing materials, from posters to press books — designs that fledgling distributors often adopted when the films hadn’t found success in other markets.
At a time when most top arthouse distributors focused on established auteurs from Europe and Asia, Renaissance Theaters exploded those norms by programming new American directors like Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes.
- 7/21/2023
- The Wrap
Ray Price, an indie film producer and marketing veteran, died on July 16 of heart failure after battling cancer, his longterm partner Meg Madison confirmed. He was 75.
During his career in film, Price was president of Francis Ford Coppola’s production company American Zoetrope and First Look Pictures and a marketing and distribution exec for Landmark Theatres, Trimark Pictures and 2929 Entertainment. He also supported up-and-coming filmmakers like Tran Anh Hung (“The Scent of Green Papaya”), Gurinder Chadha (“Bhaji on The Beach”), Carl Franklin (“One False Move”), Allison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging”) and John Sayles (“The Secret of Roan Inish”).
“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” said Magnolia Pictures co-ceo Eamonn Bowles in a statement. “From theatre chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he always sought out novel ways of approaching things. He truly was a rebel...
During his career in film, Price was president of Francis Ford Coppola’s production company American Zoetrope and First Look Pictures and a marketing and distribution exec for Landmark Theatres, Trimark Pictures and 2929 Entertainment. He also supported up-and-coming filmmakers like Tran Anh Hung (“The Scent of Green Papaya”), Gurinder Chadha (“Bhaji on The Beach”), Carl Franklin (“One False Move”), Allison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging”) and John Sayles (“The Secret of Roan Inish”).
“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” said Magnolia Pictures co-ceo Eamonn Bowles in a statement. “From theatre chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he always sought out novel ways of approaching things. He truly was a rebel...
- 7/21/2023
- by Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
Ray Price, the respected indie film innovator who served as president of American Zoetrope and First Look Pictures and as a marketing and distribution executive for companies including Landmark Theatres and Trimark Pictures, has died. He was 75.
Price died Sunday at Whittier Hospital Medical Center from heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his longtime partner, Meg Madison, said.
Throughout his career, Price displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of film, mentored generations of executives and leaned toward the outrageous in the ways he lured audiences to sample challenging movies.
Along the way, he championed filmmakers including Carl Franklin (1992’s One False Move), Allison Anders (1992’s Gas Food Lodging), Tran Anh Hung (1993’s The Scent of Green Papaya), Gurinder Chadha (1993’s Bhaji on the Beach) and John Sayles (1994’s The Secret of Roan Inish).
“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,...
Price died Sunday at Whittier Hospital Medical Center from heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his longtime partner, Meg Madison, said.
Throughout his career, Price displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of film, mentored generations of executives and leaned toward the outrageous in the ways he lured audiences to sample challenging movies.
Along the way, he championed filmmakers including Carl Franklin (1992’s One False Move), Allison Anders (1992’s Gas Food Lodging), Tran Anh Hung (1993’s The Scent of Green Papaya), Gurinder Chadha (1993’s Bhaji on the Beach) and John Sayles (1994’s The Secret of Roan Inish).
“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,...
- 7/21/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A total of 24 feature films, including five world premieres, make up this year’s programme.
Edinburgh International Film Festival has unveiled a 24-title programme for 2023, featuring the world premiere of Janis Pugh’s feature debut Chuck Chuck Baby, and international titles spanning Europe, China, India and Japan.
There are five world premieres, plus five retrospective titles, five short films and an outdoor screening weekend of seven features.
Chuck Chuck Baby unfurls in a chicken factory in north Wales, and stars Louise Brealey, Annabel Scholey, Sorcha Cusack, Celyn Jones and Emily Fairn. It’s set in the present day, with a...
Edinburgh International Film Festival has unveiled a 24-title programme for 2023, featuring the world premiere of Janis Pugh’s feature debut Chuck Chuck Baby, and international titles spanning Europe, China, India and Japan.
There are five world premieres, plus five retrospective titles, five short films and an outdoor screening weekend of seven features.
Chuck Chuck Baby unfurls in a chicken factory in north Wales, and stars Louise Brealey, Annabel Scholey, Sorcha Cusack, Celyn Jones and Emily Fairn. It’s set in the present day, with a...
- 7/6/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Choose Irvine Welsh” are among the world premieres at the 2023 Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), the full program for which was unveiled on Thursday.
As previously announced, “Silent Roar” and “Fremont” will bookend the festival, which includes 24 feature films, five retrospective titles, five short film programs and an outdoor screening weekend with seven features.
A hybrid adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Hope Dickson Leach’s film transposes the action from London to Victorian Edinburgh. Ian Jefferies’ “Choose Irvine Welsh” is a documentary about the renowned “Trainspotting” author and features his admirers including Iggy Pop, Martin Compston, Danny Boyle, Bobbie Gillespie, Gail Porter, Rowetta and Andrew Macdonald.
Other world premieres include debutant Janice Pugh’s Lgbtqia+ romance “Chuck Chuck Baby,” starring Louise Brealey (“Sherlock”) and Annabel Scholey (“The Split...
As previously announced, “Silent Roar” and “Fremont” will bookend the festival, which includes 24 feature films, five retrospective titles, five short film programs and an outdoor screening weekend with seven features.
A hybrid adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Hope Dickson Leach’s film transposes the action from London to Victorian Edinburgh. Ian Jefferies’ “Choose Irvine Welsh” is a documentary about the renowned “Trainspotting” author and features his admirers including Iggy Pop, Martin Compston, Danny Boyle, Bobbie Gillespie, Gail Porter, Rowetta and Andrew Macdonald.
Other world premieres include debutant Janice Pugh’s Lgbtqia+ romance “Chuck Chuck Baby,” starring Louise Brealey (“Sherlock”) and Annabel Scholey (“The Split...
- 7/6/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
‘The Mandalorian’ Star Giancarlo Esposito Might Return: ‘I Would Love to Keep Dying and Coming Back’
This story about Giancarlo Esposito and “The Mandalorian” first ran in the drama issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
Giancarlo Esposito knows villains.
The actor, whose career began in the early 1980’s, has always flitted between television and movie roles—he has appeared in movies by Jim Jarmusch, Wayne Wang, Spike Lee and Bong Joon-ho. And he has a particular specialty when it comes to playing characters with a, let’s say, loose moral compass.
Esposito is probably best known for his role as mannered drug kingpin Gustavo Fring on “Breaking Bad” and the prequel series “Better Call Saul.” He entered “Star Wars” lore in Season 1 of “The Mandalorian” as Moff Gideon, an Imperial zealot who returned in Season 3 to terrorize the titular hero (Pedro Pascal) and enact his evil plan, which involved creepy clones of himself. So his presumed death in the Mandalorian finale isn’t so certain. When clones are involved,...
Giancarlo Esposito knows villains.
The actor, whose career began in the early 1980’s, has always flitted between television and movie roles—he has appeared in movies by Jim Jarmusch, Wayne Wang, Spike Lee and Bong Joon-ho. And he has a particular specialty when it comes to playing characters with a, let’s say, loose moral compass.
Esposito is probably best known for his role as mannered drug kingpin Gustavo Fring on “Breaking Bad” and the prequel series “Better Call Saul.” He entered “Star Wars” lore in Season 1 of “The Mandalorian” as Moff Gideon, an Imperial zealot who returned in Season 3 to terrorize the titular hero (Pedro Pascal) and enact his evil plan, which involved creepy clones of himself. So his presumed death in the Mandalorian finale isn’t so certain. When clones are involved,...
- 6/21/2023
- by Drew Taylor
- The Wrap
Despite what the splashy yacht parties in Cannes suggest, media companies really are trying to save money right now. Really!
Top execs at Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Netflix, Paramount Global, Amazon and NBCUniversal parent Comcast have all promised shareholders during recent quarterly earnings calls that they’ll be spending wisely amid the economic downturn. Sweeping layoffs and other cost-cutting strategies, including the removal of underperforming content from some streaming services, has been among the first orders of business in 2023.
But no matter how many jobs these Hollywood heavyweights cut, reaching an outlandish savings target (nearly $4 billion for the post-merger Warner Bros. Discovery) is going to require pinching pennies in more areas than staff headcount. While CFOs are shredding budgets to ribbons, TV’s latest FYC season poses another quandary: What is the cost vs. benefit of an Emmy this year? And does the statuette’s symbolic value go down if...
Top execs at Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Netflix, Paramount Global, Amazon and NBCUniversal parent Comcast have all promised shareholders during recent quarterly earnings calls that they’ll be spending wisely amid the economic downturn. Sweeping layoffs and other cost-cutting strategies, including the removal of underperforming content from some streaming services, has been among the first orders of business in 2023.
But no matter how many jobs these Hollywood heavyweights cut, reaching an outlandish savings target (nearly $4 billion for the post-merger Warner Bros. Discovery) is going to require pinching pennies in more areas than staff headcount. While CFOs are shredding budgets to ribbons, TV’s latest FYC season poses another quandary: What is the cost vs. benefit of an Emmy this year? And does the statuette’s symbolic value go down if...
- 6/20/2023
- by Jennifer Maas
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSStars at Noon.Claire Denis is currently location scouting in Cameroon for her next film, which she completed writing a couple of weeks ago, according to the Guardian.The BlackStar Film Festival, taking place from August 2 through 6 in Philadelphia, has just announced their lineup. The slate includes new films by Ja’Tovia Gary, Kevin Jerome Everson, and Darol Olu Kae.Recommended Viewinga special mini-season of the Mubi Podcast involves conversations with filmmakers at Cannes. The first of these sees host Rico Gagliano talk to legendary director Wim Wenders about one of two films he premiered at the festival: Anselm, a 3D documentary about the work of German fine artist Anselm Kiefer.We’ve partnered with Filmadrid for our annual collaborative series, “The Video Essay.
- 6/14/2023
- MUBI
Let's start with a little dim sum before night falls and dreams begin. In August 2023, The Criterion Collection will release Wayne Wang's Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart on Blu-ray and Akira Kurosawa's Dreams in 4K, which makes me look forward to a month that I've often associated only with blood, sweat, and tears. Also, to quote the official release: "Drylongso, a rediscovered 1990s treasure of dynamic DIY filmmaking by Cauleen Smith; and Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema, a quartet of poetic, political films by the pivotal Swedish auteur" are heading for release in August. About the two I know more about: Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart is a wonderfully gentle 1985 excursion into love and cooking, as I recall, and...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 5/15/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Every month, The Criterion Collection announces a new batch of films that are getting the special edition treatment. And for the upcoming month of August, you can’t do much better than a new release of an Akira Kurosawa film.
Read More: 2023 Cannes Film Festival: 21 Must-See Movies To Watch
Leading the way in August from the Criterion Collection is Akira Kurosawa’s “Dreams.” The anthology film was released in 1990 and marks one of the final works from one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live.
Continue reading New Criterion Releases Of Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Dreams,’ Wayne Wang’s ‘Dim Sum’ & More Coming In August at The Playlist.
Read More: 2023 Cannes Film Festival: 21 Must-See Movies To Watch
Leading the way in August from the Criterion Collection is Akira Kurosawa’s “Dreams.” The anthology film was released in 1990 and marks one of the final works from one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live.
Continue reading New Criterion Releases Of Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Dreams,’ Wayne Wang’s ‘Dim Sum’ & More Coming In August at The Playlist.
- 5/15/2023
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
Surely marking an upgrade from the snapcase Warner Bros. DVD we all watched in your green-gilled days, Criterion will give Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams the 4K treatment this August. It’s the biggest announcement this month, but shouldn’t entirely overshadow the further offerings––among them a four-film set highlighting Swedish director Bo Widerberg, newly restored and boasting an introduction from Ruben Östlund.
Meanwhile, the recently restored, much-acclaimed Drylongso gets Blu-ray treatment––read our interview with director Cauleen Smith here––and Wayne Wang’s little-seen Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart arrives in a new director’s cut.
Find artwork below and more at Criterion.
The post Criterion’s August Lineup Includes 4K Kurosawa, Drylongso & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
Meanwhile, the recently restored, much-acclaimed Drylongso gets Blu-ray treatment––read our interview with director Cauleen Smith here––and Wayne Wang’s little-seen Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart arrives in a new director’s cut.
Find artwork below and more at Criterion.
The post Criterion’s August Lineup Includes 4K Kurosawa, Drylongso & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
- 5/15/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Actor Sharon Stone looked forward to being cast in a project about the late Lana Turner. But when Michael Douglas’ wife Catherine Zeta-Jones nabbed the project instead, Stone couldn’t help express her disappointment in the outcome.
Sharon Stone was considered to play late actor Lana Turner in a biopic Sharon Stone | Robert Smith/Patrick McMullan / Getty Images
Stone may have been in the running once to play late actor Lana Turner. According to TCM, Turner was an actor on the rise in the late 30s, having made her small silver screen debut in the feature They Won’t Forget.
From there, Turner’s career experienced even higher heights in the 40s. The 40s saw her starring in notable features like Honky Tonk and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, further growing her celebrity.
Deep in the 40s and 50s, Turner was already an established star and an A-lister in her own right.
Sharon Stone was considered to play late actor Lana Turner in a biopic Sharon Stone | Robert Smith/Patrick McMullan / Getty Images
Stone may have been in the running once to play late actor Lana Turner. According to TCM, Turner was an actor on the rise in the late 30s, having made her small silver screen debut in the feature They Won’t Forget.
From there, Turner’s career experienced even higher heights in the 40s. The 40s saw her starring in notable features like Honky Tonk and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, further growing her celebrity.
Deep in the 40s and 50s, Turner was already an established star and an A-lister in her own right.
- 5/3/2023
- by Antonio Stallings
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
A couple months after spotlighting the world’s greatest actress, the Criterion Channel have taken a logical next step towards America’s greatest actress. May (or: next week) will bring an eleven-film celebration of Jennifer Jason Leigh, highlights including Verhoeven’s Flesh + Blood, Miami Blues, Alan Rudolph’s Mrs. Parker, her directorial debut The Anniversary Party, and Synecdoche, New York, and a special introduction from Leigh. Another actor’s showcase localizes directorial collaborations: Jimmy Stewart’s time with Anthony Mann, an eight-title series boasting the likes of Winchester ’73 and The Man from Laramie. Two more: a survey of ’80s Asian-American cinema (Chan Is Missing being the best-known) and 14 movies by Seijun Suzuki.
That would be enough for one month (or two), but No Bears and Cette maison will have their streaming premieres, while Criterion Editions offers the Infernal Affairs trilogy (plus its packed set), Days of Heaven, and the aforementioned Chan Is Missing.
That would be enough for one month (or two), but No Bears and Cette maison will have their streaming premieres, while Criterion Editions offers the Infernal Affairs trilogy (plus its packed set), Days of Heaven, and the aforementioned Chan Is Missing.
- 4/20/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
by Olivia Pop
Wayne Wang's iconic 1982 film “Chan is Missing” is a staple of film studies and ethnic studies' screening lists across American universities, but each casual yet multi-layered second of its 76-minute runtime is replete with enough material to ponder for a lifetime. The director blends fiction with non-fiction in the depiction of a very real San Francisco Chinatown and parody with noir in its shifts between references to the Charlie Chan series and embrace of the detective style.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Chinese American taxi driver Jo (Wood Moy) and his nephew, Steve (Marc Hayashi), begin a search for the missing Chan Hung in San Francisco's Chinatown, to whom they had given 4000 dollars for a cab license. Their pursuit leads them to all corners of the neighborhood and into encounters with a variety of different characters, all of whom describe different portraits of Chan.
Wayne Wang's iconic 1982 film “Chan is Missing” is a staple of film studies and ethnic studies' screening lists across American universities, but each casual yet multi-layered second of its 76-minute runtime is replete with enough material to ponder for a lifetime. The director blends fiction with non-fiction in the depiction of a very real San Francisco Chinatown and parody with noir in its shifts between references to the Charlie Chan series and embrace of the detective style.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below
Chinese American taxi driver Jo (Wood Moy) and his nephew, Steve (Marc Hayashi), begin a search for the missing Chan Hung in San Francisco's Chinatown, to whom they had given 4000 dollars for a cab license. Their pursuit leads them to all corners of the neighborhood and into encounters with a variety of different characters, all of whom describe different portraits of Chan.
- 4/17/2023
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
It is my experience that one gets a far richer, stranger cinema education in pursuing the careers of actors, that group defined first by (assuming luck shines upon them) two or three era-defining films and then so much that dictates their industry—pet projects, contractual obligations, called-in favors alimony payments, auteur one-offs, and on and on. Few embody that deluge of circumstance better than Michelle Yeoh and Isabelle Huppert, both of whom are receiving spotlights in March. The former’s is a who’s-who of Hong Kong talent, new favorites (The Heroic Trio), items we can at least say are of interest (Trio‘s not-great sequel Executioners), etc.
Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course,...
Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course,...
- 2/22/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Robert Dalva, the film editor who earned an Oscar nomination for his work on the touching family adventure The Black Stallion and collaborated with director Joe Johnston on five films, including Jumanji and Captain America: The First Avenger, has died. He was 80.
Dalva died Jan. 27 of lymphoma in Marin County, California, his son Matthew Dalva told The Hollywood Reporter.
Dalva attended USC film school in the same class with George Lucas, and he went to work with him and Francis Ford Coppola in 1969 as the pair launched their innovative American Zoetrope production company in San Francisco.
The relationship paid off when Lucas hired Dalva to handle second-unit photography — he shot the land speeder going across the desert — on the original Star Wars (1977).
On the Coppola-produced Black Stallion (1979), starring Mickey Rooney in an Oscar-nominated performance, Dalva partnered with director Carroll Ballard, who also did second-unit work on Star Wars.
“We had...
Dalva died Jan. 27 of lymphoma in Marin County, California, his son Matthew Dalva told The Hollywood Reporter.
Dalva attended USC film school in the same class with George Lucas, and he went to work with him and Francis Ford Coppola in 1969 as the pair launched their innovative American Zoetrope production company in San Francisco.
The relationship paid off when Lucas hired Dalva to handle second-unit photography — he shot the land speeder going across the desert — on the original Star Wars (1977).
On the Coppola-produced Black Stallion (1979), starring Mickey Rooney in an Oscar-nominated performance, Dalva partnered with director Carroll Ballard, who also did second-unit work on Star Wars.
“We had...
- 2/6/2023
- by Mike Barnes and Christy Piña
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
During his tenure as head of production at Columbia TriStar in the 1990s, Chris Lee oversaw such Hollywood classics as Philadelphia, Jerry Maguire and As Good As It Gets.
But behind the scenes, as the first known Asian American to lead production at a major Hollywood studio, the Hawaii native was also actively involved in nurturing the industry’s then-inchoate Aapi community of executives and creatives, co-founding in 1991 the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment.
Just over 20 years ago, Lee returned to his home state and continued his mission of developing Aapi storytellers by establishing the Academy for Creative Media across the University of Hawai’i system, where he still directs the program. Two ACM alumni have premiered features at Sundance over the past two years — Christopher Makoto Yogi with I Was a Simple Man in 2021 and Alika Maikau with Kaimuki in 2022.
This year Lee himself is returning to the...
But behind the scenes, as the first known Asian American to lead production at a major Hollywood studio, the Hawaii native was also actively involved in nurturing the industry’s then-inchoate Aapi community of executives and creatives, co-founding in 1991 the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment.
Just over 20 years ago, Lee returned to his home state and continued his mission of developing Aapi storytellers by establishing the Academy for Creative Media across the University of Hawai’i system, where he still directs the program. Two ACM alumni have premiered features at Sundance over the past two years — Christopher Makoto Yogi with I Was a Simple Man in 2021 and Alika Maikau with Kaimuki in 2022.
This year Lee himself is returning to the...
- 1/23/2023
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Almost 30 years after the original’s 1993 release, a sequel to The Joy Luck Club is on the way. Amy Tan and Ron Bass will write the script, with Jeff Kleeman and Ashok Amritraj of Hyde Park Entertainment Group producing. The original film, directed by Wayne Wang, focuses on the life histories of four East Asian women and their daughters. Through their richly-detailed life experiences, the women pass their knowledge onto a new generation, hoping to shape them into strong and independent individuals. Tamlyn Tomita, Rosalind Chao, Kieu Chinh, Tsai Chin, France Nuyen, Lisa Lu, Ming-Na Wen, and Lauren Tom, who starred in the original, are in talks to reprise their roles for The Joy Luck Club sequel.
The Joy Luck Club is a well-respected film often credited with changing the face of Asian cinema. The heartfelt drama helped launch the career of Ming-Na Wen, the badass you know from Marvel’s Agents of S.
The Joy Luck Club is a well-respected film often credited with changing the face of Asian cinema. The heartfelt drama helped launch the career of Ming-Na Wen, the badass you know from Marvel’s Agents of S.
- 10/12/2022
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
Decades after revolutionizing how we see Asian American women on screen, "The Joy Luck Club" will be meeting up once again. Deadline reports that the 1993 film, originally directed by Wayne Wang, will be getting a sequel that is sure to continue the themes of intergenerational struggles portrayed in the original. Amy Tan, who wrote the original 1989 novel, and Ron Bass will both return as screenwriters. Hyde Park Entertainment Group, headed up by Ashok Amritraj, will handle the majority of producing duties on the project.
"We are excited to be teaming with Hyde Park and ["The Judge" producer] Jeff Kleeman in bringing to life the next generation of these four families so close to our hearts," the duo wrote in a statement provided to Deadline.
Not much is known about the film's story, but what we do know is that it will be a true legacy sequel in every sense of the term.
"We are excited to be teaming with Hyde Park and ["The Judge" producer] Jeff Kleeman in bringing to life the next generation of these four families so close to our hearts," the duo wrote in a statement provided to Deadline.
Not much is known about the film's story, but what we do know is that it will be a true legacy sequel in every sense of the term.
- 10/12/2022
- by Erin Brady
- Slash Film
“The Joy Luck Club” is reconvening for a sequel three decades after the adaptation of Amy Tan’s award-winning novel became a milestone for Asian American representation onscreen.
Tan and “The Joy Luck Club” screenwriter Ron Bass are teaming up to develop the project, with Tan, Jeff Kleeman and Hyde Park Entertainment Group’s Ashok Amritraj and Priya Amritraj producing. A director has not yet been named.
The original leading cast of the Wayne Wang-directed film – which included Rosalind Chao, Tamlyn Tomita, Lisa Lu, Kieu Chinh, Tsai Chin, France Nuyen, Lauren Tom and Ming-Na Wen – are in talks to star.
Also Read:
Randall Park’s Directorial Debut ‘Shortcomings’ Sets Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki as Stars
Released in 1993, “The Joy Luck Club” revolved around a San Francisco-based group of Chinese immigrant mothers and their Chinese American daughters who navigate the push and pull of mother-daughter relationships, cultural...
Tan and “The Joy Luck Club” screenwriter Ron Bass are teaming up to develop the project, with Tan, Jeff Kleeman and Hyde Park Entertainment Group’s Ashok Amritraj and Priya Amritraj producing. A director has not yet been named.
The original leading cast of the Wayne Wang-directed film – which included Rosalind Chao, Tamlyn Tomita, Lisa Lu, Kieu Chinh, Tsai Chin, France Nuyen, Lauren Tom and Ming-Na Wen – are in talks to star.
Also Read:
Randall Park’s Directorial Debut ‘Shortcomings’ Sets Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki as Stars
Released in 1993, “The Joy Luck Club” revolved around a San Francisco-based group of Chinese immigrant mothers and their Chinese American daughters who navigate the push and pull of mother-daughter relationships, cultural...
- 10/12/2022
- by Harper Lambert
- The Wrap
Novelist Amy Tan and Oscar-winning “Rain Man” screenwriter Ron Bass are on board to deliver a sequel to “The Joy Luck Club,” the 1993 movie that broke new ground for Asian American representation.
The new film, “Joy Luck Club 2,” is set up at Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group, with Ashok and Priya Amritraj producing alongside Tan, Bass and Jeff Kleeman. A director hasn’t been announced yet.
The original “Joy Luck Club,” directed by Wayne Wang, was an epic, multigenerational saga of Chinese and Chinese-American mothers and daughters, whose histories, stories and lives interweave as they navigate life. Club members included characters played by Tsai Chin, France Nuyen, Lisa Lu and Kieu Chinh. The ensemble cast also included Tamlyn Tomita, Rosalind Chao and Russell Wong.
In “Joy Luck Club 2,” the mothers become grandmothers and the daughters become mothers in their own right, introducing a new generation exploring their own relationships with culture,...
The new film, “Joy Luck Club 2,” is set up at Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group, with Ashok and Priya Amritraj producing alongside Tan, Bass and Jeff Kleeman. A director hasn’t been announced yet.
The original “Joy Luck Club,” directed by Wayne Wang, was an epic, multigenerational saga of Chinese and Chinese-American mothers and daughters, whose histories, stories and lives interweave as they navigate life. Club members included characters played by Tsai Chin, France Nuyen, Lisa Lu and Kieu Chinh. The ensemble cast also included Tamlyn Tomita, Rosalind Chao and Russell Wong.
In “Joy Luck Club 2,” the mothers become grandmothers and the daughters become mothers in their own right, introducing a new generation exploring their own relationships with culture,...
- 10/12/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Nearly 30 years after The Joy Luck Club changed Asian and Asian American representation in cinema, a sequel is in development with author Amy Tan and Oscar-winning screenwriter Ron Bass continuing from the former’s bestselling novel.
Also producing are Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group and The Judge producer Jeff Kleeman.
Amy Tan, Getty Images
The original leading cast are in talks to return to their roles, now the mothers and grandmothers of their families. The Wayne Wang-directed movie was a breakout role for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Mandalorian actress Ming-Na Wen and also starred Tamlyn Tomita, and Lisa Lu.
Ron Bass, Getty Images
The Joy Luck Club, released in 1993, tells the multigenerational saga of Chinese and Chinese-American mothers and daughters, whose histories, stories and lives interweave as they navigate life. The original Disney Touchstone theatrical paved the way for such Asian-led movies as Crazy Rich Asians...
Also producing are Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group and The Judge producer Jeff Kleeman.
Amy Tan, Getty Images
The original leading cast are in talks to return to their roles, now the mothers and grandmothers of their families. The Wayne Wang-directed movie was a breakout role for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Mandalorian actress Ming-Na Wen and also starred Tamlyn Tomita, and Lisa Lu.
Ron Bass, Getty Images
The Joy Luck Club, released in 1993, tells the multigenerational saga of Chinese and Chinese-American mothers and daughters, whose histories, stories and lives interweave as they navigate life. The original Disney Touchstone theatrical paved the way for such Asian-led movies as Crazy Rich Asians...
- 10/12/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Film noir is a story of migration and its uncertainties. The genre made its way from France in the crime novels of Marcel Duhamel via the term Série noire, then smuggled itself into the United States in the mid-1940s, first used by Nino Frank to undress the battered pulp of Dashiell Hammett. It was pilfered again by other writers to describe the influx of post-wwii films that were bathed in expressionistic and literal darkness, following disoriented protagonists and their futile searches for an American Dream that was little more than a bear trap.
Continue reading ‘Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive’ Review: Wayne Wang’s Hong Kong Noir Dazzles In New Director’s Cut & Restoration at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive’ Review: Wayne Wang’s Hong Kong Noir Dazzles In New Director’s Cut & Restoration at The Playlist.
- 9/30/2022
- by Kyle Turner
- The Playlist
Child actors often grown up to become veteran actors, but Thora Birch was always different: She wanted to be the one who had the answers. Birch made her mark in “Hocus Pocus,” “American Beauty,” and “Ghost World,” but she had her eye on being the person who told the actors what to do. After producing indie films “Petunia” and “The Competition,” she’s now got that opportunity as the director of Lifetime movie “The Gabby Petito Story,” in which she also takes a role as Gabby’s mom, Nichole.
The daughter of pornographic performers, Birch started acting at four and snagged major commercials before turning to films with “Purple People Eater” at age six. Her three-decade career also includes a recurring role on “The Walking Dead” and starring in the sci-fi podcast “Overleaper.”
Along the way she’s earned BAFTA, Emmy, and Golden Globe nominations and she’s worked with...
The daughter of pornographic performers, Birch started acting at four and snagged major commercials before turning to films with “Purple People Eater” at age six. Her three-decade career also includes a recurring role on “The Walking Dead” and starring in the sci-fi podcast “Overleaper.”
Along the way she’s earned BAFTA, Emmy, and Golden Globe nominations and she’s worked with...
- 9/30/2022
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Lincoln Center
As the 60th New York Film Festival launches, so does Revivals—having a banner year with Canyon Passage, Drylongso, Le Damier, The Long Farewell, and (my most-anticipated) Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil.
Roxy Cinema
Mishima and Light Sleeper screen on 35mm throughout the weekend; a print of Godard’s King Lear continues, while 1 p.m. screens on 16mm this Sunday.
Bam
Wayne Wang’s Life is Cheap…But Toilet Paper is Expensive debuts a restored director’s cut. Along with seeing it this weekend, watch a clip below.
Museum of the Moving Image
A packed weekend for The Caan Film Festival is headlined by Thief and a print of Bottle Rocket.
Film Forum
The 4K restorations of Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series continue, as does Breathless on 35mm; Princess Mononoke screens this Sunday.
IFC Center
“World of Wong Kar-wai” returns; Videodrome,...
Lincoln Center
As the 60th New York Film Festival launches, so does Revivals—having a banner year with Canyon Passage, Drylongso, Le Damier, The Long Farewell, and (my most-anticipated) Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil.
Roxy Cinema
Mishima and Light Sleeper screen on 35mm throughout the weekend; a print of Godard’s King Lear continues, while 1 p.m. screens on 16mm this Sunday.
Bam
Wayne Wang’s Life is Cheap…But Toilet Paper is Expensive debuts a restored director’s cut. Along with seeing it this weekend, watch a clip below.
Museum of the Moving Image
A packed weekend for The Caan Film Festival is headlined by Thief and a print of Bottle Rocket.
Film Forum
The 4K restorations of Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series continue, as does Breathless on 35mm; Princess Mononoke screens this Sunday.
IFC Center
“World of Wong Kar-wai” returns; Videodrome,...
- 9/29/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Filmmakers from Ukraine, Syria, and Tanzania to receive FilmAid Award
The Ukranian group DocuDays, known for its human rights documentaries, will be honored by international film organization FilmAid at its annual benefit on Oct. 12 in New York City. DocuDays is currently building the War Archive, a database of testimonies and evidence of crimes from the war against Russia.
Syrian American actor and filmmaker Jay Abdo (pictured) and young Tanzanian filmmaker Martha Ngwada will also be honored at the event.
Abdo stars in “Neighbors,” a film coming to theaters in December. Ngwada, a former stand-up comedian, is mentoring new filmmakers through FilmAid and making short films about sexual and gender-based violence and other issues affecting young Tanzanians.
“We haven’t done anything like the War Archive before, but we just felt that it was really important. These materials could be used during war crime investigations and for future documentary films,” says DocuDays’ Julia Kartashova,...
The Ukranian group DocuDays, known for its human rights documentaries, will be honored by international film organization FilmAid at its annual benefit on Oct. 12 in New York City. DocuDays is currently building the War Archive, a database of testimonies and evidence of crimes from the war against Russia.
Syrian American actor and filmmaker Jay Abdo (pictured) and young Tanzanian filmmaker Martha Ngwada will also be honored at the event.
Abdo stars in “Neighbors,” a film coming to theaters in December. Ngwada, a former stand-up comedian, is mentoring new filmmakers through FilmAid and making short films about sexual and gender-based violence and other issues affecting young Tanzanians.
“We haven’t done anything like the War Archive before, but we just felt that it was really important. These materials could be used during war crime investigations and for future documentary films,” says DocuDays’ Julia Kartashova,...
- 9/21/2022
- by Jazz Tangcay, EJ Panaligan and Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Hong Kong immigrant filmmaker Wayne Wang is best known for films like his indie breakout “Chan Is Missing” or his break into Hollywood filmmaking with Amy Tan’s “Joy Luck Club” adaptation. But he stoked controversy in 1990 when his crime drama “Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive” earned an X rating from the then-mpaa.
Its distributor rejected that rating and released it unrated, with critics including Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert applauding that decision and praising its merits as greater than the sum of its controversies. Still, the film’s graphic footage, while politically motivated, subverts audience expectations of sex and violence.
Structured around a neo-noir set-up — smoky rooms, mob bosses, and a femme fatale abound — “Life Is Cheap” melds guerrilla docu-fiction with political urgency. Not to mention the vivid imagery courtesy of Dp Amir Mokri, who has since worked on films including the “Transformers” and “Bad Boys” franchises.
Its distributor rejected that rating and released it unrated, with critics including Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert applauding that decision and praising its merits as greater than the sum of its controversies. Still, the film’s graphic footage, while politically motivated, subverts audience expectations of sex and violence.
Structured around a neo-noir set-up — smoky rooms, mob bosses, and a femme fatale abound — “Life Is Cheap” melds guerrilla docu-fiction with political urgency. Not to mention the vivid imagery courtesy of Dp Amir Mokri, who has since worked on films including the “Transformers” and “Bad Boys” franchises.
- 8/30/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Photo: ‘The Joy Luck Club’ Overview If we were to look back on the amount of Asian-Pacific-led films that were present in Hollywood, there would be next to none. The history of Asian representation in movies and television was minimal. But whenever there was a chance to portray Asian Americans in entertainment, the portrayal of the community was problematic and complicated. From whitewashing Asian characters to issues of yellow-face, the path towards Asian representation that we see today wasn’t an easy one. It was up until the 1993 release of the film, ‘The Joy Luck Club’, where it shattered the glass ceiling and finally introduced Hollywood to Asian stories. The movie was an adaptation of the 1989 book by Amy Tan and was directed by Wayne Wang. It became the first major motion picture with an all-Asian cast and made 33 million at the box office. The film was a profound milestone...
- 5/30/2022
- by Anica Muñoz
- Hollywood Insider - Substance & Meaningful Entertainment
Exclusive: Former top ICM talent and literary agent John Burnham, who left earlier this month to become a manager and partner at Atlas Artists and Atlas Literary, has signed Alex O’Loughlin as a client.
This marks a reunion for the duo. Burnham represented O’Loughlin for years as an agent and facilitated the actor’s casting as the lead of CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 reboot, which ran for 10 seasons. Soon after the Hawaii Five-0 pilot had been picked up to series in 2010, O’Loughlin left ICM to follow Chris Hart, who had been an agent on his team, to UTA. The actor, who most recently did not have a manager, continues to be repped by UTA.
The Hawaii Five-0 alum joins a long list of Burnham clients who stayed with him in the transition to management and followed him to Atlas Artists, including John Cusack, Stephen Dorff, Diane English, Stephen Frears,...
This marks a reunion for the duo. Burnham represented O’Loughlin for years as an agent and facilitated the actor’s casting as the lead of CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 reboot, which ran for 10 seasons. Soon after the Hawaii Five-0 pilot had been picked up to series in 2010, O’Loughlin left ICM to follow Chris Hart, who had been an agent on his team, to UTA. The actor, who most recently did not have a manager, continues to be repped by UTA.
The Hawaii Five-0 alum joins a long list of Burnham clients who stayed with him in the transition to management and followed him to Atlas Artists, including John Cusack, Stephen Dorff, Diane English, Stephen Frears,...
- 4/29/2022
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
The May 2022 lineup at Mubi here in the United States has been unveiled, most notably featuring a Cannes Takeover timed with the 75th edition of the festival. At long last, Arnaud Desplechin’s Philip Roth adaptation Deception will arrive stateside alongside Karim Ainouz’s documentary Mariner of the Mountains. Reaching further back into the festival’s history, Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure and The Square, David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible, and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank will also come to the service.
Their Franz Rogowski series will also continue with Great Freedom and Love Steaks, while works from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Gia Coppola, Joachim Trier, Jeff Nichols, Satyajit Ray, Takashi Miike, and more will also arrive.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
5/1/2022 | Everybody Street | Cheryl Dunn
5/2/2022 | Love Steaks | Jakob Lass
5/3/2022 | Our Lady of the Nile | Atiq Rahimi
5/4/2022 | Time Piece | Jim Henson
5/5/2022 | R100 | Hitoshi Matsumoto...
Their Franz Rogowski series will also continue with Great Freedom and Love Steaks, while works from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Gia Coppola, Joachim Trier, Jeff Nichols, Satyajit Ray, Takashi Miike, and more will also arrive.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
5/1/2022 | Everybody Street | Cheryl Dunn
5/2/2022 | Love Steaks | Jakob Lass
5/3/2022 | Our Lady of the Nile | Atiq Rahimi
5/4/2022 | Time Piece | Jim Henson
5/5/2022 | R100 | Hitoshi Matsumoto...
- 4/28/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: John Burnham, a cornerstone talent and literary agent who has spent more than 25 years at ICM Partners, is leaving to become a manager and partner at Atlas Artists and Atlas Literary, the Atlas Entertainment subsidiary. The exit is amicable, and Burnham will bring with him a client list of renowned writers, filmmakers and actors he now will represent as a manager.
The long list of clients that will follow him includes Oscar, Emmy and Pulitzer winners. The roster includes Brandon Cronenberg, John Cusack, Stephen Dorff, Diane English, Kleber Mendonca Filho, Stephen Frears, Walter Hill, Felicity Huffman, Adrian Lyne, Sophia Macy, William H. Macy, Clara Mamet, David Mamet, Joe Mantegna, Nicholas Martin, Elaine May, Malcolm Mays, Takashi Miike, Pat McKinley, Keith McNally, David Milch, Rob Reiner, Emma Tammi, Caroline Thompson, David Twohy, Wayne Wang, Peter Weir, Alice Winn, John Woo and Terry Zwigoff. Others will follow as his exit gets sorted.
The long list of clients that will follow him includes Oscar, Emmy and Pulitzer winners. The roster includes Brandon Cronenberg, John Cusack, Stephen Dorff, Diane English, Kleber Mendonca Filho, Stephen Frears, Walter Hill, Felicity Huffman, Adrian Lyne, Sophia Macy, William H. Macy, Clara Mamet, David Mamet, Joe Mantegna, Nicholas Martin, Elaine May, Malcolm Mays, Takashi Miike, Pat McKinley, Keith McNally, David Milch, Rob Reiner, Emma Tammi, Caroline Thompson, David Twohy, Wayne Wang, Peter Weir, Alice Winn, John Woo and Terry Zwigoff. Others will follow as his exit gets sorted.
- 4/11/2022
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
William Hurt was tall, blond, and attractive, and the product of a prep-school education and training at Julliard. For someone whose first movie came out in 1980 — the year Ronald Reagan was elected and “The Official Preppy Handbook” was published — he could have had a much different career as an actor, one that was blander, less eccentric, and less daring.
But the approachable exterior camouflaged a complicated, difficult artist, one who constantly challenged himself, even when dealing with his own inner demons. As Mark Harris noted on Twitter upon hearing of Hurt’s death at the age of 71, “Hurt always seemed profoundly uncomfortable being a good-looking leading man, which may be one reason that his performance in ‘Broadcast News’ is absolutely perfect — he understood that he was playing someone who was miscast.”
Before making his way to the screen, Hurt had already established his bona fides on the New York stage,...
But the approachable exterior camouflaged a complicated, difficult artist, one who constantly challenged himself, even when dealing with his own inner demons. As Mark Harris noted on Twitter upon hearing of Hurt’s death at the age of 71, “Hurt always seemed profoundly uncomfortable being a good-looking leading man, which may be one reason that his performance in ‘Broadcast News’ is absolutely perfect — he understood that he was playing someone who was miscast.”
Before making his way to the screen, Hurt had already established his bona fides on the New York stage,...
- 3/14/2022
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
William Hurt, an Oscar winner for Kiss of the Spider Woman who often played a quiet intellectual in his early acting roles but later took more strident turns in science fiction and Marvel films, died today, a week before his 72nd birthday.
William Hurt’s son, Will, posted today that his father has died. It was announced in May 2018 that the elder Hurt had terminal prostate cancer that had spread to the bone.
William Hurt Remembered As A Giant Talent By His Peers In The Acting Community
“It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday,” his son wrote. “He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time.”
Hurt had three consecutive Best Actor Academy Award nominations in the mid-1980s for Kiss of the Spider Woman...
William Hurt’s son, Will, posted today that his father has died. It was announced in May 2018 that the elder Hurt had terminal prostate cancer that had spread to the bone.
William Hurt Remembered As A Giant Talent By His Peers In The Acting Community
“It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday,” his son wrote. “He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time.”
Hurt had three consecutive Best Actor Academy Award nominations in the mid-1980s for Kiss of the Spider Woman...
- 3/13/2022
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
A couple of Criterion’s May releases are all about encroaching fear, so we won’t make you think about the fact that when these arrive 2022 will be in sight of its halfway point. Anyway: their 4K library has expanded by the length of Double Indemnity, Billy Wilder’s noir par excellence arriving in a rather stacked edition. But for paranoia-fueled intrigue I’m much happier about Mr. Klein, Joseph Losey’s so-good-it’s-baffling wartime horror that makes Alain Delon more vulnerable than almost any star of his stature would dare.
Otherwise May is a very wide spread: Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala finally brings Denzel Washington into the collection; Wayne Wang’s San Francisco diaspora classic Chan is Missing; and Tampopo director Juzo Itami’s The Funeral round out May.
See artwork below and further details on all titles here:
The post Criterion's May Lineup Includes Joseph Losey, Double...
Otherwise May is a very wide spread: Mira Nair’s Mississippi Masala finally brings Denzel Washington into the collection; Wayne Wang’s San Francisco diaspora classic Chan is Missing; and Tampopo director Juzo Itami’s The Funeral round out May.
See artwork below and further details on all titles here:
The post Criterion's May Lineup Includes Joseph Losey, Double...
- 2/15/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
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.
Boiling Point (Philip Barantini)
More often than not, one-take films struggle to justify their gimmick. Whether shot in one go or utilizing an intensive editing process to appear like so, the technique almost always threatens to overshadow whatever story is at the center rather than emphasizing it. Used correctly, it can prove immersive in the exact same way as a theatrical production—breaking down barriers between performer and audience, who can see their work unfold in real-time. Unfortunately, the impracticality of telling a story this way is usually highlighted via several scenes of actors slowly walking between filming locations. – Alistair R. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
The Feast (Lee Haven Jones)
Lee Haven Jones’ slow-burn eco-horror The Feast may feature extended...
Boiling Point (Philip Barantini)
More often than not, one-take films struggle to justify their gimmick. Whether shot in one go or utilizing an intensive editing process to appear like so, the technique almost always threatens to overshadow whatever story is at the center rather than emphasizing it. Used correctly, it can prove immersive in the exact same way as a theatrical production—breaking down barriers between performer and audience, who can see their work unfold in real-time. Unfortunately, the impracticality of telling a story this way is usually highlighted via several scenes of actors slowly walking between filming locations. – Alistair R. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
The Feast (Lee Haven Jones)
Lee Haven Jones’ slow-burn eco-horror The Feast may feature extended...
- 11/19/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
October’s here and it’s time to get spooked. After last year’s superb “’70s Horror” lineup, the Criterion Channel commemorates October with a couple series: “Universal Horror,” which does what it says on the tin (with special notice to the Spanish-language Dracula), and “Home Invasion,” which runs the gamut from Romero to Oshima with Polanski and Haneke in the mix. Lest we disregard the programming of Cindy Sherman’s one feature, Office Killer, and Jennifer’s Body, whose lifespan has gone from gimmick to forgotten to Criterion Channel. And if you want to stretch ideas of genre just a hair, their “True Crime” selection gets at darker shades of human nature.
It’s not all chills and thrills, mind. October also boasts a Kirk Douglas repertoire, movies by Doris Wishman and Wayne Wang, plus Manoel de Oliveira’s rarely screened Porto of My Childhood. And Edgar Wright gets the “Adventures in Moviegoing” treatment,...
It’s not all chills and thrills, mind. October also boasts a Kirk Douglas repertoire, movies by Doris Wishman and Wayne Wang, plus Manoel de Oliveira’s rarely screened Porto of My Childhood. And Edgar Wright gets the “Adventures in Moviegoing” treatment,...
- 9/24/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Next month’s Criterion Channel selection is here, and as 2021 winds down further cements their status as our single greatest streaming service. Off the top I took note of their eight-film Jia Zhangke retro as well as the streaming premieres of Center Stage and Malni. And, yes, Margaret has been on HBO Max for a while, but we can hope Criterion Channel’s addition—as part of the 63(!)-film “New York Stories”—opens doors to a more deserving home-video treatment.
Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.
I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...
Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.
I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...
- 8/25/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Paris Theater
To mark their return, a frighteningly stacked weekend: Get Out Your Handkerchiefs and Mort Rifkin favorite A Man and a Woman on Friday; Buñuel double Viridiana and Belle de Jour, plus Emmanuelle on Saturday; then Merchant-Ivory’s Maurice and Howards End on Sunday.
Film at Lincoln Center
Wojciech Has’ amazing The Hourglass Sanatorium screens Saturday and Sunday.
Roxy Cinema
Naturally, Persona and Jackass both play this weekend.
Anthology Film Archives
A retrospective of Mark Rappaport is underway.
Museum of the Moving Image
2001 and Spartacus have 70mm showings.
Film Forum
Three films by Wayne Wang are screening while La Piscine continues.
IFC Center
World of Wong Kar-wai and Miyazaki’s debut Lupin the 3rd have kept going.
The post NYC Weekend Watch: Buñuel Double, The Hourglass Sanatorium, Persona & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
To mark their return, a frighteningly stacked weekend: Get Out Your Handkerchiefs and Mort Rifkin favorite A Man and a Woman on Friday; Buñuel double Viridiana and Belle de Jour, plus Emmanuelle on Saturday; then Merchant-Ivory’s Maurice and Howards End on Sunday.
Film at Lincoln Center
Wojciech Has’ amazing The Hourglass Sanatorium screens Saturday and Sunday.
Roxy Cinema
Naturally, Persona and Jackass both play this weekend.
Anthology Film Archives
A retrospective of Mark Rappaport is underway.
Museum of the Moving Image
2001 and Spartacus have 70mm showings.
Film Forum
Three films by Wayne Wang are screening while La Piscine continues.
IFC Center
World of Wong Kar-wai and Miyazaki’s debut Lupin the 3rd have kept going.
The post NYC Weekend Watch: Buñuel Double, The Hourglass Sanatorium, Persona & More first appeared on The Film Stage.
- 8/20/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Boutique sales agency Asian Shadows has struck deals in Cannes on two of its key titles, “Coming Home Again,” directed by Wayne Wang and “Zero” by Soda Kazuhiro.
Asian Shadows is operating in person and online at the Cannes Market and is giving screenings to documentary “All About My Sisters” (world premiere at IFFR Bright Future last month) at the online market.
Examining themes of family, roots and food, “Coming Home Again” was sold to Zeta Filmes for Brazil and to Dae Sung Films for release in South Korea. Dae Sung says that it plans a theatrical release before the end of 2021.
That would represent a post-pandemic revival. The film premiered at the Toronto festival in September 2019 and shortly after played also at Tallinn. But its commercial career was halted by the worldwide cinema closures due to coronavirus.
The film stars Justin Chon, whose “Blue Bayou” appears this week in Un Certain Regard,...
Asian Shadows is operating in person and online at the Cannes Market and is giving screenings to documentary “All About My Sisters” (world premiere at IFFR Bright Future last month) at the online market.
Examining themes of family, roots and food, “Coming Home Again” was sold to Zeta Filmes for Brazil and to Dae Sung Films for release in South Korea. Dae Sung says that it plans a theatrical release before the end of 2021.
That would represent a post-pandemic revival. The film premiered at the Toronto festival in September 2019 and shortly after played also at Tallinn. But its commercial career was halted by the worldwide cinema closures due to coronavirus.
The film stars Justin Chon, whose “Blue Bayou” appears this week in Un Certain Regard,...
- 7/12/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Strand Releasing has acquired North American rights to Christopher Makoto Yogi’s “I Was a Simple Man,” which stars Constance Wu and had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance film festival.
A lyrical ghost story set in the lush Hawaiian countryside, the film follows Masao (Steve Iwamoto) whose life is slowly fading away because of a terminal illness. As his estranged family members struggle to care for him, Masao is visited by his deceased wife Grace (Wu) and is forced to confront the decisions of his past.
Spanning multiple generations, “I Was a Simple Man” features a rich ensemble of Asian American and Native Hawaiian actors, including Iwamoto, Wu, Kanoa Goo, Tim Chiou and Chanel Akiko Hirai. The film participated in the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs, as well as Sundance Catalyst.
“I was lucky enough to be introduced to Chris and this project at the Sundance Labs,...
A lyrical ghost story set in the lush Hawaiian countryside, the film follows Masao (Steve Iwamoto) whose life is slowly fading away because of a terminal illness. As his estranged family members struggle to care for him, Masao is visited by his deceased wife Grace (Wu) and is forced to confront the decisions of his past.
Spanning multiple generations, “I Was a Simple Man” features a rich ensemble of Asian American and Native Hawaiian actors, including Iwamoto, Wu, Kanoa Goo, Tim Chiou and Chanel Akiko Hirai. The film participated in the Sundance Directors and Screenwriters Labs, as well as Sundance Catalyst.
“I was lucky enough to be introduced to Chris and this project at the Sundance Labs,...
- 5/11/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Remember when people read novels? That might seem like an inane statement to those seeking out this review or the story of Amy Tan, but it’s hard to remember the last time a novel dominated the conversation outside the now seemingly narrowed world of people who regularly read fiction. The documentary “Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir” waxes nostalgic for that time, immersing us in the author’s meteoric success with “The Joy Luck Club” in 1989 as a blockbuster work of fiction, while also showing how that level of success and her self-informed pressure to deliver a massive followup, plagued her on a personal level. As the final film from James Redford (son of Robert Redford), this PBS “American Masters” entry is a riveting portrait of the artist, exceptionally crafted and entertaining enough even for those unfamiliar with Tan’s groundbreaking contributions to Asian American literature.
For one, Amy Tan is just cool.
For one, Amy Tan is just cool.
- 5/3/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
To celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (Aapi) Heritage Month in May, Fox’s free streaming service Tubi has curated a container of titles that highlight Asian American voices from its catalog. The collection features Academy Award nominees, films from female and male Asian American directors, Sundance Film Festival selections, documentaries, and titles that prominently feature Aapi stories, actors, and actresses.
Films
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007) – Directed by Wayne Wang (Joy Luck Club)
Bitter Melon (2018) – Directed by Hp Mendoza
Children of Invention (2009) – Sundance Film Festival selection
Chu and Blossom (2015) – Featured in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
Go Back to China (2019) – Starring comedian Anna Akana, written/directed by Emily Ting
I Will Make You Mine (2020) – Directed/written/produced by Lynn Chen, produced by Emily Ting
Love Arcadia (2014) – Featured in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
Miss India America (2015) – Featured in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film...
Films
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007) – Directed by Wayne Wang (Joy Luck Club)
Bitter Melon (2018) – Directed by Hp Mendoza
Children of Invention (2009) – Sundance Film Festival selection
Chu and Blossom (2015) – Featured in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
Go Back to China (2019) – Starring comedian Anna Akana, written/directed by Emily Ting
I Will Make You Mine (2020) – Directed/written/produced by Lynn Chen, produced by Emily Ting
Love Arcadia (2014) – Featured in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival
Miss India America (2015) – Featured in the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film...
- 4/29/2021
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
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