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| Captain America out side the Barclays Center in Brooklyn |
I want to give a huge thank you to the Harlem International Film festival for reminding me the most interesting films are not at the big name festivals but the smaller ones like Harlem, Portland, Milwaukee or Oxford.
I would take deference to the current Film Comment which ponders the health of cinema and says that certain great filmmakers are going to save it- no the small festivals will. It is at these smaller fests that you will find the entire garden of the glories of film and not the currently in vogue bloom. With several big fests effectively killing my desire to ever see a film again I’m delighted when I’m invited to cover some festival I never considered only to find I’ve walked into a some secret garden of extra-earthly delights.
One film by one filmmaker isn't going to save anything- seeing many films by many filmmakers is. Knowing that so many talented people are out there is what is going to keep audiences coming back. Additionally having so many talented people out there gives us a wide variety of voices to listen to instead of the same old same old artsy voices that that Film Comment tends to choose.
Film is alive and vital just ask the Harlem International Film Festival which had films of all types from all over the world- not just ones culled from the major serious and important film festivals. Films like A NEW COLOR, WEST COAST H.O.M.E., THIRSTY FOR KIBERA or RAIN THE COLOR BLUE WITH A LITTLE RED IN IT truly show how film is alive and being used by people all over the world to do and engage people in a way most cineastes would never consider.
Film is a live and well and living at the smaller festivals like Harlem, the writers at Film Comment need to get of their ivory towers more and see it.
Support the smaller festivals by attending and you will be delighted.
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As for the new set up of Film Comment- its nice but it is really just a version of the old magazine with different writers, a few features dropped and basically a new look that allowed a new graphic designer to get paid.
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Just a quick note to say that the new Werner Herzog film INTO THE INFERNO, which played Toronto, is a hypnotic film. For the most I think its part one of Herzog’s best films. Aside from an out of place side trip to pick up bone fragments it is a wonderful mediation on volcanos and their effect on the people live near or climb them. Side trip aside one of my favorite films of 2016.
A full review will run October 21 (I’m embargoed by Netflix until then) and it will run on Netflix October 28
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I know you’re wondering why I’m covering so many new films and festival films when I said in no uncertain terms I was going to let Unseen run until December on its own- well- while I have not been covering new films the chance to do the festivals appeared so I jumped at a few titles and well one thing lead to another and I’ve ended up giving you a ton more extra titles.
While it may not look like it to you I have cut back to the point I don’t know what December or after is going to look like
My advice is just sit back and enjoy
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Apologies to the Harlem Film Fest and to you readers concerning the scattershot way the coverage of the festival went up. It was the result of things happening and my just main lining films.
I had no plans on really covering as much as I did but I was given the chance to see a large number of the films and so I did because one good film made me want to see the next. I saw them randomly and I put the reviews up more or less the same way
I actually saw two other films THE SISTER a film from the Philippines about trying to retrieve the body of a sister who died in Saudi Arabia, but it instantly struck me as the sort of film I dislike so I gave up on it because I would not give it a fair shake.
I also saw some of the documentary I GO BACK HOME about Jimmy Scott. I liked what I saw but stopped watching it because I was in exactly the wrong place mentally to appreciate it and so I stopped watching it figuring to go back. I never did and simply ran out of time. (NYFF press screening start tomorrow)
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As festival season heats up a few notes
I just discovered that The Hampton Film Festival over laps the NYFF and NY Comic Con making it a dead certainty that short of a miracle I physically can’t go because I have films that weekend. For those playing the home game I’ve missed everyone except the first The festival runs October 6 to the 10th
DOC NYC announced its opening film CITIZEN JANE: BATTLE FOR THE CITY about Jane Jacobs clash with Robert Moses over the shape of New York. DOC NYC runs November 10-17
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And now Randi's links
The PRISONER in Pictures
For the serious Bat-Fan
Nighthawk replacing Park Slope Brooklyn's hellish Pavilion Theater
Winners and Losers in Movie Marketing
007 by Erich0823 on DeviantArt
Best James Bond Fan Art
Those wonderful moments when Star Trek Lost its mind
The heroism of a Scottish missionary is rediscovered
An F1 champion who lost his legs wins a gold in Rio
More Captain America pictures
The Use of music in the Marvel Films
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