It’s the year 2017, and a one-size-fits-all approach to movie distribution just plain doesn’t work anymore…if it ever did. Outside of your major studio releases—superheroes, explosions, giant robots, probably a third act where a giant sky portal opens up, you know the drill—there are dozens of mid-level films every month competing for limited audience attention and even more limited theatre space. Barring millions upon millions to spend on advertising costs, how do you compete? How do you stay afloat when there’s a glut of content and your average moviegoer only gets out to the theatre a handful of times per year? It’s a tough road, but Saban Films has figured out a way to walk it.
Launched in mid-2014, Saban Films is an acquisition and distribution outfit set up under the umbrella of Saban Capital Group, which in turn is run by billionaire producer HaimSaban. Even before getting into the distribution business, the Saban name was a big one in the entertainment industry. Saban brands include the Japanese franchises “Digimon” and “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” the latter of which has a big-budget film adaptation slated for this March through Lionsgate.
Saban Films, clarifies president Bill Bromiley, has nothing to do with Power Rangers, which is the result of a partnership between Lionsgate and Saban’s brands division. In fact, Saban Films has its own partnership with Lionsgate, with which it releases in the neighborhood of ten to twelve films a year. That slate runs the genre gamut—from westerns (The Homesman) to fish-out-of-water drama (A Hologram for the King) to blood ’n’ guts horror (31). It’s a diverse lineup, and one that results from Bromiley’s curatorial approach to film acquisition. Simply put: quality over quantity.
Saban Films President, Bill Bromiley (Photo via Saban Films)
“We’re not about trying to create a library of titles. We’re trying to create a library of quality titles,” he explains. There has to be a “cast, director or story that is appealing to each film.” To that end, a key component of Saban Films’ strategy is going after films with “A-list talent,” whether it’s Tom Hanks in A Hologram for the King or Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank and Meryl Streep in The Homesman. “In the case of, say, A Hologram for the King, even if that doesn’t work theatrically, you still have a Tom Hanks film,” Bromiley explains. That’s a far easier sell in ancillary markets than even a well-regarded indie with no real household names to speak of. To that end, upcoming Saban releases feature the talents of Forest Whitaker and Eric Bana (The Forgiven), Al Pacino (Hangman), John Cusack (Misfortune) and Glenn Close (The Girl with All the Gifts).
Saban’s decision to attach itself to quality talent extends to behind the camera as well as in front of it. John Michael McDonagh, director of critical hits The Guard and Calvary,helmedSaban’s pitch-black comedy War on Everyone, starring Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Peña as a pair of corrupt New Mexico cops. That one debuts on DirecTV in the first quarter of 2017 in advance of a theatrical release. A Hologram for the King had Tom Tykwer, previously of Run Lola Run and Cloud Atlas (with the Wachowski sisters), in the director’s chair, while Tommy Lee Jones himself directed and co-wrote The Homesman. In production now is The Forgiven, starring Forest Whitaker as anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu and directed by Roland Joffé, two-time Oscar nominee for The MissionandThe Killing Fields.
Up-and-comers are in the mix, too. Zack Whedon, whose writing credits include “Southland,” “Halt and Catch Fire” and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (directed by brother Joss), made his directorial debut with 2016 Saban release Come and Find Me, starring Aaron Paul and Annabelle Wallis. And early 2017 brings The Girl with All the Gifts, from director Colm McCarthy (TV’s “Peaky Blinders”). An “elevated genre film,” to use Bromiley’s phrase, The Girl with All the Gifts was adapted by Mike Carey from his own novel about the state of the post-zombie apocalypse world. One difference from your typical “Walking Dead” fare: The Girl with All the Gifts is told from the perspective of a young girl named Melanie (SenniaNanua) who is herself a zombie (or “hungry”), albeit one who is mysteriously able to talk and form attachments and boasts a genius-level IQ. That film, out on DirecTV on Jan. 26 in advance of a theatrical/VOD bow on Feb. 24, is the one that Bromiley estimates he’s gotten “more calls about…than anything since we’ve started. We bought into it early on, which is our strategy. I would say that half of the product that we buy and distribute, we’re onboard early. That can be a pre-buy off a script, it can be during production, or it can be during post-production.”
Bromiley admits that, being a genre film, The Girl with All the Gifts is something of a “tricky” release. “The horror space is really, really difficult, unless you can spend $20 million-plus in P&A. If you want to be in that game, you can’t do it on one title. You need to make it a business. You have to have four or five titles and go to bat multiple times, like Jason Blum [of Blumhouse Productions] does.” But “tricky” doesn’t deter Saban, which prides itself on eschewing a fixed method of film distribution in favor of a more tailored approach. “Each film we treat individually, and that’s the allure of us,” Bromiley explains. “We have to be flexible in our distribution strategies.”
Though every Saban Films release goes out theatrically “in a minimum of ten markets,” the majority of its business comes from premium VOD; Bromiley estimates an 80/20 split. All the same, “personally, I think that the theatrical business, regardless of whether it’s Saban product or not, is going to be around forever,” he argues. “I think that is the driving force of our business, and it will continue to be the driving force.”
Though a longtime proponent of premium VOD—Bromiley got into that game early at Image Entertainment (now RLJ Entertainment) before moving over to Saban—he’s skeptical of its applicability to big studio releases. “There are a lot of things you’ve got to do to get a consumer to want to pay that kind of money at home for the movies they’re talking about”—we’re probably looking at around $50 per movie, if the big studios’ occasional feints into the premium VOD landscape ever take off—“and you also lose the experience of seeing the movies in the theatre.” Saban, being a mid-range distributor, is more “flexible” in terms of pursuing premium VOD (today defined as a VOD release going day-and-date with theatrical), but that doesn’t mean theatrical isn’t a vital component of their release strategy.
For an example of Saban Films’ outside-the-box thinking regarding theatrical exhibition, take a look at their strategy for 31, from horror stalwart Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects). Horror might be tough to break into, but “Rob’s a brand, and we knew that.” So prior to 31’s premium VOD release, Saban Films partnered with Fathom Events for a limited theatrical engagement on 400 or so screens. “It did real revenue—like $750,000 in one night, one stream,” Bromiley recalls. “We ended up doing an encore presentation as well… Exhibitors were happy. We were happy. It was creative, it was different. We’re constantly trying to milk the most we can out of these films, and we always have the theatrical distributor in mind while doing so.”
In the future, Saban Films plans do more 31-type event releases, with the caveat that “you can’t just throw any old film into an event like that. It has to have a hook.” Outside of that, Bromiley plans for slow and steady growth for Saban: “We’re going to be very cautious. We don’t want to necessarily jump into the wide-release theatrical business right away, because that’s very risky and puts you out of business quickly. I see part of our growth coming from the theatrical world and doing smaller platform releases.” After all, one big misstep—a large investment in a film that doesn’t end up delivering, an overzealous P&A spend—could have huge financial repercussions. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Saban Films is only a year and a half old, and Bromiley is determined to stay in the game by applying pinpoint strategy.
December 28, 2016, California, USA – “Banking on Bitcoin” a feature film on Bitcoin, its history and future is set to be released on January 6, 2017. Produced by Gravitas Ventures, the film will be launched at select theatres and will also be made available on VOD.
The “Banking on Bitcoin” film covers the most disruptive digital invention since the Internet. It follows the ideological battle underway between fringe utopists and mainstream capitalism. An in-depth coverage of key players in the space including Charlie Shrem, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Barry Silbert, Erik Voorhees, Nathanial Popper, Alex Winter and more gives an insight into how they think this revolutionary cryptocurrency technology will shape our lives.
Writer/Director David Guy Levy (Photo via LinkedIn)
“Our production has excelled in more ways than we could ever have anticipated,” Said David Guy Levy. He added, “With the material we’ve managed to produce, and the interviews we’ve procured, we hope that the audience will find the final piece as engaging and thought-provoking as we do,”
Bitcoin is one of the controversial creations of technology that is set to change the world. Its early pioneers sought to blur the lines of sovereignty and the financial status quo that has been around for ages. After years of underground development, Bitcoin grabbed the attention of curious public — as well as the ire of the regulators the technology had subverted. Yet after landmark arrests of prominent cybercriminals. Bitcoin, which surged on election night and recently peaked at over $900 per BTC, still faces its most severe adversary; the very banks it was built to destroy.
Considering the subject of film and the personalities featured in it, the film’s director is available for an interview by media houses and publications to clarify the vision and purpose behind the making of “Banking on Bitcoin”. The production team is also willing to entertain requests for an interview with the Winklevoss twins. The “Banking on Bitcoin” film’s trailers can be watched on Gravitas Ventures’ YouTube channel and the film us already available to pre-order on iTunes.
About Gravitas Ventures
Gravitas Ventures is a leading all rights distributor of independent cinema. Founded in 2006, Gravitas connects independent filmmakers and producers with distribution opportunities across the globe. Working with more than 500 content partners, Gravitas Ventures has distributed thousands of films into over 100 million homes. Their most recent releases include Jonathan Hock’s “Fastball,” Colin Hanks’ “All Things Must Pass,” “Being Evel” from Academy Award® winning director Daniel Junge and producer Johnny Knoxville, “Backstreet Boys: Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of,” director Adam Nimoy’s documentary, “For The Love of Spock,” Richard Branson’s harrowing tale, “Don’t Look Down,” and Katie Holmes’s feature directorial debut, “All We Had.”
For more information, please visit gravitasventures.com, follow @GravitasVOD on Twitter and @gravitasventures on Instagram.
Gravitas Ventures is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.
Exclusively screening in Los Angeles, New York, and Santa Barbara
The eventful and unorthodox life of the Nobel Prize–winning poet, politician, committed communist, unapologetic hedonist, and Chilean cultural icon Pablo Neruda provides plentiful territory for cinematic exploration. The poet’s early-1950s exile in Procida previously inspired Michael Radford’s Il Postino, a fictionalized story about Neruda’s relationship with a local postman that left few cinemagoers dry-eyed. Now, Pablo Larraín, Chile’s most inventive and provocative contemporary filmmaker, takes a wholly unique approach to his famous countryman’s life and work with Neruda, which is set during the poet’s sojourn underground in the late 1940s.
“Exceptional.”
Joe Morgenstern – The Wall Street Journal
“Grade A – brilliant. Riffs on Neruda’s life in a near-frenzy of visual and narrative inventiveness. Gael Garcia Bernal is outstanding.”
Jessica Kiang – The Playlist
“Thoughtful and provocative. A very beautiful made film.”
Kenneth Turan – LA Times
“An Inventive, incredibly entertaining drama.”
Benjamin Lee – the guardian
Screening:
Friday, December 30 @ 11:00am Saturday, December 31 @ 11:00am Sunday, January 1 @ 2:00pm Monday, January 2 @ 7:30pm Tuesday, January 3 @ 5:00pm Wednesday, January 4 @ 7:30pm
at the Riviera Theatre – 2044 Alameda Padre Serra
NERUDA
Directed by Pablo Larraín
Written by Guillermo Calderón
Starring Gael García Bernal, Luis Gnecco,Alfredo Castro, Michael Silva, Mercedes Morán, Pablo Derqui
Runtime: 107 Minutes
Rated R (for sexuality/nudity and some language)
Subtitled
As we head into a New Year and pave our way forward in 2017, I’d like to take pause to recognize our successes of 2016, including our decision to acquire the Riviera Theatre – a major turning point for SBIFF. Our new home will allow us to expand and to further engage, enrich, and inspire people through the power of film on a year-round basis.
The first quarter of 2016 marked one of the most unforgettable Festivals. SBIFF continues to be an incredible education platform where Oscar-winning and nominated industry leaders, independent filmmakers, fans, and students gather to celebrate and learn. All of us at SBIFF are honored to provide a world-class festival where thousands of visitors and local residents of all ages participate, right here in our hometown.
We expanded our film series The Showcase, and launched two new education programs: (1) Film Camp – a partnership with the United Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County that teaches filmmaking and film appreciation to middle and high school students; and (2) Programs for Seniors – a partnership with Easy Lift Transportation that provides a fun movie-going experience for transit dependent seniors.
We also had another tremendous year of Cinema Society and treated our community to the latest Hollywood films, and welcomed some of the world’s most talented filmmakers working today: Tom Ford – Nocturnal Animals; Damien Chazelle – La La Land; Jeff Nichols – Loving; Kevin Costner – Hidden Figures; Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water; Pablo Larraín – Jackie, Neruda; and Denis Villeneuve – Arrival.
The 11th Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film was the most successful in our history. We honored legend Warren Beatty and celebrated Kirk Douglas’ 100th Birthday – raising more money than ever to benefit our education programs.
2016’s highlight is undoubtedly SBIFF’s acquisition of the Riviera Theatre in the form of a 30-year lease, to build a 24/7 cultural hub for all things film. SBIFF’s capital campaign – The Riviera Project – was launched in September to raise the necessary funds to support theatre renovations and expansion of our programs. Thanks to our generous supporters – in just a few months – we’ve raised $3.7 million of our $5 million goal to be raised by March 2017.
In the coming year, we’re further expanding our many education programs that currently serve 20,000 individuals, families and children – many from vulnerable and underserved populations. The renovation of the Riviera Theatre will enable SBIFF to increase participation in nearly all of our education programs so that they are offered on a year-round basis.
Mike’s Field Trip to the Movies will operate year-found and increasing participation by 87% to reach 7,500 Title 1 schools.
The Rosebud Program will increase participation by 150%.
The AppleBox Family Films will also operate year-round, increasing participation by 43% to 11,500 children and families.
The new Programs for Seniors will serve 1,200.
To ensure that we fulfill our important educational mission, a full time Education Director will come on board. Amanda Graves is starting the first week of 2017.
There are many ways to support SBIFF and the Riviera Project – all donations are 100% tax deductible:
We are so grateful for our community’s support during this transformational time in SBIFF history. Thank you for being a part of our community. We can’t wait to do more together in 2017!
Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality is calling for proposals to find nine teams to work on VR projects.
(Photo courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia Cinema)
With the support of experts and international specialists in the field, Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality will help existing independent filmmakers and creative professionals from all over the world to appropriate the medium of VR and learn how to adapt their knowledge to VR in a fluid transitional way. In the process participants will acquire the specific know-how around 360° immersive storytelling that will redefine the relationship between story and audience.
Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality will select 9 director and producer teams to work on the development of VR projects of between 10-20 minutes duration, at concept stage, helping them to advance their projects covering creative, production, audience/market and financial concerns.
As part of the programme we aim to financially support the production of up to 3 VR projects with € 30,000 each to premiere at the 74th Venice International Film Festival in early September 2017 and to present the other developed projects at the Venice Production Bridge as part of the Gap Financing Market activities.
The Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality, realized with the support the Creative Europe – Support for Training, will be collaborating with the Netherlands Film Funds and the TorinoFilmLab.
Deadline for the call for applications is8th February 2017 and the selection of the 9 teams will be announced on 28th February 2017.
For further information and the submission form:
Biennale College Cinema > COLLEGE CINEMA VR
(Photos courtesy of La Biennale di Venezia Cinema)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced that 10 films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 89th Academy Awards®.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
“Arrival”
“The BFG”
“Captain America: Civil War”
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Doctor Strange”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“The Jungle Book”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Passengers”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
The Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the shortlist. All members of the Visual Effects Branch will now be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the shortlisted films on Saturday, January 7, 2017. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar® consideration.
Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.
The 89th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that seven films remain in competition in the Makeup and Hairstyling category for the 89th Academy Awards®.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
“Deadpool”
“The Dressmaker”
“Florence Foster Jenkins”
“Hail, Caesar!”
“A Man Called Ove”
“Star Trek Beyond”
“Suicide Squad”
On Saturday, January 7, 2017, all members of the Academy’s Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.
Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.
The 89th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 89th Academy Awards®. One hundred forty-five films were originally submitted in the category.
The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:
“Cameraperson,” Big Mouth Productions
“Command and Control,” American Experience Films/PBS
“The Eagle Huntress,” Stacey Reiss Productions, Kissiki Films and 19340 Productions
“Fire at Sea,” Stemal Entertainment
“Gleason,” Dear Rivers Productions, Exhibit A and IMG Films
“Hooligan Sparrow,” Little Horse Crossing the River
“I Am Not Your Negro,” Velvet Film
“The Ivory Game,” Terra Mater Film Studios and Vulcan Productions
“Life, Animated,” Motto Pictures and A&E IndieFilms
“O.J.: Made in America,” Laylow Films and ESPN Films
“13th,” Forward Movement
“Tower,” Go-Valley
“Weiner,” Edgeline Films
“The Witness,” The Witnesses Film
“Zero Days,” Jigsaw Productions
The Academy’s Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles.
Nominations for the 89th Oscars® will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.
This year we welcome Houston native and MFA student at Claremont University, Tommy C Burns to the already impressive list of artists who have contributed to Slamdance including Shepard Fairey, Kii Arens, David Flores and Rosie Lea.
Slamdance spoke with Tommy about his background, inspirations, and his creation of the 2017 Slamdance Film Festival key art, titled The Charmer. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your background? Where are you from?
Originally I’m from Texas, born in Houston. I graduated from high school in Midland-Odessa and I have a huge family in San Antonio. I moved to LA when I was 18 and California has always been kind of influential to me from an artistic perspective. When I was growing up, I admired a lot of graffiti coming out of LA. A lot of the youth skateboarding scene which is heavy with images for decks and tee shirts and stuff like that. Of course, the movies. That’s so powerful, and all the album covers that I would see growing up. I mean, I do know my art history a little bit, but I would say that as far as what is contemporary art to me, that is more influential to me then the modern art scene.
LA’s definitely a good place to find that kind of, subversive stuff. And that’s really “Slamdance” too…graffiti and album artwork and stuff like that. When did you start getting into art?
Some of my first memories are making art I guess. My grandmother was an artist, rest in peace. She just died actually this last year. I didn’t really have a lot of contact with her because she lived very far away and I didn’t really have as much communication on that side of the family, but it was always a memorable experience. I just think I’ve formed a lot of my best friendships around artistic sensibilities. I guess we kind of search each other out.
Yeah, you have a bond.
Yeah, especially in a city like Midland-Odessa where I graduated from high school, it’s not a very artist-friendly environment. I think it’s kind of changing a little bit more, but it’s definitely not something that was encouraged
Right. Did you find your crew of artists there? Did you have a community?
I did. We never expected to be able to do what we’re doing now. It’s real inspiring because I have a friend who owns a gallery, I have another friend who is a pretty well known tattoo artist in the area. Out here too, in California, I’ve gotten a chance to be introduced to so many different artists and meet a lot of my heroes growing up. Not just that, but I think I was really heavily influenced by a lot of chicano art and muralists. Even though I don’t think that’s necessarily what I do, I know that subliminally all those things kind of come into my conscious.
That was my next question. How does your cultural background influence your work? I do feel as well that even if it’s something you don’t actively think about, it’s inside you.
Definitely. And thankfully, through some of my trips painting in different cities, I’ve gotten to see just how there’s a common aesthetic throughout the whole southwest for that kind of movement. It’s meaningful to get to see those kind of common bonds of images. I think that all of those kinds of images are changing literally the way people look at themselves. Having a place like a film festival is the same thing. People get a chance to explore some of those kind of topics, and having the opportunity to paint and do something different, it’s been really helpful for me and my artistic development.
Something that we’ve come to learn at Slamdance is that it’s super hard for filmmakers to get a start, because it’s very competitive and it tends to be that you need a lot of money to do anything. I’m wondering with art and your experience, what are some roadblocks that you’ve faced?
It’s actually kind of ironic, because to tell you the truth I did some film school and I really love film and have tried to do film myself. I’ve always wanted to branch into film because it seemed more stable. I was thinking, if I get this technical skill of being an editor or cameraman, it’s gonna be more job security. Little did I know..
…there’s millions of people thinking the same thing
Yeah! Going back into art I felt like it was a chance for me to distinguish myself from others by doing something that was a little more personal. It’s easier to see the artist’s’ hand. My thing is basically to try and make things, no matter what, without needing permission or approval. It does suck to feel like you have to wait for a budget or a permit. That’s really my main thing with film. I shot so much without any paperwork and no permits. It’s like I have a form-o-phobia. Anyways, I guess that’s what I would say. People should just try and make things until hopefully people will see they’re passionate for what they do, and they can meet the right person who can help their ideas live in the real world, you know? Not just in their head.
So you’re currently a student at Claremont. How long have you been studying there?
I’m getting my Masters in Fine Arts. There’s not really a way to describe it because we can all do what we want. I really enjoy my professors, Amiko, and David Pagel as well have really helped me a lot. It’s been a great experience. Like I said, I haven’t really ever studied art formally. I had a class in high school, one class in college with David Amiko, which is why I chose to go back to school. He really encouraged me and helped me through the application process as far as giving me a lot of good advice on how to follow through.
How do you feel about being the festival artist for Slamdance?
In a way, I feel like it is a complicated relationship that artists have with commerce. Yet at the same time, it’s one of the most exciting relationships an artist can have. That’s what we aspire to, is to be seen and to be heard and be relevant. I feel like a film festival is the ultimate example of that. You’re having all these teams of people trying to come together to express these abstract ideas. As an artist, I do that by myself at a studio. I was talking to somebody about “art by committee.” It’s kind of a painful process in a way. I guess you can almost say it’s like group therapy. It’s kind of painful because there’s uncomfortable moments about certain things because people don’t agree or see eye to eye on everything, but there’s a lot of growth that’s happening. People have wide and varied interests and belief systems, I think an independent film festival is kind of the epitome of that.
Yeah, and your artwork is representing that this year. It’s pretty awesome.
Yeah it’s exciting!
We’re so stoked with how the artwork turned out and feel as though it totally represents us as a festival and what we’ve been doing for over 20 years. In your words, what is the message behind this piece and how does it fit in with our festival?
First off, I think it was fun for me to paint. It was to me an image that I want to look at. It’s interesting and could be looked at as somewhat erotic. I look at it like, yeah it’s sexy, but everyone has different ideas of what sexy is. I completely understand if not everyone thinks it’s sexy. The main form is representing a strong woman, and at the same time, kind of wrestling with those societal pressures of what she should be doing or how she should be acting. With all the stuff that’s happening with the election, I know that a strong woman is still very intimidating for a lot of people. I know that not everybody is going to look at that image and see just a strong woman. I think like I said about sexuality, it’s always going to be like a hand grenade, no matter what it’s gonna be explosive. But that’s also what’s interesting about those kinds of images to me. I tried to do it tastefully from my perspective or my point of origin.
I really appreciate the opportunity and I think I chose to try to use it to represent the festival because what I admire about filmmakers is that they’re wrestling with their own personal demons or ideas. Like the way she’s holding the snake. It’s unclear– is it friendly? Is it dangerous? Is she playing with it or is she restraining it? There’s a lot of uncertainty and I think that’s the fun part of film and having other people look at your film and those kinds of interactions. Those kinds of interactions are really precarious.
Here’s a fun one, what’s your favorite movie
Oh man, it’s really hard
It’s my least favorite question
For real I’ve seen hundreds of movies. I’m a huge Criterion Collection fan. I’ve seen a lot of them. I love japanese films. I’d say one of my favorite films that is one of the most personal to me is 400 blows. That’s his first film! It’s incredible, it’s insane. I’m a huge Kurosawa fan, that’s probably my favorite director as well as Kubrick. I’m a huge Walter Hill fan and I like a lot of various strange things like Ralph Bakshi. I like Brian de Palma’s films, and the film Black Moon by Louis Malle, that one is a big inspiration to me actually. It’s hard for me to narrow stuff down, and there’s so many incredible filmmakers, it’s insane. I mean, how to even keep up with all the new talent because even now it’s even more crazy and it’s harder to know who’s who because there’s so many more people that are creating!
This one is at the top of the list for my must-see, year-ending films for 2016!
Posted by Larry Gleeson
Dear Cinephiles,
NERUDA is a fireworks display of a movie about poetry and politics – directed by brilliant Chilean director Pablo Larrain who also directed this year’s JACKIE. Just like the latter film, NERUDA – about the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Pablo Neruda, this film is not your typical biography. Do not miss one of the best foreign films you’re likely to see this year.
Pablo Larraín’s ‘Neruda’ is a richly imagined biographical fantasia
By Justin Chang – Los Angeles Times
“Neruda,” an intoxicating puzzle of a movie directed by Pablo Larraín, chronicles a strange, harrowing episode from the late 1940s, when the Chilean government’s crackdown on communism drove the great poet and politician Pablo Neruda underground. Specifically, the film unravels the tricky game of cat-and-mouse between Neruda and an ambitious police inspector named Oscar Peluchonneau, who sought to track down the dissident artist whose writings had struck a dangerously resonant chord with the working class.
There was, in fact, no Oscar Peluchonneau — or at least, none who fits the description blithely concocted by Larraín and his screenwriter, Guillermo Calderon. The charm of “Neruda” lies in its insistence that there may well have been, and that it scarcely matters if there wasn’t. Drolly and persuasively, the movie demonstrates that when it comes to evoking the artist and the nature of his art, historical fidelity and literal-minded dramatization go only so far. Fiction, lovingly and imaginatively rendered, can bring us much closer to the truth.
“We must dream our way,” Neruda once wrote, and it is nothing short of enchanting to encounter a biographical drama that, rather than merely shoving that quote into its protagonist’s mouth, treats it as a guiding aesthetic and philosophical principle. Like (and yet completely unlike) “I’m Not There,” Todd Haynes’ fragmented 2007 cine-riff on Bob Dylan, “Neruda” is less a straightforward portrait of a great contemporary poet (and eventual Nobel laureate) than a rigorously sustained investigation of his inner world.
Although informed by the busy workings of history, politics and personal affairs, “Neruda” proceeds like a light-footed chase thriller filtered through an episode of “The Twilight Zone,” by the end of which the audience is lost in a crazily spiraling meta-narrative. Who exactly is the star and author of that narrative is one of the film’s more enticing mysteries.
Initially it seems both roles must be filled by Pablo Neruda, played with prickly, preening brilliance by Luis Gnecco (“Narcos”), who donned a wig and gained more than 50 pounds to achieve his remarkable physical resemblance to the real deal. The key to the performance is that, despite the shimmering inspiration of Neruda’s poetry, neither Gnecco nor Larraín seems to feel any obligation to make Neruda himself a particularly inspiring figure.
From the opening scene, a political gathering wittily set in an enormous public lavatory, Neruda, a senator and member of the Chilean Communist Party, is shown to be a proud and vociferous critic of his country’s leadership. But in the very next sequence, a lavish party crammed with half-naked revelers, the film presents the idea of Neruda as a Champagne socialist — a vain, hedonistic hypocrite who, like so many left-wing elites, loves “to soak up other people’s sweat and suffering.”
That damning bit of mockery is delivered by the aforementioned detective, Oscar Peluchonneau (played with mustachioed elan by Gael García Bernal), who slyly complicates the film’s notions of authorship and agency. When Chilean President Gabriel González Videla (Alfredo Castro) outlaws communism in 1948, responding to mounting Cold War anxieties, Peluchonneau eagerly leads the manhunt for Neruda, who has gone into hiding in the port city of Valparaíso with his second wife, the painter Delia del Carril (Mercedes Morán, excellent).
Many of the individual scenes in “Neruda” serve a fairly clear narrative purpose. We see the poet consorting with his allies, arguing with his wife, and disobeying his party-appointed bodyguard (Michael Silva) to slip out for a frolic at a nearby brothel or bohemian enclave. We rarely see him writing, though his poems are shown being secretly distributed and playing a huge role in keeping the communist movement alive underground. But even these relatively simple moments are transformed and complicated by the sheer audacity of Larraín’s stylistic conceits.
In the hands of the editor Hervé Schneid, an extended conversation between two people might span three or four different locations, transporting the viewer without warning from a private room to a perch overlooking the Chilean countryside. Elsewhere, Sergio Armstrong’s sensuous digital photography evokes the mood of the past even as it encourages us to view the film as a formalist construct, from the faded, purplish coloration of the images to the use of phony-looking rear projection in the driving scenes.
In one of Larraín and Calderon’s most telling flourishes, it is Peluchonneau who provides the film’s running voice-over commentary, often in contrapuntal harmony with Neruda’s journey. The two men are almost never seen in the same frame, and yet the ever-mobile camera seems to ping-pong restlessly between them, as though blurring them into one shared, active consciousness.
Peluchonneau’s words may be sardonic and self-flattering, but as the film advances and his own footing in the narrative begins to shift, they also take on their own mysterious, downright Nerudian poetry. (A few verses from his posthumously published “For All to Know” might seem appropriate here: “I am everybody and every time/I always call myself by your name.”)
“Neruda’s” formal spryness and nontraditional appreciation of history will come as little surprise to admirers of “Jackie,” Larraín’s other great bio-experiment of the moment, or his 2012 drama, “No,” a compelling snapshot of the end of the Augusto Pinochet regime that also starred Bernal (with Gnecco and Castro in prominent supporting roles). His filmography, which includes such festival-acclaimed favorites as “Tony Manero,” “Post Mortem” and “The Club,” has sealed his reputation as one of the most distinctive and continually surprising talents in world cinema, though nothing he’s done to date has forced him to take such intuitive leaps, to abandon realism so completely, as “Neruda.”
Unspooling the picture earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, Larraín confessed that, even after making the movie, he wasn’t at all sure he knew who Neruda was. And in a typically counter-intuitive gesture, “Neruda” doesn’t pretend to know, either. It keeps the man at a playful distance, firm in its belief that the art will sustain our interest, long after the passing of the artist and his historical moment. It’s possible that Pablo Neruda himself would have concurred with this sentiment, though Oscar Peluchonneau might have begged to differ.
LA’s definitely a good place to find that kind of, subversive stuff. And that’s really “Slamdance” too…graffiti and album artwork and stuff like that. When did you start getting into art?
