Now for a Mutant Theatre



This Day (Lagos)

February 19, 2004
Posted to the web February 19, 2004

Okechukwu Uwaezuoke Theatre

Mutation has been on since last year. It has already taken place in two cities: Richmond in the USA and Buenos Aires in Argentina. In Lagos, it takes the form of a video movie and this is in collaboration with the French Cultural Centre.

Activities revolving around it have, in any case, been on since Tuesday, January 27 and will end with a premiere of its film Without Grace on Saturday, March 6 at the Maison de France premises off Alfred Rewane Road in Ikoyi, Lagos.

It is a project of the actors' formation, Lubricat, in co-operation with production outfits in five cities in five continents. The cities are Richmond, Buenos Aires, Lagos, Shanghai and Berlin. Co-produced with the Berlin-based Sophiensaele, it is being supported by Zentrum Fr Kultur und Bildung - the equivalent of the Goethe-Institut in Shanghai - and the Nigerian office of Heinrich Boell Foundation in Lagos. It is funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds from funds of the German Federal Commissioner for Cultural and Media Affairs.

As Dirk Cieslac, the director of the Mutation project disclosed to art journalists last Friday at Maison de France, it is basically aimed at accepting the fact of globalisation despite the individual opinions about it, the idea being to find new ways of expression. "It is an attempt to produce a kind of Utopia bordering on new productivity."

The project, which relies heavily on the internet, is not about emphasising the differences on how people live in the different cities but rather to examine how people live in these cities and how they understand themselves. This interest is premised on the assumption that come the year 2002, 63% of the world population will be city dwellers. Hence the according to the information in the press hand-out states: " The global evolution of urban culture resembles 'wild' mutations: An unprecedented rapid development in the history of mankind taking place at the same time."

Through the geographical spread of the project across five continents, the organisers hope to de-emphasise Europe as the centre of the world and stress the fact that a new urban culture is emerging. Joel Bertrand, the French Cultural Centre director, on his part, explained the co-operation with the Germany-based project team in the light of the spirit of the New Europe as well as in line with the notion of a global village.

There is no pre-written script for the film, which has two German and three Nigerian actors. And according to Cieslak, the emphasis of the project is not about the actors showing how accomplished they are.

To find the Nigerian actors, Cieslak and his small retinue had had to scour the city of Lagos asking questions. Meeting the right people at the right moment happened naturally. "It's a love story," he enthused.

Hence for the three Nigerian actors (Makinde Adeniran, Niji Akanni and Ejiro Edenya), there was no auditioning. It was not necessary. With the two Germans (Matthias Breitenbach and Niels Bormann),they made up a cohesive team.

Perhaps the unique selling point of the Mutation project is the fact that it has consistently devised and developed its own version of contemporary theatre practice through marrying the techniques of film and theatre. "It is going to be a landmark in the history of theatre in the country," said Akanni.

He hopes that people will begin to understand film as an art form, judging it more from the perspective of what it has to say to the public. He also hopes that the project can help engender the practice of independent film making. This is because the highly experimental endeavour is operating on a very low budget of 500000 naira.

Because the production team is under no constraint to recoup their expenses, it can afford to be as experimental as it likes with the film. However, the latter is based on extant local conditions and situations in its content, form and aesthetics. "Because of the different artistic and social experiences of the partners in the respective cities, they will also differ," reveals the information from the hand-out.



After the project's stop-over in Shanghai in April this year, there will be a grand finale involving participants in all the five cities covered at the Sophiensaele in Berlin in June or later September depending on the prevailing circumstances.

The latter, having earned the reputation as the most renowned independent theatre in Berlin, is also a co-producer of cross regional and international dance and theatre productions. It is a haven of sorts for young artists who are intent on developing an individual language of theatre beyond that of the large theatre institutions.

Odenkirk to host movie showcase for Sundance


posted by tvbarn on February 19, 2004 11:06 AM
“MR. SHOW” CO-CREATOR BOB ODENKIRK TO HOST
SUNDANCE CHANNEL’S “MIDNIGHT SNACK,”

Weekly Cult Movie Showcase Launches March 5

New York, NY, February 19, 2004 – Emmy-Award winning comic writer and performer Bob Odenkirk (“Mr. Show”) has signed on to host Sundance Channel’s new cult-movie destination, “Midnight Snack.” The weekly destination, which launches on March 5, 2004 with Johnny To and Wai Ka-Fai’s Fulltime Killer, showcases eccentric, outrageous and over-the-top films for the late night crowd. Less concerned with good taste than a good time, and sampling from different eras and different countries, “Midnight Snack” is unrestricted to any single format or genre; it offers everything from Hong Kong bullet ballets and vintage exploitation to homegrown horror and oddball shorts. “Midnight Snack” airs Friday nights at 12:00am.

Odenkirk is perhaps best known as the co-creator and co-star of the much-loved late-night comedy series “Mr. Show,” which aired for four seasons on HBO. Odenkirk wrote for “Saturday Night Live” from 1987-1991, and in 1988 he received his first Emmy for that show. He also wrote for “Get a Life” and “The Ben Stiller Show,” for which he received his second Emmy. As an actor, Odenkirk won critical acclaim for his recurring role as an unscrupulous agent on the “The Larry Sanders Show,” and he has made guest appearances on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Ed,” and “Arrested Development.” In the fall of 2000, he wrote and co-starred in the Mr. Show movie Run Ronnie Run!, which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. His feature directorial debut, Melvin Goes To Dinner, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2003 and was released on DVD by Sundance Channel Home Entertainment in December 2003.

The March through June lineup for “Midnight Snack” is as follows:

March 5 @ 12am

Fulltime Killer (Johnny To and Wai Ka-Fai). Hong Kong action king To pulls out all the stops for this globetrotting tale of two professional hit men.

March 12 @ 12am

The Crow (Alex Proyas). Proyas brings a gorgeously gloomy sensibility to this beloved adaptation of the 1980s graphic novel about a rock musician who rises from the grave on a mission of vengeance.

March 19 @ 12am

Switchblade Sisters (Jack Hill). Legendary exploitation director Hill (Foxy Brown) does himself proud this 1975 girl-gang flick, which was re-released by fan Quentin Tarantino in 1996.

March 26 @ 12am

Romeo is Bleeding (Peter Medak). Gary Oldman and Lena Olin tear into their juicy roles in this deliciously pulpy, darkly funny neo-noir.

April 2 @ 12am

Audition (Takashi Miike) This masterpiece of Japanese horror recounts a middle-aged bachelor’s infatuation with a beautiful young woman that takes a shocking turn.

April 9 @ 12am

Habit (Larry Fessenden): A distinctive down-and-dirty East Village vampire flick from indie auteur Fessenden.

April 16 @ 12am

Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa): Moody horror from Japanese master Kurosawa in which a strange young man may hold the key to a series of mysterious killings.

April 23 @ 12am

Rude Boy (David Mingay and Jack Hazan): This off-the-cuff 1980 “mockumentary” portrait of a dissolute Clash roadie is vintage punk rock.

April 30 @ 12am

Lord Love a Duck (George Axelrod): This take-no-prisoners 1966 satire of American consumer culture, stars Tuesday Weld, Roddy McDowell and, of course, Ruth Gordon.

May 7 @ 12am

Wave Twisters (Syd Garon and Eric Henry): Sci-fi animation with wall-to-wall turntablism from the world famous DJ Qbert.

May 14 @ 12am

Heavy Traffic (Ralph Bakshi): A vintage underground comic come to life, in this deranged 1973 animated film from cult hero Bakshi.

May 21 @ 12am

Decasia (Bill Morrison): Trippy collage of sound and image constructed from decayed, degraded archival stock.

May 28 @ 12am

Master of the Flying Guillotine (Yu Wang): This much loved 1975 kung fu classic has been very influential on other filmmakers.

June 4 @ 12am

El Mariachi (Robert Rodriguez): Rodriguez’s classic no-budget south-of-the-border Western.

June 11 @ 12am

La Haine (Matthieu Kassovitz): Kassovitz’s first feature, a witty, dangerous account of ghetto life on the fringes of Paris.

June 18 @ 12am

Chopper (Andrew Dominik): Eric Bana turns in a powerhouse performance as celebrated mass murder turned professional self-promoter Mark “Chopper” Read.

June 25 @ 12am

The City of Lost Souls (Takashi Miike): A small time Brazilian criminal takes on an army of murderous Yakuza.

Under the creative direction of Robert Redford, Sundance Channel brings television viewers daring and engaging feature films, shorts, documentaries, world cinema and animation, shown uncut and with no commercials. Through its original programs, Sundance Channel connects viewers with filmmakers, the creative process, and the world of independent film. Launched in 1996, Sundance Channel is a venture between Robert Redford, Showtime Networks Inc., and Universal Studios. Sundance Channel operates independently of the non-profit Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, but shares the overall Sundance mission of supporting independent artists and providing them with wider opportunities to present their work to audiences. Sundance Channel’s website address is www.sundancechannel.com.

Films have portrayed Jesus from many different angles

Friday, February 20, 2004

By JOHN A. ZUKOWSKI
The Express-Times

Mel Gibson told an interviewer that previous filmed versions of the Gospels were "either inaccurate in their history, or they suffer from bad music or bad hair."

Were they all that horrible?

Here's a look at some of the best-known previous filmed versions of the Gospels:

( "King of Kings" (1961)

Jeffrey Hunter -- who played Marty in the Western classic "The Searchers" with John Wayne a few years before -- plays Jesus.

Hunter was so youthful-looking that some industry insiders referred to the film as "I Was a Teenage Jesus."

The Orson Welles narration at the beginning of the film makes it seem like this might be something interesting. But Hunter doesn't have the intensity to portray a charismatic and spiritual Jesus.

It's less a religious movie than another plodding Hollywood widescreen biblical-era epic such as "The Robe" and "Ben Hur."

( "Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965)

Max von Sydow -- veteran of Ingmar Bergman movies such as "The Seventh Seal" and "Wild Strawberries" -- plays an ethereal and aloof Jesus. So it's hard for viewers to relate to him.

The film also suffers from cameos from an endless string of Hollywood stars ranging from Pat Boone to Roddy McDowell to Angela Lansbury.

The most notorious cameo -- and what the movie is often remembered for by film buffs -- is John Wayne's appearance as the Roman Centurion at the cross.

"Truly, this man was the son of God," the Duke deadpans.

And like "King of Kings" it's filled with non-biblical dialogue that would infuriate biblical scholars.

( "Gospel According to St. Matthew" (1966)

This Italian movie accomplished what Hollywood couldn't do: stick directly to the Gospels.

Unlike the biblical epics Hollywood produced, Italian filmmaker Pier Pasolini filmed the Gospels in stark black-and-white with no additional dialogue. Instead of blending together the Gospels he stuck to one Gospel. Also to avoid the poor casting of the Hollywood epics, he put unknown actors in the major roles.

The result is a stunning movie that is probably the best filmed version of the Gospels.

( "Jesus Christ Superstar" (1973)

This hippie-era musical about Jesus hasn't aged well.

And with a black man playing Judas Iscariot, Mary Magdalene as a love interest and some questionable stereotypes of Jewish leaders it's hard to imagine it being made today. At least not without a lot of clamor being made about the liberties it takes with the Gospel story.

But when it was released, it was praised as a way to bring young people the message of the Gospels. In 1973, young audiences were more accepting of non-biblical material and rock music mixed in with the Passion story.

"In the musicals about Jesus you were trying to reach a different audience that generally didn't want to sit through a movie with the standard story, but they could be attracted to it if there was something new and different like a musical," says William Blizek, editor of the Journal of Religion and Film at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

( "Godspell" (1973)

This musical on the life of Jesus is set in 1970s New York City (featuring a World Trade Center still under construction).

This is more exuberant and less cynical than "Jesus Christ Superstar." However, like "Superstar" it's dated and is better remembered for its songs and its original stage presentation than the movie version.

But there's an interesting modern-day variation on the Gospel story.

"The spirit of Godspell is attractive because it gives you a nice insight into one aspect of the Gospels which is that there's a careful detachment from what mainstream society demands from us," says Moravian Theological Seminary religion professor Clarke Chapman. "And that's reflected in the 1970s and hippie culture of this film."

( "Jesus of Nazareth" (1977)

This was originally a TV miniseries. So because of the extreme length, the filmmakers were able to keep in much more of the Gospel story.

And although the film also is packed with Hollywood stars, it's much better cast than "The Greatest Story Ever Told." It's also directed more dramatically and artistically than the Hollywood Bible epics.

( "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988)

This film is adapted from Nikos Kazantzakis's novel "The Last Temptation of Christ," which among other things has a lengthy sequence about what Jesus' life would have been like if he hadn't died on the cross. That's the "last temptation" and the film's "what if" theological question.

"What makes this film unique is that it explores what it means for Jesus to be human in a way that hasn't been explored in other movie versions," Blizek says. "The answer may not have been what people wanted, but it's an important theological question."

The film itself is a mixed bag.

There are some powerful scenes directly derived from the Gospels, such as the scene when Jesus overturns the tables of the moneychangers and when he is being tempted in the wilderness. And it's directed with a sense of urgency missing in other Gospel movies. Willem Dafoe is also well-cast as a tormented but forceful Jesus.

However, like all of director Martin Scorcese's movies, it's about as subtle as a sledgehammer.

The John the Baptist river scene looks more like a Woodstock-style hippiefest than a religious gathering. And Jesus' disciples resemble one of Scorsese's mob movies more than a band of disciples -- each talking in their own accents.

But the idea of Jesus questioning the spiritually tormented human side of himself is something most viewers associate with this film.

"I think that must have been part of Jesus' humanity, but it got overplayed both in the film and in the reviews of the film," Chapman says.

( "Jesus of Montreal" (1989)

A group of young actors put on a Passion Play in Montreal.

Soon they find themselves facing the same problems the figures in the Gospels face.

People are tempted to sell out to materialistic values. The church establishment tries to suppress them. People who have health problems need to be cured.

This Canadian film isn't a straightforward telling of the last days of Christ. But it may be one of the most powerful depictions of the Gospel message.

"It makes it very human because you don't have to imagine Jesus directly which always is a problem cinematically," Chapman says. "It's someone twice removed from Jesus because it's an actor who's playing an actor playing Jesus. You realize it's a theatrical production and you're not looking for the kind of realism you do when it's set in the biblical era."

( "Gospel of John" (2003)

A year before Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" came out, an almost word-for-word filming of the "Gospel of John" was released.

It was made by a Canadian "faith-based" media group. It was praised by numerous religious organizations. No one accused it of being anti-Semitic.

"But the result is that however important the story is, no one went to see it," Blizek says.

It was re-released to theaters last week. But box offices receipts once again were low.

Apparently, moviegoers prefer to see the much-hyped and controversial version of the Gospels directed by Gibson.

Where was Hollywood during 'Osama's' struggle?

By Scott Galupo
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Siddiq Barmak is on the phone from Los Angeles. It's late January, and the director is still glowing after collecting a Golden Globe award for "Osama," the first feature film to emerge from Afghanistan since the removal of the Taliban regime.
He searches for the right words to describe his elation that night. "To be in Los Angeles, among my favorite directors and actors ... ." He ticks off names. Al Pacino. Angelina Jolie, too, for her campaign to increase cash flow and medical help to the world's refugees, including those who fled Afghanistan.
"I saw that Hollywood wanted to pay attention to the Afghan people," Mr. Barmak, 41, says.
Yet it wasn't Al Pacino or Angelina Jolie or anyone from the American film industry who saw to it that "Osama," a searing portrait of life under the Taliban (opening today in Washington exclusively at the CO Dupont 5), got off the ground.
Japanese and Irish companies co-produced it with Mr. Barmak. In the early going, German friends donated equipment, things such as dollies that were nonexistent in Afghanistan, Mr. Barmak says.
Along with material objects such as cameras and film projectors, the country's cultural capital — writers, actors, musicians — had been eviscerated under radical Islamic rule. Its intelligentsia, to this day, is scattered all over the world.
The Taliban oppressors "were against cinema; they were against music," he says. "It's another religion — a religion of terror."
Sought for arrest when the Taliban assumed control of the war-torn country in 1996, Mr. Barmak, a short-film director and documentarian who had also fought with the mujahedin during the Soviet occupation, escaped to northern Afghanistan, outside the reach of the clerics. Eventually, he and his family settled in Peshawar, Pakistan, a frontier town that served as a sort of makeshift Free French refuge for Afghans.
Even more important for "Osama" was the assistance of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the Iranian director of movies such as "Kandahar." "I told him about my dream to make this film, and he was so moved by the story; he really wanted to help," Mr. Barmak says. The Makhmalbaf Film House sent a technical team and troves of video copies of Afghan movies to Kabul to help the country revive its film industry. The Iranian filmmaker also raised $21,000 to help with the production; shooting began in March 2003.
With no actors to speak of, Mr. Barmak worked with a cast of nonprofessionals. He found Marina Golbahari, the young lead, in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
She was a street beggar.

In Los Angeles on the night of the Globes, Jan. 25, a hush fell over the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton as the director accepted the award for best foreign language film. Cameras panned to faces conspicuously pensive.
Did anyone notice the irony of the moment? A town full of antiwar sentiment silently congratulating itself for its concern for a man whose presence there was made possible by war?
To be sure, Hollywood's inveterate pacifists didn't oppose the invasion of Afghanistan like they did the war in Iraq; even Tim Robbins lent it half-throated support. And yet, they took no great interest in Afghanistan, either.
Sean Penn, whose idiocy knows no nuance, said that responding in kind to terrorist attacks was, at best, "temporary medicine." If Mr. Penn's influence extended beyond his splashy full-page newspaper manifestos, Siddiq Barmak would very likely still be in Peshawar, in exile.
Mr. Barmak was first inspired to write "Osama" when he read an account, published in a Pashto-language newspaper in Peshawar, of a young girl who'd been physically beaten by the Taliban for posing as a boy so she could attend school — an opportunity open only to males.
"Osama" follows a 12-year-old Afghan girl masquerading as a boy in a last-ditch effort to save her impoverished family. On returning to Kabul in 2001 and witnessing firsthand the city's ruin — even worse than he'd imagined — Mr. Barmak tweaked the facts of the story, to reflect the priority of food over education: The girl's father and uncle are dead, and the Taliban mullahs have forbidden women from appearing in public unaccompanied by men, or "legal companions." Desperate and near starving, her mother appeals to a local grocer to give a job to her daughter, now shorn of hair and dressed as a boy.
It's this theme that has Washington lapping up "Osama." From Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York's junior senator, to first lady Laura Bush, some of the most powerful women in town have embraced the movie, giving it resonance beyond Afghanistan's borders.
"Osama," as the movie's title character is dubbed in a panic by a local villager covering for the ruse, has become symbolic of the struggle of women and girls in the developing world.
Don't look now, but Washington is putting its money where its rhetoric is. The U.S. Labor Department, for example, channeled $6 million to Afghanistan through Vital Voices, a nonprofit global women's rights organization.
Afghan girls are attending school now, and their mothers are free to walk the streets. "We've come a long way in two short years," reported Said T. Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, at a recent reception for "Osama" at the Motion Picture Association of America headquarters.
Washington has been self-parodying about "Osama," too. Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, actually said that under the country's new constitution, "Afghan women have an equal rights amendment; we don't." Great, let's all move there and have a pajama party.
Still, for once the political class has been way ahead of the culturati. From the invasion to Mrs. Bush's trumpeting of Afghan women's rights to the drafting of a new constitution, the U.S. government shares, in an important sense, credit for "Osama." Hollywood joined the game late.
Staggeringly, Mr. Barmak himself doesn't realize the source of his recent good fortune. He complained that the United States is focusing too much on terrorism and not enough on economics — on guns instead of butter. "They're spending a lot of money. Where? It's not for the benefit of the Afghan people," he says. "Security won't come without prosperity."
True up to a point, but if poverty and ignorance are the root causes of terrorism, how does one explain the middle-class, educated Saudis who hijacked those planes on September 11? Clearly, something other than a lack of upward mobility figures in the dark intellect of radical Islam.
Mr. Barmak hints at this himself when he explains the origins of the Taliban: "They were coming from Pakistan, Chechnya, the Philippines. It was a combination of sick people who wanted to find a place to act out their dirty desires, to make a state of horror and then transfer this to other countries."
But Siddiq Barmak has had his fill of terrorism talk. Now, he wants to make a "black comedy," he says, "to see how much our people are able to laugh. I really want to see a big smile on their faces."
That would be nice to see, indeed.
Will the Bush administration ever get credit for those smiles? Surely not in Hollywood, where, if you just close your eyes and wish hard enough, bad people like Mullah Mohammad Omar and Saddam Hussein disappear all by themselves

Going the indie route
Edwina Ings-Chambers on fashion's equivalent of a fringe film festival
Published: February 20 2004 15:46 | Last Updated: February 20 2004 15:46

Last Sunday, as London Fashion Week (LFW) got into full swing, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) was rolling out the red carpets and aiming for a high note of Hollywood glamour.

Much as LFW is trying hard to push its reputation as a serious nurturer of design talent, so the Baftas are trying to place themselves as a serious precursor to the Oscars.

And to be taken seriously in Oscarland you've got to look the part. Suites at Claridges were taken over to form a Bafta makeover chain: official dressers were on hand, with Ashley Isham providing gowns and Austin Reed doling out black ties; Nicky Clarke transforming hairstyles; and Lancôme adding the final lipgloss.

In the face of Renée Zellweger, Johnny Depp and Scarlett Johansson, no-one wanted to let the home side down.

LFW is on a quest for validation too, to prove that its wacky reputation is worthy of the international fashion calendar. One of the ways it does this is through its off-schedule shows. They are the place outsiders go for cool - like the way film goers check out indie festivals such as Sundance.

Even Isham, the official Bafta glamouriser, showed his silk jersey dresses (ruched at the sides and either draped from halter necks or drop-waisted and accented with leather) and his loose-legged trousers on the alternative schedule.

While Isham went for glamour, however, most off-schedulers chose to go the hip-and-happening route.

Jean-Pierre Braganza, former assistant to Robert Cary-Williams and Roland Mouret, cleverly integrated waistcoats into plunging tops and drop-waisted dresses, and made bomber jackets out of pink silk; Customers Own Property designer Sabine Braeuninge had schooldays on her mind with pinafore dresses, and rebellious backless polo necks held together by braces; Karen Walker rocked to a 1970s theme with rolled-up denim, kick-pleat skirts, and shirts with ties; Julia Clancey made skirts from lengths of shredded sequins as well as some fine capsleeved day dresses with contrasting fabric accenting body-curved seaming.

LFW's problem comes in how best to progress - how to move such talent from off-schedule to on. As the recent book Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film by Peter Biskind asks, if independent film has become mainstream - winning Baftas and Oscars - can an indie spirit still exist? The question facing London's independent designers is similar: do they remain experimental but peripheral, or adapt and be tamed?

Edwina-Ings Chambers is the FT's deputy fashion editor

Studio takes brave artistic stance with ‘The Dreamers'

ROBERT W. BUTLER

The Kansas City Star

I never thought I'd find myself doing this, but I'm going to say something positive about the bravery exhibited by a Hollywood movie studio.

Undeterred by the genitalia on display in Bernardo Bertolucci's “The Dreamers” (opening today at the Tivoli and reviewed on Page 8), the folks at Fox Searchlight Pictures have accepted the NC-17 slapped on the film by the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings board.

They could have done what big studios usually do in this situation — cut the film to earn the tamer (and commercially friendlier) R rating.

But evidently somebody at Fox Searchlight concluded that the world-class filmmaker who gave us “Last Tango in Paris” and won an Oscar for directing “The Last Emperor” had earned the right to make the film he wanted and to see it released intact.

Given the prevailing cowardice of Hollywood, Bertolucci's stand is the Tinseltown equivalent of the man who stood in front of the advancing tanks in Tiananmen Square.

True, one could wish that fate had provided a better film than this one on which to make a stand. But if it's nothing great, at least “The Dreamers” is a sincere attempt at art by a man whose contribution to cinema cannot be ignored.

But don't expect a trend toward NC-17 movies. This is strictly a one-shot deal. And it means nothing.

Fourteen years ago the MPAA junked its X rating — which had been appropriated by the burgeoning porn industry — and replaced it with the NC-17, which means that no one under the age of 17 can see it, even if they are accompanied by Mommy and Daddy.

But like the X, the NC-17 carried the connotation of something lurid. Some theater chains refuse to carry NC-17 product; some newspapers decline to run ads for the movies.

The MPAA prohibits the big studios from releasing films without a rating. Should one earn an NC-17, the studio will invariably re-edit to get an R. On rare occasions, rather than cut the film or release it as an NC-17, they'll sell the troublesome title to a small distributor that isn't an MPAA member.

Very few films, usually no more than one or two a year, are released with an NC-17 rating. Usually they are foreign productions, such as the French “Irreversible” last year. Their commercial chances aren't harmed by the NC-17 because their natural home is the art theater, not the multiplex, and they appeal to sophisticates who really don't care about a film's rating. This audience is more concerned with who made it, what it's about and what the critics had to say than with the raised eyebrows of the anonymous citizens who make up the MPAA's ratings board.

Many distributors of foreign films and documentaries don't bother to submit their releases to the ratings board, a process that costs the distributor several thousand dollars. They simply release their films unrated. And it isn't unusual for a foreign or indie film that gets the NC-17 to refuse that rating. They, too, go out unrated.

So while Fox Searchlight's decision is admirable, it really doesn't change anything. “The Dreamers” was never going to be a mainstream hit; it was never going to play in big commercial theaters.

Some in Hollywood are amazed that a big studio chose art over lucre.

But did it really? What are the chances that a bowdlerized, R-rated “Dreamers” is going to make substantially more money than the original, NC-17 version?

No chance at all. It's an art film, folks, the sort of thing the big megaplexes play only when they need to fill a screen. It's at the Tivoli in Westport because that's where lovers of art film know they'll find the movies they like.

Feb. 20, 2004

ThinkFilm's 'John' takes different path

By Ian Mohr
NEW YORK -- From Mel Gibson's interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC's "Primetime Live" to NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte's "The Passion of the Christ"-logoed car lapping the track at the Daytona 500 -- one of the few divinely inspired instances of branded entertainment to date -- it is becoming impossible to ignore the imminent opening of Gibson's latest film. The swirl of bitter controversy and heady boxoffice prognostication is cresting just in time for the film's wide release Wednesday through Newmarket Films.

But even as Newmarket scrambles to meet demand -- it is now planning to launch the film on a whopping 4,000 screens -- images of Jesus being crucified are already appearing on select screens nationwide this weekend.

No, "Passion" hasn't been pirated already. In fact, there is another celluloid account of the life of Christ in theaters -- ThinkFilm's "The Gospel of John." The indie film was released in September and has collected nearly $4 million so far, without even playing in New York.

Unlike "Passion," in which Gibson draws from all four Gospels as well as other sources to re-create the last hours of Christ's life, "John" is a word-for-word adaptation of the American Bible Society's Good News Bible as adapted by John Goldsmith.

And while the 175-minute "John" covers the same events that have fueled the "Passion" controversy, ThinkFilm and "John's" producers have specifically tried to avoid the fevered debates that are playing out around the Gibson film.

"I realized very early on that there were very sensitive areas in ('John')," says Garth Drabinsky, one of that film's producers. "So we were very aggressive. With the help of an advisory committee, we decided that we needed to have contextual statement at the beginning of this movie to ease tensions."

Gibson, in contrast, has resisted calls from Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, to tag any disclaimers onto "Passion."

Part of Drabinsky's motivation for "calming Jewish concerns" is that the producer's next projects will be word-for-word adaptations of the Old Testament.

Ironically, the producers attribute the relative success of "John" -- the film's widest release so far has been on 113 screens -- to grass-roots marketing, the same techniques that Newmarket is using to prime the boxoffice pump for "Passion."

ThinkFilm's U.S. distribution head Mark Urman said "John's" modest success has led him to "assume that the pulpit has come into play" in the film's marketing. "The film has been talked about from the pulpit or worked into a sermon."

While "Passion" seems to have courted controversy, Urman said it is his belief that "whipping people into a frenzy to get them to see what all the fuss is about" would "backfire" when they headed to theaters to see his three-hour adaptation of Christ's life. And so the "John" campaign deliberately took a much more low-key approach.

While "Passion" promises to easily eclipse "John" at the boxoffice, the fact that there are two Gospel accounts making the rounds of the multiplex suggests that moviegoers are interested in the sacred -- even if most of the time, the movies that Hollywood offers them are much more profane.

"I think the fact that there are two films out on this subject matter is uncanny and quite unique at this time in Hollywood," Drabinsky says. "It's very gratifying for us."

Turning Leaf Honors Indie Filmmakers
Fri, Feb 20, 2004, 11:02 AM PT

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Continuing its support of the independent film industry, Turning Leaf Vineyards announces its continued role as sole benefactor of the 10th Annual Turning Leaf Someone to Watch Award at the 2004 IFP Independent Spirit Awards, which will take place on Saturday, Feb. 28 on the Santa Monica Beach.

The award recognizes talented directors who have not yet received due recognition in the industry. The award also includes a $20,000 unrestricted grant funded by Turning Leaf Vineyards to help the winning filmmaker bring his/her artistic vision to life.

Nominees for this year's award include: Andrew Bujalski, director of "Funny Ha Ha," Ben Coccio, director of "Zero Day" and Ryan Eslinger, director of "Madness and Genius."

"Turning Leaf Vineyards is honored to share in the celebration of such talented filmmakers," remarks Stephanie Gallo, marketing director for Turning Leaf Vineyards. "We are thrilled to reward directors for their ability to transform their visions onto the screen."

Bujalski's "Funny Ha Ha" chronicles an interval in the life of a typical 23 year-old woman. Bujalski was also named one of the "25 New Faces of Indie Film" by Filmmaker Magazine in 2003.

"Zero Day's" director, Coccio, was also recognized as one of the "25 New Faces of Indie Film." "Zero Day" has been a controversial sensation on the independent film circuit, and has won praise at several indie festivals. Alluding to the Columbine incident, the film delves into the minds of two disturbed high school students as they aim to punish indifferent classmates.

Eslinger, director of "Madness and Genius," is a 22 year-old man whose film has evolved over half of his life. Inspired by his seventh grade science class, he began work on the script when he was only 13 years old. In the film. a reclusive, yet revered college professor encounters a struggling student whose desperation instigates the chaos that ensues. The professor's world turns upside down when the ambitious student rifles through his past.

Hosted annually on the Saturday before the Oscars, the IFP Independent Spirit Awards ceremony is the independent film counterpart to the Oscars. The vanguard event in independent film, the Spirit Awards program recognizes the achievements of independent filmmakers and promotes their films to a wider audience. The nominated films are judged on originality, insight and, most importantly, success against budget and compensation.

Japanese film festival begins

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The four-day Japanese Film Festival showing English subtitled versions of six Japanese films started in Islamabad on Thursday.

The festival was inaugurated by Capital development Authority (CDA) Chairman Kamran Lashari.

Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan Minoru Shibuya also attended the opening ceremony. The six films will be screened at the Aabpara Community Centre from 20-22 February 2004. It will be open to the general public.

The Japanese Film Festival is among the most popular cultural events of the Pakistan-Japan Friendship Fest and has been organised by the Embassy of Japan in collaboration with the Pakistan-Japan Cultural Association, Islamabad, and MEXT Alumni Association of Pakistan, an association of former Japanese universities students, the Japan Foundation and the Serena Hotel in Islamabad. The purpose of this festival is to show Japanese culture and the style of living to the people of Pakistan.

Bad Education to open Cannes film festival

PARIS, Feb 20 (AFP) - The latest movie by Pedro Almodovar, "Bad Education", is to open this year's Cannes Film Festival, organisers said Friday, to the delight of the Spanish director.

"The joy I feel at the news that my latest film will inaugurate the next Cannes festival makes me feel more like a teenager than an adult," Almodovar said by telephone from Madrid.

"When I was told, I felt myself again become the young man who made super 8mm films and for whom the Cannes festival has always been the biggest feast of cinema imaginable," said the multi-award-winning director, who won a screenwriting Oscar last year for "Talk to Her".

The Cannes Film Festival is to be held May 12-23 this year, and its jury is to be presided over by Quentin Tarantino, the US director of "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill".

The festival organisers did not say whether "Bad Education" was in the line-up of competition films to be judged by the jury. That list is to be released in late March.

Almodovar, 54, has won a large following around the world for his emotionally complex, often dark and sometimes kinky movies, which include
"Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown", "All About my Mother" (for which he won a best director prize at Cannes in 1999), "Live Flesh" and "Talk to Her".

The Cannes festival, the world's pre-eminent international cinema event, usually showcases around two dozen new films in the main competition, scores of others in sideline events, and screens hundreds of others in the market section, where industry does business between the promotional parties under the Riviera sun.

Almodovar said the honour bestowed on "Bad Education", a story about two boys who discover love, cinema and fear during the 1960s in a religious school and then renew their ties in the following decades, underlined the special welcome the French often reserved for his works.

"France has become my main audience, even more generous with my oeuvre than Spain, and I'm not just talking about at the box office," he said.

"Getting to open the Cannes festival is the apogee of a honeymoon that I've been living with the French public over the years."

'Down and Dirty Pictures': Darth Vader and the Sundance Kid
By SHARON WAXMAN

Published: February 22, 2004
NY TIMES

f Hollywood books were better, we might be harsher in our judgment of Peter Biskind's new one, ''Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film.'' But the truth is most Hollywood books are unrepentantly lame, a few racy anecdotes strung together about strategically mentioned movie stars, along with an explanation of how-I-ended-up-here-from-my-humble-beginnings. Thus Biskind's book, however flawed, must be welcomed for attempting to interpret the entertainment industry with at least some seriousness of purpose. Not to mention full sentences (Bernie Brillstein, Mike Medavoy, Lynda Obst, please take note). In ''Down and Dirty Pictures'' Biskind takes a stab at explaining one of the seismic changes to the filmmaking business through the 1990's: the advent of a viable independent movie industry. Starting with the success of Steven Soderbergh's ''Sex, Lies and Videotape'' in 1989, Hollywood -- still caught up in the franchise-obsessed, star-driven 1980's -- was forced to take note of the business potential of small movies made outside the studio system. The studios then proceeded to co-opt the independent movement and make it their own, with mixed results both for the business and for the creative aspects of the industry.

Biskind rightly chooses to focus on two pillars of the independent edifice, Miramax Films and the Sundance Film Festival, both of which launched Soderbergh's first film (the festival showed it, Miramax bought it), and both of which continue to play central roles today. But Miramax takes up the bulk of the book, and therein lies a problem. There is apparently little that is not already known about the volcanic Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of Miramax, or his quieter though equally scary brother, Bob. It's certainly titillating to read the litany of bullying episodes -- those we haven't read and reread already -- like Harvey slamming Nathan Lane up against a wall, or calling the filmmaker Alexandre Rockwell while he sat in the dentist's chair. He reportedly told the dentist: ''Knock all his teeth out, I don't give a good goddamn how much it is, I'll buy him a whole new set of teeth if he makes the changes'' to a film. But after a half-dozen chapters of these episodes, they become repetitive and unenlightening. Same goes for the continual cycle of criticism of Weinstein's conduct, followed by grudging praise of his genius. By Page 267 we're reading it for the umpteenth time, this time from the agent Cassian Elwes: ''I have to give it to Harvey, for as crazy as he is, and unpleasant as he can be, he really is masterful when he wants to be.'' The quote could be cut and pasted into practically every chapter of the book.

Part of the problem is that Biskind goes into detail on many films we couldn't care less about. Do we really want to know about the production battles on ''Cop Land''? And as in his last book, ''Easy Riders, Raging Bulls,'' about the 70's (although, thankfully, less egregiously so), Biskind at times gets caught up in the arcana of his world, leaving the reader breathless and confused, like a stranger lost at a hip cocktail party in full swing. A random example from ''Down and Dirty'': ''Likewise, the remarkable 'L.I.E.' was shunned for its sympathetic treatment of your friendly neighborhood pederast. Despite an unsatisfactory ending, 'L.I.E.' was in fact a dazzling debut film by Michael Cuesta, which featured an array of extraordinary performances, led by Brian Cox as the pederast. It was finally picked up some months afterward by Jeff Lipsky's new company, Lot 47, which didn't have enough money to give it the push it needed and deserved. . . . Where was Harvey's acquisitions team when these films -- which the old Miramax would have scooped up -- went begging? Buying Todd Field's ''In the Bedroom,' for $1.5 million. Recalls John Penotti, whose company, GreeneStreet Films, cashflowed the film, along with 'Good Machine': 'It was really hard to get people up for a Sissy Spacek movie, let alone the concept, but the minute the screening ended, Mark Gill and Agnes Mentre from Miramax said, ''This is an extraordinary movie, we want it.'' ' ''

Huh? The sheer number of names is eye-glazing. The obscure John Penotti reappears in a new chapter, 13 pages later, then drops from sight.

A documentary fit for ‘We the People'

By ROBERT W. BUTLER

The Kansas City Star

Local documentary makers Aimee Larrabee and John Altman made their first foray into large-format films a few years back when they created the eight-minute “signature” film about Kansas City that plays daily at the Zoo's Sprint IMAX Theatre.

A year later they made a similar film highlighting life in Detroit.

Now they're engaged on the biggest project of their careers, a 40-minute large-format film “We the People,” which examines the essential documents of American life – the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.

“After doing the two city films, John and I agreed that it would be really cool to do the same thing for Washington, D.C.,” Larrabee said recently. “Of course we figured it had already been done.”

Four years ago Larrabee and Altman were at the Smithsonian Institution to show their documentary about Kansas' tall grass prairie. Noting that the Smithsonian operates three IMAX theaters in D.C., they mentioned their idea to museum officials.

It quickly grew into a proposal for a 40-minute film about the defining documents of American life and culture, backed by an advisory panel of such heavy-hitters as Senate Majority Leader William Frist, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas.

“We're bipartisan,” Larrabee said. “After all, this is everyone's story.”

Filming began last summer in Washington. The moviemakers screened a five-minute reel of their work-in-progress at last fall's Giant Screen Theater Association and were floored by the response. Without even seeing the finished product, 29 theater operators signed up to show it when it's finished later this year.

“It's been a crash course in history for John and I,” Larrabee said. “I now wish I'd paid more attention in civics class. But the support we've had from our sponsors and advisers has been tremendous. We've been able to draw from a full spectrum of liberal and conservative writers and educators. Our goal is to take our 40 minutes to inspire the viewer by telling this story…and hopefully to get people interested enough to go deeper into these questions of what makes America what it is.”

Actually there will be two versions of “We the People.” The first is 40 minutes long and will play on IMAX screens in virtually every major city of the United States. “What we're being told is that kids living within a 100-mile radius of these cities will see this film as part of their basic education,” Larrabee said.

“We'll also make a special 20-minute version to play at Smithsonian theaters several times a day. It will serve as a sort of introductory film for the Smithsonian experience.”

Larrabee promised that top American actors would provide the voices of Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison and others and that the musical score would draw from the works of great American composers.

“This project is a great responsibility,” she said, “but it's also a lot of fun. And we've got the best of the best helping us.”

Guerrilla Drive-in
LAST UPDATE: 2/20/2004 8:36:52 PM

DALLAS (AP)- The first car pulled into the vacant downtown parking lot just before 9 p.m. and within a half-hour the crowd of about a dozen settled into lawnchairs brought from home, along with soft drinks and snacks.

A projector rolled and turned the worn brick wall behind the downtown YWCA into a movie screen. The night's feature - 12, an art film about Greek gods loose in Los Angeles.

Welcome to guerrilla drive-in, where independent film makers take over parking lots to show their movies.

It's a really great experience, said Laurel Sheridan, a 24-year-old Dallas resident who reclined inside her car with friends. The experience itself beats the movies. You meet a lot of people and just hang out.

Such impromptu outdoor showings are popping up all over Dallas, following a trend popular in Los Angeles, New York and Portland, Ore.

The concept has been around since the early 1900s, when itinerant filmmakers traveled from town to town showing their films, said Melinda Stone, a filmmaker and professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco.

The resurgence is rooted in filmmakers trying to find audiences for their small films, since Hollywood has gone so corporate, said Jeremy Baumann, who along with friend Garrett Sutton drives the spontaneous drive-in movement in Dallas.

I'm predicting this is going to be the way the independent films are going toward, Baumann said. The individual film festivals popped up. Now Hollywood is a big player in the independent films. I think this is the next step for independent films.

Film industry experts say it's difficult to gauge how widespread the trend is, but with the Internet, more people are starting to hear about and attend the underground shows.

Guerrilla drive-in purists show up unannounced in parking lots next to buildings with large blank walls, such as churches, and just start rolling their films with hopes of drawing an audience. Others appear in set locations at set times, with show times advertised on Web sites, in alternative newspapers and through fliers. A group in Shreveport, La., for example, regularly screens shows outside a water treatment plant.

Baumann, 25, and Sutton, 23, are film school graduates of the Art Institute of Dallas. They heard about indie street shows in Los Angeles and decided to host their own last summer in downtown Dallas near a busy club district. They drew about 30 people. Feeding off that success, the pair now show films a couple of weekends a month, drawing a hip, 20-something crowd looking for something unique to do.

It's different than going to the bars, said Megan Broderick, 21, of Dallas. The bar scene ... gets a little old.

As long as there are no complaints from building owners, police don't mind if the movie makers show their films - but they shouldn't show copyrighted films or encourage people to bring alcohol, Dallas police spokesman Chris Gilliam said.

The shows, though, aren't easy to produce. Sutton sets up the projector and videocassette recorder on top of his car and runs an extension cord to a generator. The FM transmitter broadcasts the movie's sound to a radio station and viewers tune to that station to hear the movie.

In some parking lots where there is too much lighting, Sutton opens control boxes on the lights and resets their timers so they stay dark during the movie.

That's another aspect of it - the whole guerrilla aspect is getting in there and just doing it, Sutton said.

Before the night is over, Sutton will reset the lights and pick up any trash left behind by moviegoers.

We come in, we take over the parking lot for a little while and we leave it like we find it, he said.

The whole show costs anywhere from 1,200 to 2,000 for equipment, food for crews, gasoline and advertising.

The duo doesn't charge admission, so they're not in it for the money. They just want a chance to show their work and get feedback.

Elizabeth Peterson, executive director of the Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, which has about 5,000 members and reaches about 30,000 with its monthly magazine, said the drive-ins are a lot like garage music.

An independent band will play a gig and only make 100 but audiences are exposed to their music, she said. The majority of them are just out there for the joy of playing.

Most of the filmmakers we represent feel the same way. They make films because they are burning with this creative passion to make a film, but it doesn't really exist until people see it, she said.