Phil Hoad does at The Guardian (a generalist newspaper) what Sight and Sound (a specialized revue comissionned by the BFI!) doesn't do... Educating its readers on stories, facts, understanding of the world cinema market that the national-centric distribution system doesn't want you to know about. The pitiful column by Nick Roddick is hardly and seldomly filling this role, unfortunately (hit or miss). Not to mention, Nick James helpless discernment to involve his redaction into the issues that matter to indie cinema and world cinema... This series could give illuminating ideas to bored Film Comment (ex?) editor, Gavin Smith, who can't be bothered to find a topic for his editorials...
Cinema is a planetary art, because its language is universal and because its aesthetic influences know no borders, even if the audience (and critics) aren't always aware of that. It's been true since its very early age, but more so today in the global village of an international economy, and transnational co-productions. So film discourse should be a global conversation. Unfortunately, the film press didn't evolve along with cinema productions, and remained stubbornly insular. There is virtually zero communication between critics working in separate distribution markets... like if cinema literature was zone-restricted like a blu-ray disk! Language is a strong barrier, obviously, but intellectuals/educators in charge of running a cinephile revue should (must) be more polyglot than the average spectator, and help readers to open their mind to the rest of the world. Even when they meet at festivals, they barely talk to eachothers, and when they do, they just exchange commonplace assumptions and reinforce their own domestic clichés.
Phil Hoad's "After Hollywood" series so far (index here) :
- Will Hollywood ever conquer Bollywood? (14 Feb 2012)
- Whatever happened to the American blockbuster? (7 Feb 2012)
- Is Jeta Amata Nollywood's gift to Hollywood? (1 Feb 2012)
- The Parade is the pride of Serbia (24 Jan 2012)
- The Russians are coming: is 2012 the year of the bear in film? (17 Jan 2012)
- Britflicks abroad: Can The Inbetweeners Movie fly the flag? (10 Jan 2012)
- Cinema is terraforming, but Hollywood is still the heavyweight champ (3 Jan 2012)
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo rethinks the Hollywood remake (20 Dec 2011)
- Runaway reels: what happened to California's dream film location? (14 Dec 2011)
- Vive la révolution! How France's urban films merked the mainstream market (8 Dec 2011)
- Playing to home audiences keeps Turkey's cinema scene cooking (22 Nov 2011)
- Do South Koreans actually love film? (15 Nov 2011)
- Can cinema help China tackle 4,000 years of history? (8 Nov 2011)
- Has Steven Spielberg lost his mojo? (1 Nov 2011)
- UAE's film industry – all talk no action? (27 Oct 2011)
- Why does Amélie's sweet smell of success linger on? (18 Oct 2011)
- Don Gato – aka Top Cat – rides the crest of a Mexican wave (11 Oct 2011)
- Attack of the clones: Hollywood's mutant movies are on the march (4 Oct 2011)
- Has Hollywood cracked China? (27 Sep 2011)
- Australia's Red Dog: does this underdog know enough tricks to travel? (20 Sep 2011)
- Back in action: the fall and rise of Hong Kong film (13 Sep 2011)
- Can Indian film ever go global? (6 Sep 2011)
- Will Egypt's revolution extend to the cinema? (30 Aug 2011)
- The Smurfs in the US: Something borrowed, something blue (23 Aug 2011)
- Why Brazil's favela films remain flavour of the noughties (18 Aug 2011)
- The rise of the international box office (11 Aug 2011)
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"We look at the film industries in Brazil and Russia through the very different success stories of two filmmakers. John Horn speaks with José Padilha, wrote and directed Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, a sequel to his 2007 film, Elite Squad. He distributed it himself -- out of his garage -- and the film went on to make $70 million in Brazil alone. It's that country's highest grossing movie. Now he's working with MGM to reboot the Robocop franchise. We also talk with Russian filmmaker and TV producer Valery Todorovsky. He scored an unlikely box office hit by sending up the Stalinist era with his musical, Hipsters. That film was the first Russian musical made in 70 years."
Filmmaking in Brazil and Russia (The Business; 24 Feb 2012) [MP3] 29'
A Scorsese in Lagos. The Making of Nigeria’s Film Industry (Andrew Rive; 23 Feb 2012)
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