SCREENVILLE: mars 2013

27 mars 2013

Brian De Palma (Douchet)

Le critique et historien du cinéma Jean Douchet a consacré son stage annuel à l'un des plus célèbres cinéastes américain, Brian De Palma (Institut Lumière; Lyon; France)

Stage Jean Douchet sur Brian De Palma :

"Pulsions" 34'08"
"Outrages" 27'01"
"Mission: Impossible" 1h
"Blow Out" 30'37"

26 mars 2013

Aesthetic Matrix : Ozu

Aesthetic Matrix : Resnais / Lynch / Kiarostami / Tarkovsky / Ozu / Kubrick / Eisenstein / Kubrick / Bresson
Academic Film Styles Matrix / Cinema Aesthetic Matrix (Paintings edition) / Animation/Documentary
Cinema Styles Range Evolution (Aesthetic Matrix)
S&S2012 Canon : Academic Matrix / FC2012 : Academic Matrix follow up

24 mars 2013

Paris expérimental (Lebrat)

Conférence de Christian Lebrat : Paris vu par le cinéma expérimental
3 mars 2013 (forumdesimages) 1h02'

Regarder Paris tel qu’il a été filmé par le cinéma expérimental, c’est se plonger dans une «contre-histoire du cinéma». Une conférence de Christian Lebrat, cinéaste et responsable des éditions Paris-Expérimental, illustrée d’extraits de films de cinéastes du monde entier, pour qui cette ville a été une inspiration, une référence ou une terre d’accueil.
Cette conférence a eu lieu le 5 mars 2013 au Forum des images, à Paris.

23 mars 2013

Tarantino philosophiquement (Thoret)

Eloge de la parodie (4/4)

Tarantino, imitateur ou créateur ?

Par Adèle Van Reeth (Les nouveaux chemins de la connaissance; France Culture; 21 mars 2013) [MP3] 58'

Avec : Jean-Baptiste Thoret

Après Gérard Genette, Aristophane et Voltaire, dernier temps aujourd’hui de notre éloge de la parodie, et pour l’occasion, j’ai le plaisir de recevoir Jean-Baptiste Thoret qui vient tenter de répondre à ceux qui font du cinéma de Tarantino une compilation de références cinématographiques vidées de leur substance dans l’utilisation parodique qui en est faite. Du jeu à la parodie, du clin d’œil à l’appropriation, au fond la question inévitable que pose la parodie, c’est celle de savoir ou est à la limite entre l’imitation et la création.

Voir aussi :

22 mars 2013

Maurice Pialat (Toubiana)

Conférence de Serge Toubiana on Maurice Pialat

13 mars 2013 (Institut Lumière; Lyon, France) 1h10'

Maurice Pialat, dix ans déjà. Libre autant qu'exigeant, son cinéma reste indispensable et continue de nourrir les cinéastes. A l'occasion d'une rétrospective intégrale de ses longs métrages (en copies restaurées par Gaumont), Serge Toubiana est venu nous parler de cet homme. A l'Institut Lumière le mercredi 13 mars 2013.

20 mars 2013

Taipei au cinéma (Wafa Ghermani)

Cours de cinéma : Taipei au cinéma
1er mars 2013 (forumdesimages) 1h16'

Depuis l’époque coloniale japonaise à nos jours en passant par la période de la dictature des Nationalistes chinois, Taipei est l’objet de représentations contradictoires qui révèlent son identité fragmentée. Cette présentation revient plus particulièrement sur l’image de Taipei à l’écran avant Tsai Ming-liang, Hou Hsiao-hsien et Edward Yang.
Wafa Ghermani est doctorante en histoire du cinéma à l’université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle et associée au CEFC (Centre d’études français sur la Chine contemporaine) à Taipei. Sa thèse porte sur le cinéma taïwanais depuis la période coloniale et la représentation de la nation. Elle est l’auteur de plusieurs articles à ce sujet.

Ce Cours de cinéma a eu lieu le 1er mars au Forum des images, à Paris, dans le cadre du cycle "De Pékin à Taipei, 1 000 visages de la Chine".

Voir aussi :

12 mars 2013

Hong Kong & Wong Karwai (Brigitte Duzan)

Cours de cinéma de Brigitte Duzan : Hong Kong et Wong Kar-wai : ville rêvée, ville hantée, ville imaginée
22 février 2013 (forumdesimages) 1h19'

Telle nous apparaît Hong Kong chez Wong Kar-wai : ville rêvée par les personnages autant que leur auteur, ville hantée par le passé autant que le futur, ville imaginée/imaginaire, jusqu’au fantasme dans les films publicitaires du cinéaste. Brigitte Duzan Écrivain, linguiste et traductrice, Brigitte Duzan travaille tout particulièrement sur les interactions entre la littérature et le cinéma dans le domaine chinois. Elle a publié “Cent ans de soucis et soudain le printemps” (Éd. De l’Aube, 2004), et dirige deux sites de référence incontournables sur le cinéma chinois et la littérature chinoise moderne : www.chinesemovies.com.fr et www.chinese-shortstories.com

Ce cours de cinéma a eu lieu le 22 février 2013, au Forum des images, à Paris, dans le cadre du cycle "De Pékin à Taipei, 1 000 visages de la Chine".

Related:

10 mars 2013

Masterclass Guédiguian

Guédiguian par Guédiguian : une leçon de cinéma

25 février 2013 (La cinémathèque française) 1h46'

09 mars 2013

LA cinephilia (hoax?)

In Cahiers (Feb 2013), Aurélie Godet interviews 2 arthouse owners ( and asks Angelinos if they are present and whether they are going to support their arthouse circuit. Finally!

Hadrian Belove (Cinefamily)
Greg Laemmle (Noho 7, Le Royal...)

Source : L’art et essai existe-t-il à Los Angeles? (Aurélie Godet; Cahiers du cinéma; février 2013; n°686)

In the greater Los Angeles, she reports, there are 2200 screens (and only 5% of them show arthouse films, American or Foreign), essentially located in West Hollywood, neglecting East LA completely. San Fransisco, Portland, Boston, Austin are supposedly more cinephile-friendly than the WORLD'S CAPITAL OF MOVIES itself...

The guys pretend that it is too expensive to release a film theatrically (cost of advertising), and that it's not worth it to invest in brick-n-mortar arthouses (again too expensive)... Well, the USA is not only the richest nation on Earth, but Hollywood also happens to be the movie industry that makes the most money in the world. So how exactly can you complain about the cost of cinema exhibition? Think about all the countries that do not enjoy the kind of wealth, money flow, captive moviegoing audience, widest exhibition infrastructure... Yeah, they still commit to indie and foreign films more than the USA does! (See: Shut-in "Cinephiles" (USA) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13) How hard could it be?

I tell you what... *IF* the costs are really unbearable because cinephiles in LA are (way) below the sufficient critical mass, nothing stops you from being a bit ingenious and ressourceful, organise yourself online, create a network of "indie distribution" outside of the official channels of information. Today being visible and actively supported on social media is much more important and efficient than to pay for TV ads that nobody watch... (By the way, TV ads for movies is forbidden by law in France, to avoid the richest studios from cluttering the air time while leaving out the small distributors who can't afford it, and take a look at it yourself... IT WORKS FINE!!! In fact, challenging cinema is DOING BETTER than in the USA. Learn from it!)

It doesn't cost ANYHTING to spread the word of mouth/mouse within a motivated/deprived community of cinephiles desperately waiting for films to come out on USA screens. Rent screens in multiplex and rendez-vous a flash mob every week to watch an undistributed film together. And grow from there. The demand is anemic... but if you never start to build a certain sophisticated culture, to educate the general taste, to offer alternatives... it will never happen spontaneously. Because people are lazy, and it's too easy and complacent to fall back on comfort movies and effortless entertainment which is vastly abundant in Hollywood especially.

Emmanuel Bonin has more to contribute at Le même cinéma tous les soirs (15 Feb 2013)

* * *

Steven Soderbergh on his early retirement from cinema directing :

"It’s a combination of wanting a change personally and of feeling like I’ve hit a wall in my development that I don’t know how to break through. The tyranny of narrative is beginning to frustrate me, or at least narrative as we’re currently defining it. I’m convinced there’s a new grammar out there somewhere. But that could just be my form of theism. [..] If I’m going to solve this issue, it means annihilating everything that came before and starting from scratch. That means I have to go away, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take. And I also know you can’t force it. I love and respect filmmaking too much to continue to do it while feeling I’m running in place. That’s not a good feeling. [..]
I remember describing making movies as a form of seduction and that people should look at it as though they’re being approached at a bar. My whole thing is, when somebody comes up to you at a bar, what behavior is appealing to you? And there are certain things that I’m not willing to do to get a reaction. [..]
It’s not pandering so much as being obvious. Do you want to hang out with someone who has the most obvious reaction to everything that happens? That’sboring! And when I see a movie that’s doing the obvious thing all the time, it’s frustrating. [..]
The thing I also see a lot of is multiple endings—I feel like movies end like five times now! I remember being very conscious of the Lord of the Rings movies having a lot of endings. But I wonder if the audience has come to expect them. Music has become another of the most abused aspects of filmmaking. I’m mystified by the direction scores have taken in the last ten years. It’s wall-to-wall—it’s the movie equivalent of the vuvuzelas from the last World Cup! I don’t understand it at all. For me, it’s ideal when you can get the music to do something that everything else isn’t doing. [..]
The worst development in filmmaking—particularly in the last five years—is how badly directors are treated. It’s become absolutely horrible the way the people with the money decide they can fart in the kitchen, to put it bluntly. It’s not just studios—it’s anyone who is financing a film. I guess I don’t understand the assumption that the director is presumptively wrong about what the audience wants or needs when they are the first audience, in a way. And probably got into making movies because of being in that audience.
[..] I remember during previews how upset the audience was by the Jude Law character [in Contagion]. The fact that he created a sort of mixed reaction was viewed as a flaw in the filmmaking. Not, “Oh, that’s interesting, I’m not sure if this guy is an asshole or a hero.” People were really annoyed by that. And I thought, Wow, so ambiguity is not on the table anymore. They were angry."

On watching movies in theatres :

"It’s strange because you’d think there would be a lot of good theaters in Manhattan, but there aren’t. There are a couple, but in general it’s not fun to go out to movies here."

On the rebooting of the "American indie" film scene, like at the time of Sex, Lies and Videotapes :

"It would be hard because movies cost so much to market. I’m encouraged by Video on Demand, which is a very promising distribution method. But it’s much harder for filmmakers now. You’re sort of expected to emerge full-blown. That’s rare. Some people do, but I didn’t. Like I said, you can’t make five films in a row that nobody sees. You’d be in movie jail. I feel really lucky that I got to make the mistakes I made and still get to do Out of Sight."

On Candelabra being funded by TV (HBO) and not released theatrically in the USA (it will be released theatrically in Europe though!) :

"[..] After Warner Bros. put it in turnaround, we showed it to every studio in town. No one wanted it, even though we only needed $5 million. [..] But HBO was immediately into it, and the experience was great from beginning to end. [..]
It’s true that when I was growing up, there was a sort of division: Respect was accorded to people who made great movies and to people who made movies that made a lot of money. And that division just doesn’t exist anymore: Now it’s just the people who make a lot of money. I think there are many reasons for that. Some of them are cultural. I’ve said before, I think that the audience for the kinds of movies I grew up liking has migrated to television. The format really allows for the narrow and deep approach that I like, and a lot of people … Well, the point is, three and a half million people watching a show on cable is a success. That many people seeing a movie is not a success. I just don’t think movies matter as much anymore, culturally."

Source : In Conversation : Steven Soderbergh (Mary Kaye Schilling; Vulture; 27 January 2013)

* * *

In this week’s episode, A. O. Scott and David Carr talk about the ups and downs of experiencing films inside a theater … enjoy the popcorn, mind your manners and please share the armrest.

The Sweet Spot : Let's go to the Movies (AO Scott; David Carr; The New York Times; 8 March 2013)

* * *

Leos Carax refuses the LAFCA award for "Best Foreign-Language Film" and send this no-thank-you note :

"Bonjour, je suis Leos Carax, réalisateur de films en langue étrangère. J'ai fait des films en langue étrangère toute ma vie. Des films en langue étrangère sont fabriqués partout à travers le monde à l'exception, bien sûr, des Etats-Unis. Aux Etats-Unis, ils ne font que des films en langue non-étrangère. Les films en langue étrangère sont difficiles à faire, car vous devez inventer une langue étrangère au lieu d'utiliser votre langue habituelle. Mais la vérité, c'est que le cinéma est une langue étrangère, une langue créée pour ceux qui ont besoin de voyager de l'autre côté de la vie. Bonne nuit."

"Hello, I'm Leos Carax, director of foreign-language films. I've been making foreign-language films my whole life. Foreign-language films are made all over the world, of course, except in America. In America, they only make non-foreign-language films. Foreign-language films are very hard to make, obviously, because you have to invent a foreign language instead of using the usual language. But the truth is, cinema is a foreign language, a language created for those who need to travel to the other side of life. Good night." :D

* * *

Productrice de cinéma indépendent chinois (Glachant)

Rencontre avec Isabelle Glachant, productrice française de cin"ma chinois
24 janvier 2013 (forumdesimages) 1h32'

Isabelle Glachant est une figure incontournable du cinéma franco-chinois ou sino-français. Son travail constitue l’une des passerelles les plus fécondes entre la France et le monde chinois. Après avoir couvert le cinéma chinois comme journaliste pour CANAL+, Isabelle Glachant devient la première attachée audiovisuelle en poste à l’ambassade de France à Pékin de 1998 à 2003. Puis, elle se lance dans la production et participe aux films de nombreux cinéastes de renom comme Wang Xiaoshuai ou Lou Ye. Aujourd’hui, elle est la représentante d’Unifrance en Chine où elle a pour mission de promouvoir le cinéma français pour la Grande Chine. Une expérience professionnelle unique qui couvre plusieurs pays, plusieurs terrains (privé, institutionnel) et un amour de cinéma toujours renouvelé.
Animée par Damien Paccellieri, spécialiste du cinéma chinois
Cette rencontre a eu lieu le 24 janvier 2013 au Forum des images, à Paris, dans le cadre du cycle de films De Pékin à Taipei, 1 000 visages de la Chine.

Filmographie d'Isabelle Glachant en tant que (co-)productrice :

Qing hong (2005/Wang Xiaoshuai)
Ping guo (2007/Li Yu)
Zuo Yuo / In Love We Trust (2007/Wang Xiaoshuai)
Nanjing! Nanjing! / City of Life and Death (2009/Lu Chuan)
Rizhao Chongqing / Chongqing Blues (2010/Wang Xiaoshuai)
Love and Bruises (2011/Lou Ye)
Wo 11 / Eleven Flowers (2011/Wang Xiaoshuai)

Perpetual Mash-up (Cyriak)

Bonobo : Cirrus (video by Cyriak; 4 Feb 2013) 3'23"

04 mars 2013

Rebuilding Cinema in Africa (Mahamat Saleh Haroun)

Mahamat Saleh Haroun won the jury prize at Cannes in 2010. Despite living for decades outside his native Chad, he has been keen to depict images of his country in his films.

Video (5') : Mahamat Saleh Haroun returns to lead Chad's film renaissance (The Guardian; 25 Feb 2013)