The other six finalists in the “Consumer publications — circulation under 75,000” category were: Bellingham Alive — “Making Out With Maggie,” Bike — “The Great Game,” C-Suite Quarterly — “Gary Michelson,” Climbing — “No Brainer,” Desert Companion — “To The River, To The Sea,” and Sactown — “Trigger Effect.”
This seventeen-minute video was made at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival by the coäuthor of the Guerilla Filmmakers Handbook. Although the video may be a bit out of date in some of its particulars, it remains a canny and thoughtful introduction nevertheless. It follows director Chris Jones as he gets his credentials, and sets up a screening for his short film, GONE FISHING. Worth a look.
BY AUSTIN BURBRIDGE. LOS ANGELES (CINEMA MINIMA) — Throughout April 2014, the Cinémathèque française celebrates the centenary of its co-founder, Henri Langlois 1914 ✠ 1977, with several special programs. Langlois was a “larger than life” character. What he accomplished in France in fostering cinema culture — an insistence that the cinema is an art the equal of any other — changed moviegoing around the world, for the better, and for all time. A giant of the cinema, who never made a movie; one of its greatest champions. Read a nice article in “Les echos” by Marc-Antoine Hartemann:
Langlois bonus: For his centenary, a special program pays homage to Henri Langlois, the father of the Cinémathèque française — article translated into English by Google; or
Sus à Langlois : Pour son centenaire, une programmation spéciale rend hommage à Henri Langlois, figure tutélaire de la Cinémathèque Française — in the original French.
The Langlois Affair, by Louis Menand, published in the New Yorker, casts a spotlight on the man, and on the nature — and magnitude — of his accomplishment.
The Langlois Affair began on February 9, 1968 when Henri Langlois, the director of the Cinémathèque Française, which he had established, in the mid-thirties, with his friend Georges Franju, and dedicated to preserving and exhibiting movies from all periods and countries, was relieved of his position and replaced by a man named Pierre Barbin. Barbin was an obscure and relatively inexperienced film-festival organizer, and Langlois was a culture hero, a status recognized even by his adversaries. One of the men who engineered his dismissal, Pierre Moinot, called him “a ragpicker of genius.” Langlois was also, as it turned out, a fox, and his confrontation with French officialdom is one of the great stories of a year whose meaning, like the meaning of 1789 and the meaning of 1848 and, someday, probably, the meaning of 2001, is a forever deepening mystery, even for — especially for — the people who lived through it. READ MORE
The Society of Camera Operators is an honorary organization of several hundred woman and men around the world. It recognizes and nurtures excellence in camera operation and related crafts. It sponsors an annual Lifetime Achievement Awards banquet honoring outstanding camera persons, along with Technical Achievement Awards which are presented to companies. Membership is open to camera operators of any nationality; associate membership, to directors of photography, camera assistants, and still photographers. It was founded in 1979 in Los Angeles as the Society of Operating Cameramen. Its motto: “We see it first!”
Watch the scene, in which Paul Varjak’s (George Peppard) writing is interrupted by the singing of his neighbor, Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn).
Read all about the making of the film in Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and The Dawn of the Modern Woman, by Sam Wasson. It is the first-ever, complete account of the making of the film. With a cast of characters including Truman Capote, Edith Head, director Blake Edwards, and, of course, Hepburn herself, Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. immerses us in the America of the late ’fifties, before Woodstock and birth control, when a not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly raised eyebrows across the nation, changing fashion, film, and sex, for good. With delicious prose and considerable wit, Wasson delivers us from the penthouses of the Upper East Side to the pools of Beverly Hills, presenting BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S as we have never seen it before — through the eyes of those who created it. Recommended: The author’s formidable knowledge of the filmmakers, and thorough research give the reader the context to appreciate the details of the writing and production of this remarkably influential feature film. Sam Wasson’s previous book was A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards.
BY AUSTIN BURBRIDGE. LOS ANGELES (CINEMA MINIMA) — Advertising agency BBDO Germany proposes to inject advertisements for its client, Sky Deutschland, directly into the skulls of train travelers. A passenger who leans against a window would hear a voice inside her head, exhorting her to download the Sky Go App.
Bone-conduction technology, ordinarily used in hearing aids — and lately in Google Glass headsets — would transmit signals through the glass in train windows, to the bones of the inner ear, producing the sensation of sounds coming from within the head. The signals are otherwise inaudible.
“Welcome to the advertising world of MINORITY REPORT”
“This is how future advertising will look,” the agency threatens, continuing, with minatory candor, “Welcome to the advertising world of MINORITY REPORT.” The 2002 movie shows a dystopia where government and media have direct channels into the minds of their subjects, and where there will be no way to escape the media’s omnipresence. Its director, Steven Spielberg, observed, “The thrilling thing is, that will make us feel we’re part of the medium. The scary thing is, we’ll lose our right to privacy.”
Guided by voices
A description (subscription required) of the project for the 2013 Cannes Lions festival boasts, “Here we don’t rely on any given media channel. We create our own.” The document does not talk about asking commuters for permission. Nor does it address the question of whether a method which mimics auditory hallucination — a symptom of mental illness — would create a favorable impression of the client’s brand.
Although BBDO claims “highly encouraging reactions from commuters,” reactions on YouTube are less favorable. “The last thing you would want if you’re trying to rest or relax with your head against the window! Relaxing music maybe but more advertising — No thanks!” remarks ecodigitography. CSILin is more direct: “Fuck you — If these are installed on the trains in my hometown Aachen (which is shown [in this video]), I’m gonna destroy every transmitter and I don’t care if they sue me. It’s unsolicited advertisement I don’t need. Period.”
The film of tomorrow appears to me then, to be more personal than a novel; it will be individual and autobiographical, like a confession, or an intimate diary. Young filmmakers will express themselves in the first person and tell us what’s happened to them — it could be the story of their first love, or their latest; their political awakening; a travelogue; an illness; their military service; their marriage; their last vacation — and it will almost always be enjoyable because it will be true, and new.
A film that costs three hundred million francs must appeal to all social strata in all countries in order to make back its investment. A film that costs sixty million francs can make its money back in France alone, or by reaching smaller audiences in many countries.
The film of tomorrow will not be directed by professionals, but by artists for whom shooting a film is a challenging — and thrilling — adventure. The film of tomorrow will resemble the person who shot it — and the number of spectators will be proportional to the number of friends the director has.
The film of tomorrow will be an act of love François Truffaut“You are all witnesses in this trial: French cinema bursting under bogus legends,” in Arts magazine, May 15, 1957
