Documentarist – Istanbul Documentary Days, Turkey’s largest documentary film festival, was held for the fourth time from May 31 to June 5, 2011. The festival has been garnering more attention internationally and widening the scope of its programme every year. The result of prodigious efforts undertaken by the founders as well as a large team [...]
“I was dealing with human beings, and they’re a pretty fucked up breed.” It probably wouldn’t surprise a lot of people if it were revealed that Ralph Zavadil, the source of the above quotation, weren’t human after all. (He made a name for himself by snorting raw eggs, squirting chocolate syrup on the backs of [...]
Beauty Day Trailer from Jay Cheel on Vimeo. “BEFORE THERE WAS JACKASS… BEFORE THERE WAS TOM GREEN… THERE WAS RALPH ZAVADIL.” Podcaster and documentarian, Jay Cheel, presents his first feature documentary, “Beauty Day.” From the film’s official website, “His cable access television show, The Cap’n Video Show, ran from 1990 to 1995, spawning a small [...]
“Catfish” is one of those films that will have as many interpretations as it has viewers. The middle-aged hipster-loathing intellectual will see it as nothing more than an outlet for the filmmakers to glorify their modern, pseudo-bohemian cookie-cutter coolness. The bleeding heart will see it as bad form, an exploitative fame-grab at the expense of [...]
UPDATE (9/27/10): Women of the Web published some faulty info on this project. Per Michael McKean’s Twitter account: “Sorry: it’s nonsense. This story is about Liz Smith’s meds, period.” There you have it folks. What sounded like Guest’s next promising mock-dock is not to be. Christopher Guest, a major force behind the cult-favorite mockumentaries “This [...]
Charles Ferguson, the the Oscar-nominated director of 2007′s gripping Iraq War doc, “No End in Sight,” has lined up his new film, “Inside Job,” for screenings at the TIFF and the New York Film Fest. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film, which holds an unflinching gaze on the beginnings of the ongoing worldwide economic [...]
Amid today’s limp ’80s remakes and contrived, 3-D popcorn movies, a less-recognized genre is experiencing what some critics dub a “new wave.” Two Romanian documentaries made their world premieres at Cannes this year, including the well-received “Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu,” a documentary about the late Communist dictator. Director Andrei Ujica, who fled to Germany in [...]
When I got my Panasonic HDC-SD9, the smallest HD camcorder in the world upon its release, I felt pretty special. It could record in full 1080p and even had a 24p setting. It fits in the palm of my hand. Well, there’s a new mini-HD kid in town — and it’s a phone. It was [...]
Just prior to Michael Jackson’s untimely death, the pop star had undergone extensive and grueling rehearsals in preparation for his upcoming performances in London. According to the AP those rehearsals may be converted into a feature documentary and appear in a theater near you. Randy Phillips, head of concert promotion company, AEG, says there are [...]
The as-yet-untitled Michael Moore documentary will explore the root causes of the global economic meltdown and take a comical look at the corporate and political shenanigans that culminated in what Moore described as “the biggest robbery in the history of this country” – the massive transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to private financial institutions. Director: [...]
Loco: London’s 1st Comedy Film Festival
Orlando: Does Sex Matter?
A soothing demise: Lars von Trier’s ‘Melancholia’ considered
The Power of Limits in The Five Obstructions
Surviving ‘Surviving Life’
‘The Other’ at The 2nd London Iranian Film Festival
‘Leaving’: Made in Prague
A Step Forward: New African Film in Paris
Adapting to The Skin I Live In: The Antidote to Horror
Chicken with Plums: Better on Paper
