f i l m j o u r n e y . o r g

For the last few years, Apollo Cinema have theatrically distributed mini-festivals of the Oscar nominees for Best Live Action Short Film and Best Animated Short Film, and this weekend the American Cinematheque screened the 2005 touring program. For some reason, this collection doesn’t include the nominated films by Bill Plympton (Guard Dog), Mike Gabriel [...]

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In recent years, Iranian cinema has often been associated with Italian neorealism with its evocative, non-professional actors and direct representations of everyday life. But Behrooz Afkhami’s new film, The River’s End (Gavkhouni), suggests a much more European and formally adventurous mold that merges dreams and reality in a compelling meditation on the grieving process. [...]

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Although I’ve seen Robert Bresson’s films numerous times over, I never miss the opportunity to attend the rare local screening or event that pertains to his work, partly to find material for the Masters of Cinema site I co-admin with Trond Trondsen, www.robert-bresson.com, and partly out of personal interest. (Okay, fanaticism.)
Last night, I attended [...]

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“There is no shortage of ugliness in the world. If man closed his eyes to it, there would be even more.”
Thus begins the narration in Forough Farrokhzad’s The House is Black (1962), a landmark short film (roughly 20 minutes) by one of Iran’s most venerated modern poets, a woman killed at the age of [...]

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Last night I had the opportunity to see Mani Kaul, one of the key figures of the New Hindi Cinema of the late-’60s and ’70s, present his first feature, Daily Bread (Uski Roti, 1970), at the REDCAT theatre in Los Angeles. Kaul’s career has been associated with somewhat experimental and documentary films. “As [...]

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