Word is quickly spreading that the man whom many regard as the world’s greatest living animator–Yuri Norstein–is making a brief US tour, with visits to Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Olympia. My 23-month-old daughter routinely requests viewings of Hedgehog in the Fog, but I’ve been an admirer of Norstein’s work [...]
Yuri Norstein in Los Angeles
February 4th, 2010 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
Categories: Commentary · Special event
Me and Orson Welles
December 17th, 2009 by Doug Cummings · 1 Comment
“I had some trepidation about coming to Pasadena,” explained Christian McKay in last Sunday’s Q&A at the Laemmle Playhouse following Me and Orson Welles, in which he brilliantly portrays the famed cineaste. He noted The Magnificent Ambersons was test screened at the historic Pasadena Playhouse across the street, where 50 percent of the audience [...]
Categories: Film review
AFI FEST 2009 preview
September 16th, 2009 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
I’ve championed AFI FEST the previous two years since Artistic Director Rose Kuo came on board and pushed the festival into becoming Los Angeles’ best survey of world cinema. And I’ve been even more excited this year due to the programming involvement of Robert Koehler, a bona fide cinephile, critic, and festival hound (and [...]
Categories: Film festival · Site news
LACMA Film Wrap-up
September 6th, 2009 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
The Wall Street Journal published an article this weekend–“LACMA and the Cinéastes”–that provides a good account of the efforts of my colleagues and I during our previous five-week campaign to convince the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to reverse its decision to end its 41-year-old film program this October. At the moment, films [...]
Categories: Commentary · Site news
Committed Cinema: The Films of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
August 30th, 2009 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
I’m very proud to announce the September publication of Bert Cardullo’s Committed Cinema: The Films of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne; Essays and Interviews, which includes two pieces that I wrote. You can pre-order and preview the book at Amazon or at Cambridge Scholars Publishing, who describe it as “the first book in English to [...]
Categories: Texts
LACMA Film update
August 30th, 2009 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
The campaign to restore classic and international cinema programming at LACMA continues. Some readers may have heard about the $150,000 donation accepted last week in the wake of our Save Film at LACMA protest. But as reported in yesterday’s New York Times, big questions remain regarding the content of the program. Will it [...]
Categories: Commentary
Upcoming screenings
August 20th, 2009 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
The two-week-plus campaign to Save Film at LACMA continues (be sure to read Time art and architecture critic Richard Lacayo’s article from yesterday), but Los Angeles’ fall film scene is beginning to promise highlights:
• “Cigarettes & Alcohol: Eight Films by Hong Sang-soo” (Sept. 11-19)
I’ve seen all of Hong’s films except for The Day a Pig Fell [...]
Categories: Special event
Miyazaki: Starting Point (1979-1996)
August 10th, 2009 by Doug Cummings · 1 Comment
Hayao Miyazaki made an appearance at AMPAS a couple weeks ago, and participated in a Q&A that included clips from his films. In general, he was soft spoken and not especially forthcoming with his answers (my wife assures me he was playing the part of the distinguished Japanese gentleman), but I found several of [...]
Categories: Special event · Texts
Sign the Petition!
August 9th, 2009 by Doug Cummings · No Comments
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that “In the wake of the chorus of disapproval that greeted last week’s announcement that he was red-lighting the 40-year-old weekend film series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, museum Director Michael Govan has some good news: Potential donors have stepped up, interested in helping underwrite the [...]
Categories: Commentary
Save Film at LACMA
August 6th, 2009 by Doug Cummings · 2 Comments
“Who knows the wrath of a film community scorned?” writes David Ng for the Los Angeles Times. “The Los Angeles County Museum of Art does. In a little more than a week, the controversy over LACMA’s decision to ax its 40-year-old film program has grown into a full-blown online debate . . . [...]
Categories: Commentary