Though I haven’t updated in a couple weeks, I’ve been up to my ears in film viewing. Some recent projects:
• I’ve written the program notes for LACMA’s “20th Anniversary Tribute to the Film Foundation,” which starts today. I’ve also guest-blogged about it for my Save Film at LACMA partner, Debra Levine, at her blog, artsmeme.
• I’ve been working as an Associate Programmer (screening submissions) for this year’s AFI FEST (November 4-11) and I’m starting back up as the Editor of the festival’s website this year–AFI FEST NOW. Additionally, I’m always on the lookout for good writers, so if you’d like to contribute, please email me and let me know.
• I’ve also been screening films and writing notes for FESTWORKS, the consulting group behind this year’s inaugural Anaheim International Film Festival (October 13-17) and the Santa Fe Film Festival. The FESTWORKS team is superb at what they do, and any festival that enlists them will be richer for it.
• On top of all of this (plus freelance graphic design work), I’ve somehow managed to see Haile Gerima’s brilliant Teza (2008), a profound memory film that mixes radical activism in East Germany in the ’70s with political upheaval in Ethiopia during the ’80s and ’90s through the recollections of a shell-shocked doctor haunted by both. Gerima’s Sankofa (1993) was one of the first films I reviewed for this site back in 2003, and his new feature is a powerful and worthy follow-up. Check it out if it comes to your area.