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LA Weekly Preview of COLCOA

Film festival


Pierrot le fou‘s digital restoration will receive its post-Cannes international debut on Friday.

The LA Weekly has published my preview of the City of Lights, City of Angeles (COLCOA) French film festival, which begins in full force today and plays through Sunday, April 25th. Of the handful of screeners I watched, I was particularly moved by Alain Cavalier’s Irène, and this may be your only chance of seeing it.

For COLCOA’s full line-up and many events, be sure to check out its website. In addition to the restored Pierrot le fou, I’m also excited about the …

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Earth (1930)

DVD review

Mr. Bongo Films in the UK is releasing a DVD of Alexander Dovzhenko’s Earth (1930) “fully restored and in its full-length version” next month, and it’s a beauty to behold. Appreciating a silent film sometimes requires that we adjust our modern reflexes to engage it on its own terms, but this monumental and passionate work is one of the exceptions, the last and most poetic entry of Dovzhenko’s loose silent trilogy about the violent social forces sweeping through peasant Ukrainian lives in the first decade of the Soviet Union. Rhapsodic and intensely lyrical, the film dramatizes the deep tensions that …

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Ross Lipman article in the LA Weekly

Film review, Special event


10-17-88 (1989)

I’ve got an article in this week’s LA Weekly about the films of Ross Lipman, whom many readers will recognize as the UCLA restorationist behind classic films by independent luminaries such as Kenneth Anger, John Cassavetes, John Sayles, and Charles Burnett. However, his upcoming show at REDCAT on March 30 (a Tuesday event rather than the Theater’s typical Monday night film schedule) should expose more people to his own film, video, and performance work, and shouldn’t be missed.…

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Guadalajara 2010: Days Later, Continued

Film festival, Film review


Nicolas Pereda’s Perpetuum Mobile

By Robert Koehler

The juries have spoken, and—what else is new with festival juries?–I’m trying to wrap my head around some of the results. First, a big day for directors Maria Novaro for The Good Herbs and Nicolas Pereda for Perpetuum Mobile. The Mexican results went almost exactly as I predicted: Perpetuum Mobile for best picture; Carlos Carrera for director; The Good Herbs for actress (Ursula Pruneda), screenplay, cinematography (Gerardo Barroso); best first-or-second film and a share best actor prize to Ruben Imaz’ Cephalopod, the other genuinely indie film in the section (along with …

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Guadalajara 2010: Days Later

Film festival

By Robert Koehler

We’re an hour away from the awards announcement in Guadalajara, so rumors are flying. In the Ibero-American competition, will it be Colombian veteran Victor Gaviria for his Berlin-debuting Portraits in a Sea of Lies, or Javier Rebollo for his masterfully witty Woman Without Piano? Or perhaps a wild card like Esmir Filho and his imaginative The Famous and the Dead? (Others in the conversation include Natalia Smirnoff’s Puzzle and Paz Fabrega’s Tiger-winning Agua fria de mar.)

The Mexican field, as usual, is a whole lot shorter: The race appears to be between Nicolas …

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Videotheque in South Pasadena

Interview


Some of the cinephile loot at Videotheque, and its owner, Mark Wright.

I’ve long wanted do an interview with Mark Wright, who established a remarkable DVD store named Videotheque in South Pasadena a few years ago. Los Angeles has a few stores renowned for their ambitious classic Hollywood and world cinema selections (Eddie Brandt’s Saturday Matinee, Cinefile, Vidiots) but none in the San Gabriel Valley. I first heard about the newly-opened Videotheque on a film discussion board in 2003, and soon became a loyal customer attracted to its great selection (including many imports) organized by country or director, genuinely friendly …

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