NYFF 2004

[Chris Knipp]

One has to be quite the globe trotter to make it to all these. . .are you a globe trotter, arsaib4?

I have to admit that I don't even go to the festivals that are nearby in this area. I'm going to Venice and I'm just missing the Venice one. But I'm beginning to wonder. I don't want to be like a Siskel rather than an Ebert, as Rosenbaum explains the difference between the two critics.

I begin to grasp that if you are a good critic you must be an arbiter of taste, you must be a bellwether for the cinema industry -- is that the right word? -- and so you must know films that others do not yet know, and tell them about treasures that they must discover but will miss if you don't bring the good news.

[arsaib4]

I was once i guess, but lately i've paid more attention of my studies thus limiting myself mostly to Toronto. I certainly try to catch these little showcases in NY like the French rendezvous or the Open roads: Italian cinema, it's a good way to catch new works from a particular country.

I would cetainly be interested in detail what Rosenbaum had to say about the two. Also it seems like Rosenbaum interests you quite a bit even though you don't hold him as high as some others.

I agree with your analization of what a good critic should be or what he must do, but one has to wonder how good their judgements are looking at so many films in a short time span. But still most do a decent job and ever since Gavin Smith has become the editor at 'Film Comment', they have devoted more time covering films not available here and it's also nice to hear different point of views of collaberating critics.

[Chris Knipp]

Sounds like you're doing just fine; those "little showcases" can be extremely enlightening. So you're in Toronto--well, I've always heard that that's a great film city, and I guess it's handy enough to NYC too. About me and Rosenbaum: I hadn't even read him, his books anyway, till recently. He seemed to be possibly excessively idolized as in that IMDb thread I posted the link to, and several other IMDb threads, as well as by several contributors to FilmWurld. But I could see right away that some smart people were doing the "idolizing," especialy "jiankevin," the cybername of Kevin Lee, a young filmmaker in New York (who makes clear that he no longer "idolizes" Rosenbaum, though he respects him enough to field questions for him. I was suspicious at first, and thought Rosenbaum might be too academic or too stuffy, but I hardly think that now after reading three of his books. As I said, I think he's best in short straightforward reviews and in his polemical or informative pieces; I tend to doze off a bit during his lengthy pieces for Film Comment. Whatever; I want to read more. His strength is not only his extensive knowledge, informed by years spent in London and Paris as well as a movie house owner family and extensive viewing and reviewing, so much as his independence of commercial interests or pressures to popularize or dumb down his points of view.

The schedules of film festivals seem grueling to me. Even if you manage to remember all that you've seen, as you suggest might be hard, seeing all those films at once could be awfully hard work. But being a film critic is a job and the problem no doubt has been that some of the more visible critics haven't been willing to go the distance to know more than the average denizen of the cineplexes.

[arsaib4]

What i meant by "limiting myself mostly to Toronto" was that's the only festival I've been attending recently, I don't actually live there. My permanent residence is near NYC.

Film criticism has become stale, almost all the voices here have started sounding the same to me so when I do read something fresh it leaves an impression. Olaf Moller is a German critic based in Cologne who's been writing for 'Film Comment' a lot more recently as the editors at the mag have recognized the energy and the originality his reviews have. I am simply amazed at his knowledge ranging from exiled Iranian directors to Straub-Huillet, from Cipri & Maresco to Bollywood Giant Mani Ratnam. It's a true pleasure reading him as he's not afraid to put something down when need be.

[oscar jubis]

The projectors at Toronto are working daily from 9 a.m. until 2 a.m. One day there I saw five films, but three daily is my preference. It's important to make sure you get enough sleep and not too much food and alcohol. I average two films per day at local fests because I have other responsibilities (and they are not as large as Toronto's). It's helped me to jot down impressions after each film to "get it out of my head" a bit before the next film. I've liked the lineups at recent Chicago IFF and I hear it's "buff friendly" but I don't know from experience.

[oscar jubis]

I've just about given up on finding Straub-Huillet films with English subs. ars?

[arsaib4]

I've seen atleast five films from them, their much acclaimed Sicilia! (Sicily!) and deservingly so most recently at a festival. Moses und Aron (Moses and Aron) I saw on a Secam vhs, no subs. Three are available in Canada on vhs with subs, two features, the challenging Othon (1969) and the wonderful biography of Bach's life narrated by his wife called Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach (The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach/1968), also a short is available starring who else but Fassbinder himself with whom the two are often assoiciated with, the sequential Brautigam, Die Komodiantin Und Der Zuhalter, Der (The Bridegroom, The Comedian And The Pimp/1968)

[arsaib4]

I just wanna mention that tickets are still available for these films, and perhaps for a few others if anyone is interested in going:

Ousmane Sembene's MOOLADE
Wed Oct 13: 6:00 pm; Thu Oct 14: 9:00 pm

Lucrecia Martel's THE HOLY GIRL
Mon Oct 11: 9:15 pm

Jia Zhangke's THE WORLD
Mon. Oct. 11, 6:00 pm; Tue. Oct. 12, 9:00 pm

Keren Yedaya's OR
Tue Oct 5: 6:00 pm; Wed Oct 6: 9:30 pm

[pmw]

I heard that its 90% sold out and it hasn't even started yet...really think they should do more screenings if the goal is to publicize these films...

By the way, I will be posting reviews from the festival here. Look forward to any other reviews and/or comments on the films.
P

First up:
Fuller's The Big Red One
and the new Godard film

[arsaib4]

They definitely do need to make changes to the schedule. NYFF not only need to add more screenings but they also need to open the festival just a little more, perhaps go up to 50 films, but some of places where films are screened aren't the most desirable either.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on The Big Red One. As you probably know, Kent Jones raved about it in 'Film Comment' recently, putting it on top of both Spielberg's and Malick's war films. I tried to watch a little bit when it was on a cable channel the other day, but it did seem chopped up, not to mention full screen and all so I didn't finish it. I want to wait for the 3 hr version, hopefully it'll be on dvd soon.

[arsaib4]

The film being presented at NYFF on Oct 6/7 now has a U.S distributer. Wellspring purchesed the U.S rights for the film and it will be released in 2005. Directed by Arnaud Desplechin, the film stars Emmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Amalric and Catherine Deneuve.

[arsaib4]

NYFF is one event covered better than no one else other than the NYTimes. Unfortunately, this can't be said about other retrospectives/showcases that play in NY throughout the year where Village Voice leads the way.

Times has a section of their site devoted to the festival.

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/movies/...ial/index.html

Voice critics (Hoberman and co.) have previewed/reviewed the films on one page.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0439/nyff.php

[pmw]

and for those of you with access to the NY Sun, there is daily coverage planned for the next two weeks!

www.nysun.com (think you might need a password to access it...).

P

[arsaib4]

Here's a well written and informative article on the festival and it's orphans by Anthony Kaufman of indiewire.

http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_041006nyff.html

[arsaib4]

One more film from the fest has now found a home. Controversial director Todd Solondz's Palindromes was acquired by Wellspring yesterday. The film will be released in April next year. Now will someone finally buy films from Jia and Hou......