THE PANDEMIC STREAMING WORLD: Oscilloscope, Kino Lorber, Music Box Films

[Chris Knipp]

LAAPFF announces spring virtual showcase



Free Digital Showcase of Films and Panels Featuring Groundbreaking Asian Pacific American/Asian International Film - Begins May 1st with Premiere Sneak Peek at Two Episodes of PBS's Landmark Groundbreaking Series THE ASIAN AMERICANS

Like other film festivals scheduled for this time of the coronavirus shutdowns, the 36th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival cannot take place at its scheduled time (the presse release says Visual Communications (VC) has "rescheduled [it]. . . "to a later date"). So,for now, here comes the LAAPFF Virtual Showcase, which like SXSW's, will offer a selection of their planned offerings online, in their case for free.

[press release]
The LAAPFF VIRTUAL SHOWCASE will launch May 1st with its Opening Day Film - the premiere sneak preview of Episodes 3 and 4 of the upcoming groundbreaking PBS Documentary Series ASIAN AMERICANS. Both episodes will be available from 8AM PST to 8PM PST in the LAAPFF VIRTUAL SHOWCASE for personal viewing. Then at 5PM PST/8PM EST, there will be a special online Q&A with the filmmakers and special guests will take place to discuss the film and current issues. View the trailer for ASIAN AMERICANS here.

The LAAPFF VIRTUAL SHOWCASE will also feature the festival World Premiere of FIRST VOTE on May 5. Directed by Yi Chen, this insightful film focuses on the current Asian American experience at the election polls in the United States. Through in-depth honest and revealing conversations with four Asian American voters in battleground states, the filmmaker also contemplates exercising her own right to vote in America - a first time for her. An online post Q/A discussion with director Chen and subjects from the film will take place at 5PM PST on May 5.

The complete lineup for the LAAPFF VIRTUAL SHOWCASE will be announced on Monday, April 27th. For additional details, please visit festival.vcmedia.org.

This information was received April 22, 2020. The LAAPFF organizers will release their Virtual Showcase program schedule in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more details on that website.

[Chris Knipp]

FILM FORUM adds two revival films to its present ten-film virtual cinema.

All these films are available online for rental and are significant new films or new revivals

Coming Friday, April 24: Jules Dassin’s RIFIFI and Lee Grant’s DOWN AND OUT IN AMERICA.

They also announce their weekly podcast, which includes:
- A Q&A with Kantemir Balagov, 28-year-old filmmaker of the Russian drama, BEANPOLE (part of Film Forum's current Virtual Cinema).
- My Film Forum: memories of filmgoing shared by Neige from Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan

Get the podcast HERE.

Access the virtual cinema HERE.

Again, their current virtual cinema lineup is:

THE BOOKSELLERS
WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL
BEANPOLE
István Szabó's MEPHISTO
INCITEMENT
THE WHISTLERS
Ken Loach’s SORRY WE MISSED YOU
CORPUS CHRISTI
THE WILD GOOSE LAKE
Luchino Visconti’s L’INNOCENTE

Needless to say, rentals of these films online help keep Film Forum afloat during the coronavirus shutdown.

[Chris Knipp]

More unique virtual releases from Film Forum.

Access the virtual cinema HERE.


EXCLUSIVE NYC PREMIERE
FRIDAY, MAY 1: CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
This is a new film.


Available to rent starting Friday, May 1

A FILM BY JUSTIN PEMBERTON

Based on the international bestseller by rock-star economist Thomas Piketty (which sold over three million copies worldwide and landed Piketty on TIME Magazine’s list of most influential people), this captivating documentary is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, a film that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, and shines a new light on today’s growing inequalities. Traveling through time, the film assembles accessible pop-culture references coupled with interviews of some of the world’s most influential experts delivering an insightful and empowering journey through the past and into our future.

NEW ZEALAND 2020 103 MINS. KINO LORBER


And two more revivals om reissues by Rialto


(Jules Dassin)
FILM FORUM presents RIFIFI (1955)
Back from the pen, tough guy Jean Servais and some old cronies plan to knock over a jewelry store — the resulting heist a legendary 30-minute sequence without dialogue or music. Blacklisted Hollywood exile Jules Dassin turned a potboiler by milieu specialist Auguste Le Breton into an existential thriller that earned him Cannes’ Best Director prize and set the standard for screen robberies for decades to come.

JULES DASSIN Best Director, Cannes Film Festival

“THE UNDERWORLD EQUIVALENT OF A SUBLIME FRENCH MEAL.” - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

“FLAWLESS! FOR LOVERS OF TOUGH-GUY MOVIE-MAKING, RIFIFI MEANS PERFECTION.” - Michael Sragow, The New York Times

“THE BEST FILM NOIR I’VE EVER SEEN.” - François Truffaut

DIRECTED BY JULES DASSIN
FRANCE | 1955 | FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE

Show more
VIRTUAL TICKET Watch Trailer Share



BAND OF OUTSIDERS
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

Starring Anna Karina, Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur

(1964, Jean-Luc Godard) In the dreary suburb of Joinville, Claude Brasseur and Sami Frey (“Belmondo’s suburban cousins” - JLG) take turns romancing English language student Anna Karina, then light up when she mentions the big pile of cash stashed at her aunt’s villa. A piece of cake burglary, but then things go memorably awry. A jeu d’esprit – extracted from one of the blackest Série Noire novels, Fools’ Gold by Dolores Hitchens. – with echt Godardian set pieces including the trio line-dancing “Le Madison” and then “doing” the Louvre in record time. Approx. 95 min.

A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE

[Chris Knipp]

KARIM MOUSSAOUI: UNTIL THE BIRDS RETURN/EN ATTENDANT LES HIRONDELLES (2017) - online from 1091 Media Film Room



This and other films now in digital and on demand from 1091 Media Front Room

I reviewed this three-part Algerian film, which has a European quality, on Filmleaf as part of New Directors/New Films 2018. It's a subtle and complex film and two years later it looks even better. You'll find that review in the Festival Coverage section HERE. I found it particularly interesting for its interplay of outside and local cultural influences and its picture of Algeria, which we don't glimpse that often onscreen. It is now coming out April 28th in digital and on demand via 1091 MEDIA FILM ROOM. As you'll see on their website, other current offerings include WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD'S ON FIRE, HIMALAYAN ICE, and the doc about Yves Saint Laurant's last season, CELEBRATION, which I have viewed, and liked; I've reviewed the first two here. Other films offered include LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE; LIVING HOME, COMING HOME: A PORTRAIT OF ROBERT FRANK; BIRDS OF PASSAGE, which I've also reviewed - and lots more, including films from the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals.

[Chris Knipp]

FILM FORUM addition.



Besides Godard's BAND OF OUTSIDERS, May 1 will see their exclusive Virtual Cinema release of the Kino Lorber documentary CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY (Justin Pemberton 2019), based on the French economist Thomas Piketty’s #1 bestseller, adapted by Matthew Metcalfe in collaboration with Pemberton and Piketty.

For full Film Forum Virtual Cinema offerings and details, go to https://filmforum.org/virtual-cinema

[Chris Knipp]

DEERSKIN/LE DAIN (Quentin Dupieux 2019)

This oddball crime tale, which friends said reminded them of Tarantino, reviewed here as part of this year's Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, will open May 1 as part of Greenwich Entertainment’s virtual cinema initiative. Greenwich is partnering with movie theaters that are currently closed because of Coronavirus precautions. You can support them by paying to view this new film. Every rental is $10, I believe. They also offer HUMAN NATURE, THE BOOKSELLERS, THE TIMES OF BILL CUNNINGHAM, CITIZEN K, WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY, INCITEMENT, which I've reviewed, and other titles. See their website.

[Chris Knipp]

SXSW on Amazon Prime Video.

If you have Amazon Prime, their ten selections from this year's cancelled Austin, Texas festival can now for a limited time be watched free HERE.

[No longer available.]