Documentary

Quote:
She was the sort of woman who spared neither herself nor others—and arguably qualifies as 20th-century France’s greatest femme de lettres. In this interview, the late novelist and filmmaker talks openly about the hardship and the romance of her childhood in French Indochina, sharing how this period haunted her life and shaped her work. Excerpts from her films and readings from her books by actress Elizabeth Rider and Duras herself—including The Lover, winner of the Prix Goncourt and translated into more than forty languages—bring to life those formative years in Vietnam. (52 minutes)Read More »

An in-depth look at the legendary punk band, The Stooges.Read More »

Synopsis:
A coast guard captain on a small Greek island is suddenly charged with saving thousands of refugees from drowning at sea.

Review:
4.1 miles – the distance between Turkey and Greece. It might not sound like much – in fact, many people might consider it swimmable – but these are dangerous waters. Nevertheless, hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers have made the desperate journey over the past few years. Concern about how to cope with this influx has extended right across the continent. What has it done to those on the coastlines directly affected?Read More »

Synopsis:
Based on three different places, the film portrays the infractions to which people living in modern day China are subjected due to rapid developments: in the deceptively idyllic Jiuxiancun in the rainy south; in the apocalyptic coal mining site of Minqin and Wusutu in the parched north; and in Chongqing, the mega city on the Yangtze River. The protagonists give their moving accounts of an unresolved past, an uncertain present and their tentative steps into the future. The film thus paints a complex image of the mental state of the people in this complicated country. “Watermarks” is a subjective snapshot in time that takes a poetic look at the changing everyday life in China.Read More »

Synopsis
The director brings the viewer on a journey to a place that is haunted, in present day, by the myth of a mysterious inscription. The viewer can see the film maker depict fractional images of a divinely inspired Nature, interweave mythological and historical accounts, as well as glean fragments to record the identity of a place that confronts and is confronted with the great philosophical questions of life. Koutsaftis not only is the director but is also the writer and the photography director of the film.Read More »

Synopsis:
A grandmother dies and leaves behind hours of secret film and audio recordings as well as an envelope with the words “Must read after my death”, which reveal a dark history for her family to discover.Read More »

Composed entirely of still photographs shot by Marker himself over the course of his restless travel through twenty-six countries, If I had four camels stages a probing, at times agitated, search for the meanings of the photographic image.Read More »

Quote:
Along the northern edge of Hollywood on Franklin Avenue, there is a hotel where movie stars used to stay, but whose glory days are long gone. Celebrities no longer go there, and the new guests are dreamers from all over the place who’ve come to LA to pursue a career in acting. “I loved to see myself in Technicolor,” one of them says, recalling his first screen appearance in a street scene. For most of them, the dream of a Hollywood career will forever remain an illusion. They hardly manage to make ends meet by working as extras – during the shoot of this documentary, a number of them were extras in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull. Bang Carlsen’s camera obviously gives them an opportunity to show their talent for make-believe – an art that they, for lack of an audience, mainly seem to deploy to keep up their own spirits. In this often-comical, sometimes tragic portrait of some of the hotel’s residents, Hotel of the Stars reveals the wide gap between dream and reality, poverty and success in American society.Read More »

On Écrire
When she saw La mort du jeune aviateur anglais, she told me that the film was about me, not her. She treated me like a thief. So I offered to make another film, where she could say whatever she wanted about her life as a writer. That’s how we did Écrire. I brought the same film crew. We went to her house at Neauphle-le-Château and we set up in the room she called “the music room,” where there was a piano and you could listen to records. She settled in and for two days of non-stop filming, she talked.Read More »