The British film The Infidel just reached American shores this week at the Tribeca Film Festival here in New York City. The irreverent comedy is about a Muslim who learns he is adopted and his parents are in fact Jewish. What ensues is a delightful comedy of errors that delves into the murkier depths of religious and ethnic stereotypes. You can read my full review over at Heeb Magazine.
I was able to get some face time with four people connected to the film. Josh Appignanesi is the film’s director and David Baddiel wrote the script. The two offered up some deadpan wisdom on the weighty subject their film deals with. The bulk of my questions (as you’ll hear) focus on reactions to the film and whether or not it is controversial. Both Baddiel and Appignanesi are passionate about their creative choices and the power of comedy in the most uncomfortable of social conversations. They say it better, so definitely check it out.
Omid Djalili and Richard Schiff, the film’s stars, are similarly serious when it comes to discussing The Infidel. Schiff, who is most well known in the states for his role as Toby Ziegler on The West Wing, takes particular offense at having any of his roles, including that of Lenny in The Infidel, labeled as stereotypically Jewish. The two exhude a comic energy that made it difficult for me to keep a straight face while chatting them up. Especially at the end of our talk, the two go off on the provenance of a few racial epithets. It is quite hilarious.
As always, I’ve said too much. Just click play already.
Wow, South by Southwest (SXSW) is one helluva whirlwind event. Luckily, between screenings my schedule allowed for a quick chat with David Bond, whose film Erasing David had its U.S. Première here last night. The documentary, which the director concedes is something of a sensationalist thriller, deals with the issue of modern privacy in a world where we are obsessed with sharing so much of our personal information.
In the film, David opts to “drop off the map” as it were. Two of the best private investigators in the U.K. are given his picture and his name, but nothing else. While the film crew follows them around, they must find David who is doing everything in his power not to get caught. Within hours of them beginning their assignment, they gather more information than he originally thought was possible. They even started a fake Facebook account for David, spoofing his friends into giving them leads to move forward on.
Lucky for us (or for me, really), the U.S. ranks much higher in terms of privacy awareness than the U.K. Surprisingly, the U.K. is the third worst country in terms of availability of private data in the world. Their competition? China and Russia. This may seem startling, but the U.K. does have CCTV cameras all over the country recording almost every public area. With facial recognition technology slowly being integrated with the system, David purports, it is only a matter of time before our social networks become meshed with state infrastructure.
The fact that this film is receiving such a warm reception at a conference such as SXSW says a lot about how much of a paranoid Luddite the director isn’t. After all, the Interactive wing of SXSW is where Twitter and Foursquare, a geo-location social network, were launched. All day long people are sharing their location, their thoughts, and perhaps even more sensitive data than they realize on their mobile phones as they wander about the Austin Convention Center. But as I said, Mr. Bond is no Luddite. He is simply more aware of these issues after his experience of making the film. It is his hope that the film’s audience will be more aware as well.
Erasing David will be screening again on Tuesday, March 16th at 11am in the G-Tech theater. The film is also available VOD through Amazon during the festival. For more information on both the film and issues of privacy and information, you can check out the film’s Official Website.
The other day, director Miao Wang invited me to her Brooklyn home to discuss her new film, Beijing Taxi. The documentary follows three Beijing cab drivers over the course of two years leading up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. All working class locals, each character offers a unique perspective on the society that has seemed closed for so long to westerners. The film is an eye-opener for anyone who has ever wanted to take a closer look at China’s capital, even, as Ms. Wang explains in our interview, for the taxi drivers themselves. Beijing Taxi will have its world première next week at SXSW in Austin, Texas. For more details, you can visit the film’s official website. Listen in as we discuss the current state of China, the making of the film, and what bands Miao is most excited to hear when she heads to Austin for the festival.
Music Featured in this Podcast (from the Beijing Taxi soundtrack):
• An Yang “安阳” — Miserable Faith
• Our Healthy Upward Ideals “我们目前健康向上的小理想” — Sand
• Together “在一起” — Sound Fragment
Certainly new media has changed the way we approach filmmaking, but how does that mentality actually manifest itself? To find out, I talked to Todd Tue of Milk Products Media this week. Where once makers would upload their work to the web in hopes of gaining exposure to head down a traditional distribution path, Todd is now finding that the internet may be the best outlet for his work, period.
The bulk of our conversation is about Milk Products’ latest documentary endeavor, a feature film about a family owned and operated dairy farm in Ohio. You can view the short documentary on Vimeo right now, then head on over to their Kickstarter page to learn more about the feature they plan to make. As Todd tells me in our interview, the fact that over 10,000 people have already viewed a short piece he made is pretty satisfying, but he hopes they will get to make the full length story. Listen in as we talk about making films on the cheap, bringing some creativity to paying gigs, and why it is such a great time to be making media.
Apple’s iPad is 2 months from release and the Internet seems to have already made up its mind on the device, one way or another. This is all based on total speculation as even those who have handled the tablet haven’t done so long enough to offer an informed opinion. So while the mud and rainbows sling elsewhere, I would like to speculate how the device will impact filmmakers should it be embraced after launch.
First off, let’s look at the iPhone/iPod Touch which has enjoyed decent success in the film community. There are apps available as simple as AJA’s data rate calculator for estimating video file sizes and as complex as screenwriting applications. You can plug your iPod into an Alesis ProTrack and record audio via XLR mics. This doesn’t even to mention the simpler things like the video capabilities of the iPhone 3GS which gives any maker the ability to shoot a walkthrough or concept video whenever they deem necessary. Today, the filmmaker finds a decent tool in the iPhone/iPod Touch.
So when voices on the internet decry the new iPad “just a big iPod Touch”, I would ask the dissenters how they could consider that a bad thing. The truth is that if it were just a big iPod Touch, it would already solve a great deal of problems with the smaller screen on Apple’s mobile devices. Even though the device isn’t available in the wild yet, it is fast becoming clear that the iPad is something more than a glorified iPhone. Take a look at some of the advanced gestures possible on the iPad in this video compiled by Gizmodo:
The way Phil Schiller “stacks” those Keynote slides with a two touch gesture is something that has never been available on any Apple touch device before, and it is a sign of things to come. Gesturing is about to go way past touching and swiping. So how could this impact filmmakers? Let’s break it down by department. Read on…
The candler blog is not just a movie review website, though we do plenty of that from time to time. Officially, when people ask me what kind of a website this is, I say “the candler blog is a film theory and criticism website”, which cinema civilians tend to get a bit confused by. “Theory?” they ask. What do we mean by that? Myself and Sunrise Tippeconnie have recorded a Candlercast to help explain that idea. Just like an egg candler holds an egg up to light to determine its health, we hold films and pop culture up to our own form of candle. In picking apart the minutiae of films and filmmaking, we hope to achieve a greater understanding of this art form.
Sunrise Tippeconnie and I are friends and collaborators who have spent hours upon hours deconstructing every part of the process of moviemaking over the years. I would like to share just some of that conversation with you, dear readers, will join in. On the docket for this first dialogue are the state of HD and 4K video acquisition. We talk about the usefulness of certain technologies alongside film, the need for more standardization of cinema terminologies, and the Charlie Chaplin vs. Buster Keaton complex. What does all of that mean? You’ll have to listen to find out.
I first met filmmaker Blayne Weaver back at the Deadcenter Film Festival in June, where his film Weather Girl was playing. You can read what I thought about it back then in this post, but we’re way past reviewing the film at this point. Weather Girl will be making its television debut tomorrow, Septermber 23, 2009, on the Lifetime channel. You heard right, Lifetime.
Blayne took some time out of his schedule to chat with me about this current film, his next project, and topics as varied as digital distribution, Inglourious Basterds, and screening your film on a PS3. In other words, if you take the time to swallow this whole interview, you’ll be in for more than one surprise. Check it out and check the movie tomorrow night, on Lifetime.
The following is an interview conducted and composed by friend of the candler blog, Daniel Kremer. Dan is a filmmaker with a knack for cinematic criticism and historical deconstruction. His ConFluence Film Blog is definitely worth a read. Mr. Kremer asked that I repost the article here, and I have to thank him for it. Any access granted to the mind of Henry Jaglom is wholly welcome among candler readers. Dan originally posted this a few days ago on his own website. It’s a long one, so I’ve split it into a few pages, don’t miss the controls at the bottom.
Once upon a time, long long ago—but, on the other hand, not really long ago at all—there existed an extraordinary, well-oiled machine. Created by the finest hands in all the land of Germany and ultimately an invention of great luster and beauty, the wondrous well-oiled machine was dubbed the Keller-Elektro-Mechanik Flatbed, and those who grew to know it and love it called it the Kem. This well-oiled machine turned a world on its ear and made the lives of those who used it all the easier. It swept all lands, impressing artisans known and unknown with the exhilarating quality of its facility. One day, however, great wizards from the yonderland of the Valley of Silicon fashioned a grease-lightning fast well-oiled machine that began sweeping the land, usurping the quickness, luster and beauty of the once-great Kem. Once again, the world was turned on its ear.
Okay, so not so much of a fairy-tale. My apologies for the botched conceit. Nevertheless, the truth of the matter at hand is still in there. The Kem, this so-called well-oiled machine, really did turn the world of film editing on its ear when filmmakers began using it in the late 1960’s in larger and larger volume. The Kem one-upped the Moviola, more or less trumping all other editing methods with the facility of its use—and when computer software became increasingly sophisticated, the well-oiled machine that was once so super-sophisticated went the way of the dodo. Despite this, there were still those who remained admirably committed, contriving to hang on for as long as they feasibly could. One of these filmmakers, and perhaps the last one to completely let go, is the one who many cineastes would call the independent’s independent, writer-director Henry Jaglom, who is very much like a well-oiled machine himself (considering the fact that he is working on five projects simultaneously). Read on…
The British film The Infidel just reached American shores this week at the Tribeca Film Festival here in New York City. The irreverent comedy is about a Muslim who learns he is adopted and his parents are in fact Jewish. What ensues is a delightful comedy of errors that delves into the murkier depths of religious and ethnic stereotypes. You can read my full review over at Heeb Magazine.
The candler blog is not just a movie review website, though we do plenty of that from time to time. Officially, when people ask me what kind of a website this is, I say “the candler blog is a film theory and criticism website”, which cinema civilians tend to get a bit confused by. “Theory?” they ask. What do we mean by that? Myself and Sunrise Tippeconnie have recorded a Candlercast to help explain that idea. Just like an egg candler holds an egg up to light to determine its health, we hold films and pop culture up to our own form of candle. In picking apart the minutiae of films and filmmaking, we hope to achieve a greater understanding of this art form.
I first met filmmaker Blayne Weaver back at the Deadcenter Film Festival in June, where his film Weather Girl was playing. You can read what I thought about it back then 