Quite the week coming up—Cannes lineup, Tribeca, and so on—so let’s have a quick survey of some of this weekend’s highlights. We begin with Srikanth Srinivasan: “More than any other director, it is [Harun] Farocki who is to be called a ‘process filmmaker.’ A photo shoot for Playboy magazine (The Image, 1983), construction of a series of advertising images (Still Life, 1997), planning of a shopping mall (The Creators of Shopping Worlds, 2001) and the manufacturing of bricks (In Comparison, 2009)—many of these films have been preoccupied with the processes by which ideology materializes itself in the realm of the visible, the audible and the tactile. Sometimes, they are about the process of seeing itself—as is the case with As You See (1986), Images of the World and the Inscription of War (1989), War at a Distance (2003) and a number of his installation projects—and about how the European Enlightenment tradition has come to anoint sight as the preeminent channel for of perception. Workers Leaving the Factory [1995] combines these two lines of examination, and explores both the physical act of workers exiting the factory and the change in way we have seen this process through the years.” And you can watch Workers (36’08”) at the Seventh Art as well.
New York‘s David Edelstein wants “to sell you hard on the notion that in this age of digital video—in which there are cheap cameras, editing software, and funding to be had (if rarely big money to be earned)—the cool kids are making docs. The form is not just good for you these days. It’s incredibly sexy.” And he offers a guide to more than a few “overlapping subgenres.”
Interviews. These’ll be worth noting: Peter Howell with Abbas Kiarostami (Toronto Star), Johannes Bonke and Sven Schumann with Martin Scorsese (The Talks), Kaleem Aftab with Bernardo Bertolucci (Independent), and Liz Hoggard with Susanne Bier (Observer).
In other news. “Cold War, one of Hong Kong’s best crime thrillers in recent years, has dominated this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, winning a total of 8 awards,” reports Hugo Ozman at Twitch: “Best Film, Best Director (Longman Leung, Sunny Luk Kim Ching), Best Screenplay (Longman Leung, Sunny Luk Kim Ching), Best Actor (Tony Leung Ka Fai), Best New Performer (Alex Tsui), Best Film Editing (Kong Chi Leung & Wong Hoi), Best Original Film Score (Peter Kam Pui Tat) and Best Visual Effects (Cecil Cheng).”
Los Angeles. City of Lights, City of Angels, the festival of French films, opens tomorrow and runs through April 22. In the Times, Susan King highlights screenings of Danièle Thompson’s new romantic comedy, It Happened in Saint-Tropez with Monica Bellucci and Kad Merad, as well as “Q&As with directors and stars, seminars and tributes to such legendary directors as the late Louis Malle and Jacques Demy as well as Alain Resnais.”
Viewing (44’47”). The official site of the Estate of Raymond Durgnat has recently posted Jarmo Valkola‘s 1992 documentary Images of the Mind – Cinematic Visions by Raymond Durgnat, “which offers an introduction to Durgnat’s appreciation of the nature of cinema.”
More browsing? John Wyver‘s posted his weekly roundup.
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