Some weeks ago, way back in 2007, I said I’d deliver the second part of my column on the folks behind the extraordinary The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which since has snagged two Golden Globes (best foreign language film, best direction). Alas, that story seemed to have fallen down a mystery rabbit hole located somewhere in the nether regions of my computer desktop. I’m now happy to report that I have dived down after it (sans diving bell, thankfully) and have retrieved the orphaned item. Apologies for the late rescue. It’s nice when filmmaking runs in the family. Somewhere…
Author: Akiko Ashley
Next week Border Crossings goes to the 58th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb. 7-17), better known as the Berlinale, to check out the films, parties, news, gossip… and that crashing sound of the dollar falling against the Euro. How bad is it? Well, let’s just say I’ll be hitting as many sponsored buffets and dinner parties as possible. I’ll tote along a tripod and Handycam to capture the festivities with a crew of one (yours truly), or maybe an unpaid friend/lacky to hold the camera once in a while. Production values will be in keeping with our budget, which is…
Ask Julian Schnabel what drove him to make his current feature The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, based on the memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby, and this is what he offers:“I wanted this film to be a tool, like his book, a self-help device that can help you handle your own death. That’s why I did it.”As explanations for movies go, this has to rank as one of the least sanguine in film history. A primer for the bitter end? Definitely not the kind of quote you’d stick on a movie marquis to drive up box office. But then, who really…
Before the outdoor screening of Nassiri’s ambitious 12-minute film, “Love Sees No Color” Wednesday night in Century City, CWB’s James Ulmer had a chance to speak with Cher, whose own Cher Charitable Foundation donates funds to various charities and causes. She shared her reactions to the film and, most revealingly, about the current American political scene and presidential contenders. James also talked to Nassiri at the same event. (Nassiri’s interview follows Cher’s interview)James: How did you come to meet Nassiri? Cher: I met him because of Adam. Adam runs my foundation and Adam had seen the film and thought that…
Known as one of Russia’s most intellectual and spiritual filmmaikers, Alexander Nikolayevich Sokurov was born in 1951 in the Siberian village of Podorvikha. He graduated from the History Department of Gorky University in 1974 and, in the same year, entered the Russian State Institute of Cinematography. There he befriended Andrei Tarkovsky, whose feature film Mirror deeply influenced him. While at the Moscow Film School Sokurov made his first full length feature, The Lonely Voice of Men, in 1978.While the Soviet regime banned most of Sokurov’s early works, he produced many documentaries during his early years, including an interview with the…
No doubt Hollywood writers would love to write themselves out of a bad scene – the current strike – but their foreign counterparts are determined to write themselves into the drama by demonstrating today (Wednesday, Nov. 28) for an international day of solidarity with the Writers Guild. Sponsored by the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds, which represents over 20,000 screenwriters in unions worldwide, the marches will rally writers demonstrating in Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Sydney, Auckland, Montreal, and Berlin. And there’ll be a rally at NBC Studios in Burbank, too.It’s great that the writers overseas are taking the cause of…
Will Russian filmmaker and opera director Alexander Sokurov follow in the footsteps of Bruce Beresford, Billy Friedkin and Garry Marshall to direct opera in Los Angeles? While on a rare visit to Los Angeles for a special screening of his newest film “Alexandra” (which competed at this year’s Cannes festival), the visionary filmmaker, best known to American audiences for his one-take 2002 feature “Russian Ark,” told Cinema Without Borders he’d “love to direct an opera here” but has yet to be approached with an offer. He was responding to rumors in the music community that he might indeed be on…
Shuichi Nakahara is a multi-talented, multi-tasking creative artist with a love for animation. Shuichi is a highly educated Japanese engineer and computer animation guru. He started his career in Japan and has been working with companies in the U.S. through a virtual pipeline through the internet. What is interesting about Shuichi is his rare ability to be able to pick up a new software package or design idea in hours in what takes the average person months to learn. Shuichi went to school for animation but his unique skill for combining Japanese animation styles with American animation makes him a…