There’s been a constant stream of films trying to capture the seminal Beats: John Byrum’s 1980 “Heart Beat”, Cronenberg’s hallucinatory 1991 “Naked Lunch”, Gary Walkow’s (2000) “Beat” (about William Burroughs), Noah Buschel’s 2007 “Neal Cassady” Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman’s 2011 “Howl”, Walter Salles’ 2012 “On the Road”, as well as Curt Worden’s 2009 documentary “One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur” and Michael Polish’s 2013 “Big Sur.” Few have studied the proto Beat days. Director John Krokidas and co -writer Austin Bunn’s script captures some of the spontaneous style of young artists sowing their first wild oats:…
Author: Robin Menken
Robin Menken
Robin Menken Robin Menken lives in Los Angeles. She was the Artistic Director of the Second City Workshops, taught at UC Berkeley, USC, Barcelona\'s Ateneu and the Esalin Institute. She was Roberto Rossellini\'s assistant, and worked with Yevgeny Vevteshenku, Glauber Rocha and Eugene Ionesco. She sold numerous screenplays and wrote the OBIE winning The FTA SHow (touring with Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland and Ben Vereen.) She was a programming consultant and Special Events co-ordinator for numerous film festivals, including the SF, Rio, Havana and N.Y Film Festivals. Her first news outlet was the historic East Village Other.
Jason Osder’s documentary “Let the Fire Burn” details a shocking instance of police oppression circa 1980.The Mayor of Philadelphia ordered police to evacuate the MOVE commune. Refusing to leave, the besieged members were attacked by water cannons, over 10, 0000 rounds of ammunition and a bomb dropped by helicopter on their row houses. Arrogance, hubris and obsession on both sides lead to this tragic urban war.Fire broke out (captured on TV News cameras). 11 adults and children burned to death (two escaped) and over 60 neighboring structures in the black neighborhood of Osage Ave were destroyed. ‘Let the fire burn”…
To complement LACMA’s exhibit “Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa—Art and Film”. LACMA’s film department has selected two programs of rarely seen films.LACMA’s first Exhibition film series, ending on Friday October 11 with two rare- soft titles masterpieces: “Macario” and “Pedro Páramo”, looks at Figueroa’s role in shaping the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, and will be followed with six of the seven films Figueroa shot for Bunuel.In 1938, André Breton, one of the founders of Surrealism, declared Mexico “the most surrealist country in the world.” Nearly 10 years later, the Spanish director and fellow group member Luis Buñuel reluctantly…
The Sixteenth Annual Los Angeles Latino Film Festival (LALIFF) presents four days of international features, documentaries and shorts from Spain, North, South and Central America reflect the past, present and future of the Latino Experience. LALIFF also presents four days of Panels, and one on one discussions with iconic figures of the Entertainment Industry.FRIDAY, OCT 11GREENCARD WARRIORS, 2013, 91 mins. Country: UNITED STATES OPERA PRIMA WORLD PREMIERE Language: ENGLISH/ SPANISH Screening: Friday, October 11th, 1:00 p.m. Mann Theatre #4 Sunday, October 13th, 7:00 p.m. Mann Theatre #1 Director: Miriam Kruishoop Producers: Miriam Kruishoop, Bronwyn Cornelius, Julian Cautherley Screenwriter: Miriam Kruishoop…
Indelible performances by two young actors, and a script that avoids cliché make “The Inevitable Defeat Of Mister and Pete” a MUST SEE picture.Sylvan Brooks has played small parts in several films (“Our Family Wedding” (2010),”Seven Pounds” (2008) and “Noobz” (2012) before his break out role as Mister, the latch key kid and reluctant protector of young Pete, played by Korean TV kid actor Etan Dizan.George Tillman Jr. (“Soul Food,” “Men Of Honor”) directs perfect pitch performances from his strong cast. Michael Starrbury’s emotional script has no truck with sentimentality, and the clear-eyed performances of the two sturdy little actors…
Carlo Carlei’s handsomely mounted “Romeo and Juliet” using Rennaissance Italian locations approaches the visual splendor of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 classic. Abel Korzeniowskiis score references Zefirelli’s version, quoting a tune from Nino Rota’s passage. Art Director Tonino Zera and DP David Tatersall gives us a resplendent Verona.A group of talented young actors mine the wit and drama of Shakespeare’s immortal text: dashing Douglas Booth ( Pip in BBC’s “Great Expectatioons” “L.O.L.”) is a marvel as the lovelorn Romeo. Benvolio (the marvelous Kodi Smit-McPhee- “The Road”), Mercutio (Christian Cooke-“The Promise” (2010)) and Tybalt (Ed Westwick-“Children of Men”) all revel in their lines…
Considered one of the most important Arab film festivals outside the Arab world, The Arab Film Festival is the largest independent annual showcase of Arab films and filmmakers in the country. Founded in 1996, The Arab Film Festival shows films in five California cities: San Francisco, Los Angles, Berkeley, Oakland and San Diego.Festival Dates: San Francisco October 11-13, 2013Opening Night: October 11, 2013 at the Castro TheatreOther venues-Opera Plaza Cinema (San Francisco)Los Angeles-October 18-20, 2013Opening Night: October 18, 2013 at the Writer’s Guild of AmericaBerkeley-October 25-27, 2013 Shattuck Cinemas (Berkeley)San Diego- November 15-17, 2013Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego)(co-sponsored with…
The Republic of South Africa’s Department of Arts and Culture will bring its South African Arts Festival 2013 (SAAF), a weekend of South African film and music, to Downtown Los Angeles for the first time, with events on Friday, October 4 through Sunday October 6, 2013. The inaugural SAAF 2013 will showcase seven South African films and seven musical artists representing the diversity of the South African experience at free events over two days. Highlights include Saturday’s outdoor “South African Music Festival” at Grand Performances and a day of South African films screening on Sunday at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE…
Co-presented by the Goethe-Institut and the American Cinematheque, with the invaluable support of Deutsche Welle, German Films, the Friends of Goethe, and ELMA, German Currents 2013 is also proud to announce its cooperation with the Consulates General of Germany, Austria and Switzerland to bring a diverse program of some of the best of recent German, Austrian, and Swiss films to the historic Egyptian Theatre.German Currents opens with the U.S. Premiere of Detlev Buck’s visually stunning historical epic Measuring the World. The line-up continues with Jan Ole-Gerster’s Oh Boy, which swept the 2013 German film Awards. The North American premiere of…
The Bi-annual FREE all night. Light Art Installation returns to Santa Monica, Saturday September 28, Dusk to Dawn. The September 28, 2013 – 7pm-3am. The all-night cultural experience features original commissions by artists that re-imagine Santa Monica Beach as a playground for thoughtful and participatory artworks. – See more at: http://glowsantamonica.org/#sthash.qrnp421f.dpuf Opening Ceremony & Scheduled Performances: 7:00 p.m. Join the opening ceremony at the intersection of Colorado and Ocean Avenues! 7:30 p.m. CAP Summer Arts Program in Dance at GLOWbal, by Karen Atkinson 8:00 p.m. A Puppet Show, Crescent Bay Park 8:30 p.m. Java: Land of Dreams concert and dance…