Eleven years ago Vladek Juszkiewicz, the visionary director of the Polish Film Festival Los Angeles launched his celebration of Polish Film. Organized by the Polish American Film Society, PFFLA is now the largest Polish film festival In the US.Building a strong network of Polish, Polish American and general film buffs, he steadily grew his festival until he attracted enough support from the Polish government, the Polish Film Institute and Polish Filmmakers’ Association, and TVP -Telewizja Polska, (as well as local sponsors) to be able to bring large delegations of actors and filmmakers to the annual week of films. The vital…
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.
The Franco-American Cultural Fund (FACF) presents the 14th Annual City of Lights, City of Angels film festival (COLCOA) April 19-25 at the DGA.COLCOA presents 32 feature films and 20 shorts, including nine U.S. and North American premieres, and four International Premieres.The opening night film, Pascal Cameil’s romantic comedy “Heartbreaker” (L’Arnacoeur) stars Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis. Two music related flicks, Joann Sfar’s biopic “Gainsbourg: Je t’aime…Moi Non Plus” (haunted by the suicide of star Lucy Gordon) and Radu Mihaileanu’s “The Concert” are anticipated highlights of the fest.Xavier Giannoli’s exceptional “In The Beginning” (official selection-Cannes 2009) is in competition with films…
“The City of Your Final Destination” James Ivory’s first solo film after the death of his lifelong producing partner Ismail Merchant may be slight of plot, but it is charming and wise.Its often witty dialogue parses like a John Guare play. It’s delightful ensemble atmosphere reminded me of the early films of Merchant-Ivory, Like “Shakespeare Wallah” or “Bombay Talkie” rather than the sumptuous and often rather serious films of their last few decades. A glamorous coda at the Madrid Opera recalls the opulence of later Merchant-Ivory productions.Adapted from Peter Cameron’s novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the ambiance is Ivory-Merchant gold.…
Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders’ awesome “How To Train Your Dragon”, is an animated tale of two misfits, a warm and fuzzy teen Viking (fighting’s not his thing) and an aerially challenged dragon.Welcome to a seaside Viking village in the land of Berk. Beset with marauding dragons, killing dragons is the only business of the day. Meet geeky Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (Jay Baruchel -“She’s Out Of My League”) the only non-dragon killing person in the whole village to the eternal shame of Stoick, his bellicose Viking chieftain father (Gerard Butler). When Stoick gets going he’s as fire breathing as…
The Santa Barbara Film Festival’s Silver Anniversary edition was a rousing 10 days of films, panels guests and parties. SBFF is a dream destination for Los Angeles cinephiles. The fest unrolls at five venues, all on or within walking distance of State Street. A trolley serves the route, passing every 15 minutes. No traffic, ho hassles, convenient restaurants, and the parking is easy.Santa Barbara has become a part of the Oscar Campaign route and the exuberant Fest Director Roger Durling gets a lot of credit for drawing down such celebrity firepower. Emily Blunt, Carey Mulligan, Saoirse Ronan, Gabourey Sidibe and…
Los Angeles, California. Tonight , Juan Jose Campanella’s “The Secret In Their Eyes” (El secreto de sus ojos) won the OSCAR for the Best Foreign Language Movie Award. Argentina’s entry, Juan Jose Campanella’s stylish genre-bending thriller “The Secret In Their Eyes” (El secreto de sus ojos) is a non-stop, witty, entertainment. Campanella (who shot episodes of Argentina’s “Law and Order”) adapted Eduardo Sacheri’s novel “La pregunta de sus ojos”, working with Sacheri. Director-editor Campanella blends romance, psychological back-stories, crime procedurals and comedy in a fluid complex suspensor.Retired criminal-court employee Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) is writing a novel based on an…
“Letters To Father Jacob”: Finnish Oscar entry Klaus Haro’s radiant “Letters To Father Jacob” an elegantly simple three person drama, is a jewel of a film. I had an opportunity to interview Haro at The Scandinavian Film Festival LA.Director-writer Klaus Haro (“Mother of Mine”, “Elina: As if I Didn’t Exist” -both Crystal Bear recipients, Berlin; “The New Man.”) was awarded the Ingmar Bergman Award in 2004, an award chosen by Bergman himself. Haro extensively rewrote the screenplay by first time scripter/ social worker Jaana Makkonen. Makkonen’s scriptwriting teacher encouraged her to send her diploma film to Haro, who only read…
A new crop Of Brazilian music documentaries rocked the LABRFF 2010. Brazil’s new generation of filmmakers is coming on strong. This group of memorable documentaries fills in the story of Brazil’s popular music for International audiences.Directors Raphael Alvarez and Tatiana Issa’s “DZI Croquettes” is an arresting portrait of a performance group that ‘acted up’ in the face of the brutal Military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for decades. This outrageous gender bending, love-generation troupe of transvestites created an international cult following and, more importantly, spoke to individual freedom at a time when civil liberties were suspended in their country.Interviews with a…
Academy awards has announced the five nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film Award.: “Ajami” Israel, “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina, “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru, “Un Prophète” France and “The White Ribbon” Germany will compete for this award.Argentina’s entry, Juan Jose Campanella’s stylish genre-bending thriller “The Secret In Their Eyes” (El secreto de sus ojos) is a non-stop, witty, entertainment. Campanella (who shot episodes of Argentina’s “Law and Order”) adapted Eduardo Sacheri’s novel “La pregunta de sus ojos”, working with Sacheri. Director-editor Campanella blends romance, psychological back-stories, crime procedurals and comedy in a fluid complex suspensor.Retired criminal-court employee…
Some of my favorites foreign films submitted didn’t make the shortlist; here are reviews of eight of the nine short listed nominees. “Kelin”, the entry from Kazakhstan was not available for review by press date.In alphabetical order:Argentina’s entry, Juan Jose Campanella’s stylish genre-bending thriller “The Secret In Their Eyes” (El secreto de sus ojos) is a non-stop, witty, entertainment. Campanella (who shot episodes of Argentina’s “Law and Order”) adapted Eduardo Sacheri’s novel “La pregunta de sus ojos”, working with Sacheri. Director-editor Campanella blends romance, psychological back-stories, crime procedurals and comedy in a fluid complex suspensor.Retired criminal-court employee Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo…