Philipp Kadelbach’s “Generation War” (the German title “Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter” translates to “Our Mothers, Our Fathers”) first aired on ZDF in Germany and Austria in March 2013 garnering a high 20.5 percent market share among viewers aged 14-59 years.The well-researched three part miniseries, produced by the UFA subsidiary TeamWorx enraging many critics in Germany and Poland. Some critics suggested the series soft peddled the Nazi persecution of Jews and the German role in the Holocaust, while suggesting the young soldiers were coerced and victimized by the Nazi Regime. Noted historians both praised and criticized the series. The major criticism…
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 first Oscars of the season have already been handed out at The Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards during the annual untelevised ceremony held Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Kristen Bell and Michael B. Jordan hosted the Sci-Tech Awards honoring an unusually large number of honorees — 52 individuals representing 19 technical achievements, plus career honorees at the formal dinner held two weeks before the Oscar telecast. For the first time in the history of the Scientific and Technical Awards, a large number of individuals collectively received The Academy Award of Merit (Oscar statuette) awarded to all…
February 6-17, 2014 -Rave Cinemas Baldwin Hills 15 at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. Coming off a phenomenal year of black films, the Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is raising the bar, offering moviegoers a 12-day marathon of films from around the Diaspora. PAFF will celebrate its 22nd anniversary in grand style with a string of highly anticipated films, which includes a controversial film, initially banned in South Africa; a comedy, starring comic Kevin Hart, of course; and the return of Oscar-winner Mo’Nique to the big screen!Opening Night Gala features a red carpet screening, a Q&A with the cast &…
This year, PAFF has selected a total of 172 films, representing 46 countries,including Argentina, Brazil, Bahamas, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, and of course, the United States.Highly Recommended US Features & Galas:Steve Pink’s “About Last Night” Leslye Headland’s witty script and a strong cast make for a sophisticated romantic comedy. Centerpiece Gala Tues, Feb 11 ArcLight Cinerama Dome, 6360 Sunset Blvd 7:30pm)R. Malcolm Jones’s “The Magic City”. Narrated by young Tiana, the film details the journey of two sisters, abandoned by their drug-addicted mother then swallowed up by the Florida foster care system.…
The 22nd annual PAFF will be held on February 6-17, 2014 at the new Rave Cinemas Baldwin Hills 15 at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in Los Angeles.The Pan African Film Festival will honor prolific, award-winning actor/director Charles Dutton with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival’s annual Night of Tribute awards ceremony. For the second year, the Night of Tribute will be part of the pre-show festivities for the awards ceremony of the African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) on Friday, January 31, 2014, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Taglyan Complex, located at 1201 Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif.Dutton…
Writer-director Benedikt Erlingsson’s startling “Of Horses and Men”, Iceland’s official Oscar submission, celebrates an inventive cinema debut.The film, a highlight of the first weekend of the Scandinavian Film Festival LA, plays on Saturday, January 18 at 4:50 pm.Erlungsson’s wry dramedy, set in an isolated smallholder community in rural Iceland, is the most original first film by an actor (“The Boss Of It All’) turned director since George Clooney’s bold “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.”Erlingsson’s harsh comedy is a rich mix of lusty wit, bone-dry humor, and rural dispatch. Passionate but without a scrap of sentimentality, it’s a horse story like…
Landmark Theatres’ Anniversary Classics Series returns to The Landmark on Wednesday, January 15 at 7:00pm with THE THREE MUSKETEERS, celebrating the film’s 40th Anniversary, with in person guest actor Richard Chamberlain.CRITIC”S NOTE: Lester’s “The Three Musketeers” is a comedy classic of the 70’s. Lester’s kinetic, sometimes stop-motion antics, already established in the film he made with The Goons. “The Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film” perfectly expressed the life-changing 60’s youthquake, or what came to be known as the British Invasion.Homaging sight gags from Hollywood’s Golden Age of Silent Comedy, Lester’s energetic style helped launch the Beatles craze worldwide. (The…
Kang Yi-Kwan’s muted “Juvenile Offender”, South Korea’s official Oscar submission features an award winning, career making performance by young actor Young-Ju Seo. The film, which won the Special Jury prize at the 2013 Tokyo International Film Festival aims to entertain against a backdrop of timely social issues. Yi-Kwan and co-writer Joo Young Park’s script transcends the teen-at-risk genre, creating two memorable characters. With a neo-realist flavor, they personalize the statistics behind the issue of teenage mothers.16-year-old Ji-Gu is the sole caregiver for his grandfather. His young mother Hyo-Seung (actress-pop star Lee Jung-Hyun, herself an at-risk teen mother of 17 when…
Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz, the performance space at Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles, is pleased to present Résolument Animés, a trip into the world of French animation on Thursday, January 16, 2014. Résolument Animés will start at 7:30pm Résolument Animés (Resolutely Animated) showcases a collection of animated shorts that highlight the unbridled creativity of France’s new generation of animation directors. The program is intended for an adult audience, though appropriate for ages 15 and up. Cheese and wine will be served during the intermission between the two parts of the program (roughly 45 minutes each). Films included in Résolument Animés…
The Skirball Cultural Center presents Transatlántico, a film series exploring Latin Jewish life. The series features three films that focus on life in Argentina, including “My German Friend “(El Amigo Alemán, 2013), a wartime love story; “The German Doctor” (Wakolda, 2014), a dark mystery set in Patagonia in the 1960s; and the short film “Raquel: A Marked Woman” (2013), about a woman who fights back against the trappings of prostitution. A talk and Q&A with director Gabriela Böhm follows the screening of Raquel: A Marked Woman. Transatlántico is presented as part of the Skirball’s ongoing Viva! initiative, exploring the connections…