Wednesday, April 16, 2014
The 1973 film Cousin Jules was considered French documentarian Dominique Benicheti's masterpiece, yet for decades it was impossible to see. Made over five years, the film does exactly what it says on the tin: depicts the everyday life of Benicheti's cousin, Jules, an elderly, rural blacksmith.
Despite the accolades for Cousin Jules upon its release, the film failed to find a distributor, in part because it was — and is still — difficult to categorize. More "poetic" than most cinéma vérité films, and verging somewhat into the territory of experimental cinema, Cousin Jules, for all its critical favor, wound up nearly forgotten. (Benicheti's insistence that it be screened only in CinemaScope with stereo sound — an unfamiliar exhibition format for most documentaries — surely complicated matters.)
Benicheti died in 2011 while in the process of restoring the film; the task was taken up by other archivists, and Cousin Jules made its debut at the 2012 New York Film Festival.
This week, it will have its Vermont premiere at Main Street Landing in Burlington; the event is sponsored by the Burlington Film Society and Vermont International Film Foundation Local cinephiles now have a rare chance to see this unusual and acclaimed film in a restored print, in its original aspect ratio and with stereo sound, as the late director intended.
Tags: film , movie , cousin jules , documentary , dominique benicheti , Image , Video , Web Only
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Loser's Crown [OFFICIAL TRAILER] from Colin Thompson on Vimeo.
Many young Vermonters leave their home state hoping to make their fortunes in LA or New York. What happens when they don't quite "make it" — and come back to face all the friends they left behind?
That's the premise of Loser's Crown, an indie film shot last January in the Burlington area by Colin Thompson. Thompson, a native Vermonter who lives in Los Angeles — yup, it's semi-autobiographical — is returning home once again to screen the movie at Merrill's Roxy Cinemas on Tuesday, April 22, at 7 p.m. ($10 tickets available here).
Thompson writes in an email that the movie
tells the story of the 30-year-old crisis; that time when a creative dream hasn't proved very lucrative and it seems like all your friends (be it back home or in front of you) have mortgages and 401k's and you ate only bananas and eggs for two weeks in December. ... We follow the main character, who is a Music Journalist in Los Angeles, back home to Vermont for Christmas. And he acts like a dick to his Old Man and friends from his past because he is grasping at existential straws, trying to figure out if there is an expiration date on his creative dream."Sometimes you just gotta come back this time of year to remember why you don't live here," the main character says of Vermont in the trailer. Burn!
Tags: loser's crown , colin thompson , Video , Web Only
Within the pages of Jeff Danziger’s recent book The Conscience of a Cartoonist, you’ll find some of the most trenchant political cartoons of the last decade and a half. But if you happened to be in need of a barbell or a cudgel, the book could fill those needs, too, in a pinch. This is a mighty tome.
“The reason it’s the size it is is that I wanted to do a complete job of talking about how the times have changed,” Danziger, 71, says by phone from his home in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen. “The times” that he’s referring to are the years since September 11, 2001, a time period that provides the book’s narrative backbone. When future historians want to write about the tumultuous political changes of this era, they’d do well to study Danziger’s book. His cartoons are particularly keen, and often vitriolic, in responding to current events.
Tags: jeff danziger , center for cartoon studies , cartoons , editorial cartoons , tom tomorrow , politics , Image , Video , Web Only
Bipolar weather got ya down? Yeah, me, too. When I left the house this morning, I wasn't sure if I should wear a T-shirt since it was 60 degrees, a raincoat for the impending afternoon monsoon, or a parka for the snow we'll get this evening. In a related story, I hate April in Vermont.
Fortunately, the fine folks from the Lake Champlain Maritime Festival, with an assist from Higher Ground Presents, were kind enough to brighten my inbox this morning with little ray of musical sunshine: a press release announcing the headlining acts for this year's fest.
As usual, the LCMF will draw some marquee talent to Burlington's Waterfront Park. This year, the lineup includes jam stalwarts Umphrey's McGee on Thursday, August 7, Americana favorites the Avett Brothers on Saturday, August 9, and blues icon Buddy Guy on Sunday, August 10. Tickets for all shows go on sale this Friday, April 18.
Some other tidbits from the release include the announcement of the 29th Antique and Classic Boat Show and Parade and something called Stand Up for the Lake, the latter of which we can only assume involves local comics telling jokes on paddleboards. Or something.
Anyhoo, here's a recent video from the Avett Brothers, for their tune, "Morning Song."
Tags: music festivals , Lake Champlain Maritime Festival , the Avett Brothers , Buddy Guy , Umphrey's McGee , Burlington , Image , Video , Web Only
Friday, April 11, 2014
This week in movies you missed: Want to know how to make an acclaimed indie flick on the cheap? Ask Laura Colella, faculty chair of the Vermont College of Fine Arts' MFA program in film.
Colella shot Breakfast With Curtis, her third feature, literally in her backyard. The cast members were her friends and neighbors — fellow residents of a three-story house in Providence, R.I., informally known as the Purple Citadel. Having missed a couple of sold-out screenings of Breakfast in Montpelier, I recently caught Colella's flick on Netflix Instant (it's also on Amazon Instant).
But first, a timely word about VCFA: If you love film, you don't have to be a student in the college's low-residency MFA program to reap its benefits. Twice a year, VCFA brings working filmmakers — including big names — to screen and discuss their work at the Savoy Theater in Montpelier.
These events are free and open to the public, but tickets go fast — or they certainly did when John Turturro visited last year. This year, you can catch a Skype session with Andrew Bujalski (Computer Chess) and meet Debra Granik, director of Winter's Bone, who gave teenage Jennifer Lawrence the showcase that made her a star. More info here.
Now, back to Colella's film.
What You Missed
Syd (Theo Green), a micro-publisher and all-around self-important, underemployed artsy fellow, has a fondness for red wine and a genius for alienating his neighbors. It starts when Syd threatens to murder 9-year-old Curtis (Gideon Parker) for allegedly tossing a stone at his cat, Dijon.
Tags: laura colella , vermont college of fine arts , vcfa , breakfast with curtis , Movies you missed , Image , Video , Web Only
Can you envision the ideal human society? Are you living it right now on your off-the-grid homestead? Are you so intense about your utopian beliefs that you sometimes find yourself shouting at people who disagree? Do you have skills so useful that you might be able to convince a bunch of opinionated fellow idealists to keep you around? Are you OK with cameras watching you 24/7 and broadcasting your every move to millions of TV viewers?
If you answered yes to these questions, a representative from FOX's forthcoming reality show "Utopia" may just want to meet you. Casting producer Jacqueline Topacio says she'll visit Vermont this coming week to meet with prospective participants. There's no open call: To be considered, you must submit a video at utopiatvcasting.com. (Only U.S. citizens or permanent residents over age 21 are eligible, and you should be able to commit a complete year to the show.)
"Utopia" is the latest from über-reality producer John de Mol, creator of "Big Brother" and "The Voice." He first tried out the idea in his native Netherlands, where the premiere of "Utopia" pulled such big ratings that U.S. networks showed immediate interest in a version of their own. According to Deadline Hollywood, "social experiments" like this one could be the "next hot reality format."
And Vermonters know all about social experiments, don't we? Maybe we could even show those Dutch folks a thing or two.
Tags: reality tv , utopia , FOX , casting , Video , Web Only
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Sterling College, the small school in Craftsbury Common whose curriculum focuses on ecological issues, has announced a summer writing workshop called "Writing in Place: Nature, Food and Culture." The workshop, for which applications will be accepted until April 25, will run from June 9 to 20.
Students in the workshop will write with an eye to how they and the food they eat are connected to their environment. Faculty members include novelist and environmental writer Ginger Strand, science and food writer Rowan Jacobsen and writer and illustrator Clare Walker Leslie. All of them have written works with environmental themes.
Also on the faculty is writer John Elder, a Bristol resident who has written a number of environmentally focused literary memoirs, including Reading the Mountains of Home, The Frog Run and Pilgrimage to Vallombrosa. Elder, who retired from his position as professor of English and environmental studies at Middlebury College in 2010, has taught many workshops at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, among other institutions.
Tags: sterling college , writing in place , john elder , bread loaf writers' conference , nature writing , Image , Web Only
On Sunday, April 20, local rockers Gang of Thieves will release their new album, Thunderfunk, with a show at ArtsRiot in Burlington. Why April 20? Well, because it's Easter Sunday, of course. And as we all know, no band is down with Jesus and/or the Easter Bunny like GoT. Hallelujah. Praise Cadbury.
What's that? You think maybe there's some other reason the show is on 4/20? Y'know, four-twenty. (Wink, wink.) Hmm. That hadn't occurred to us, actually. But that couldn't possibly be the case. After all, this ain't no weed-fueled outlet.
While we relax with some totally legal medicinal herb — for the cataracts, doncha know — and attempt to unravel that mystery, here's a video for the first single from the band's new record, a spunky little ditty called "Sexy Star Circus." The song is a pretty rollicking party anthem and the video follows suit, featuring plenty of party people, choreographed dancing girls, hula hoops and a cameo by some of the the dudes from Rough Francis — including, in the interest of full disclosure, Seven Days' own Bobby Hackney Jr. Dig it.
Tags: Gang of Thieves , ArtsRiot , Thunderfunk , Rough Francis , 4/20 , Video , Image , Web Only
Hey, our friend and former Vermont cartoonist laureate James Kochalka has a brand-new video game, designed in inimitable JK style. He's launching the game at a party — and rock show! — tonight at the BCA Center. That is all.
Tags: video game , james kochalka superstar , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
One of the unexpected effects of the digital era is the blurred distinction between animation and live action. The technology required to produce digital animation is increasingly affordable and commonplace, and knowledge of its effects and how to create them are now in any filmmaker’s toolkit. As a consequence, more movies and television shows are augmented by digital animation of some kind.
This is true even of seemingly “all-natural” recent films such as The Help and Moneyball (both 2011): Those films' credits list, respectively, 22 and 68 digital-effects artists and technicians. While we might not consider, say, digital color-correction artists to be animators per se, the distinction between such technicians and “proper” animators is fairly arbitrary. Both use digital tools to create moving images.
But it was not always thus. Animation, still a highly labor-intensive practice, has come down tremendously in cost since the advent of digital tools. While the initial outlay for computers and software (and software development) can be large, a company can amortize those costs over several animated productions. Also, much of the animation occurs within the computers: preprogrammed algorithms, in which variables are simply altered, are now responsible for the bread and butter of many animated movies and shows.
To get a sense of how this works, check out the fascinating video below, which is a clip from a recent SIGGRAPH presentation by the animators of Disney’s film Frozen.
Tags: roger ramjet , animation , television , flintstones , bobby bumps , bullwinkle , Video , Web Only