For the silent film treasure hunter...

Imogen Sara Smith highlights Mostly Lost on Criterion. Definitely worth a read. On eventbrite, the description of the Mostly Lost workshop is: 

The Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center, Packard Campus presents “Mostly Lost 6: A Film Identification Workshop” on June 15-17, 2017 in Culpeper, Virginia. “Mostly Lost” will feature the screenings of unidentified, under-identified or misidentified silent and early sound films.Early film experts and archivists are encouraged to attend, but the workshop is also open to anyone willing to actively help identify and research the films showcased at the workshop. In addition to films from the Library of Congress’s collections, “Mostly Lost” features material from other film archives around the world. Throughout the event there will also be presentations about The Destruction of Some American Silent Features, The Lost Origins of Silent Horror Icons, William Fox and the Fox Film Corporation, as well as others. Live musical accompaniment during the workshop and evening presentations of silent films will also be featured.

This festival sounds like an amazing opportunity for those with an eye for film treasure, and a riot even for the amateur.


Tickets are available on eventbrite.

The Toronto Film Festival had "its blackest edition ever"

As we saw at this weekend's Emmy Awards, we're finally seeing what happens when diversity in film goes from being a challenge to an asset. Diversity expands the possibilities of storytelling and filmmaking, and NPR saw that in effect at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.

Normally, the author Bilal Qureshi points out, film festival narratives tend to be dominated by one black film that has to stand in for the entire black experience, as Nate Parker's Birth of a Nation seemed poised to this year. But this year, TIFF had what Qureshi calls "its blackest edition ever" that "[pushed] back against the idea that Hollywood can only absorb one black story at a time." In fact, the filmmakers and organizers have shied away from labeling films "diverse" because, with the lineup they've assembled, there's no reason to pigeonhole non-white filmmakers.

We hope this becomes the new normal for film festivals. Hopefully we can expand the conversation about diversity in film past just its absence to what it looks like in practice.

What does independent film look like today?

via Maryland Film Festival

The slow roll into summer is the time of year when we start to look at our big-picture tasks, so it seems appropriate to share a big-picture article about the state of film.

For The New Yorker, Richard Brody wrote a lengthy piece about the state of "independent film" and what the term means in 2016. Independent film has always distinguished itself from Hollywood by its open experimentation, as well as by what Brody calls the "perpetual crisis" of needing to find a direction to transform film. In his summary of the Maryland Film Festival, Brody sees the current crisis as a resistance to the entire form of the feature film. Digital distribution and cheap production with phones have outmoded the long-standing system of pitching films at festivals for theatrical release. Can "indie filmmaking" grow past its old habits?

Brody's article profiles a few interesting entries from the Maryland Film Festival, but more importantly, it shows what independent film now looks like from the ground. Filmmakers, producers, and others continue to meet behind closed doors to talk frankly about their industry. There's community, but increasingly, it's one that wants to shake out of its usual structure.

Hear Betty Boop and Max Fleischer favorites performed live

Discussion about the early history of animation tends to focus on Walt Disney and Looney Tunes, ignoring good old Max Fleischer. Fleischer was the man behind Betty Boop, Popeye, and other Depression-era classics. We could talk about those for a week, especially the censorship of Betty Boop, but one of the most critical parts of Fleischer's cartoons was the music he used. Compared to Steamboat Willie's stereotypically peppy score, Betty Boop was jazzier, riskier, and a little more culturally savvy.

In celebration of Max Fleischer's career, the currently ongoing Washington Jewish Film Festival will host a screening this weekend of some of Fleischer's cartoons with the music performed live, as improbable as this sounds, by a Max Fleischer cover band. Hear Betty Boop sing! Marvel at how Fleischer's animation reflects the Jazz Age rather than glossing it over!

The video embedded above should give you an idea of what to expect. This is really novel performance idea and a great way to celebrate Fleischer's body of work.

The screening-concert will be at 8:30pm on Saturday, March 5th, at the AFI Silver in Silver Spring.

Games on Film invades National Harbor's MAGFest this weekend

In DC, film festivals turn up in the oddest places. This city hosts so many non-profits and interest organizations that you can usually find special screenings for any topic or culture, as we've covered in the past. For 2016, you can add gaming to that list: as part of the annual Music and Games Festival in National Harbor, Maryland, MAGFest is hosting Games on Film, a selection of 15 films and 40 shorts about games and gaming culture.

Over the four-day event, which starts tomorrow, Games on Film will screen a mix of feature films and documentaries about gaming. We'll admit that the feature film selection seems less interesting (most are fan adaptations of popular games), but the documentaries caught our attention. Of particular interest are Thank You for Playing, about the production of a game based on a true story of childhood cancer, and The Power of Glove, a tongue-in-cheek look at the infamously poor Nintendo glove controller.

There's also quite a few about the culture around gaming and game conventions, especially costuming Keep an eye out for Shades of Cosplay: A Black Cosplayer Documentary.

MAGFest isn't an inexpensive event – $75 for the weekend or $45 per day – so we're not sure we can recommend going entirely for the film lineup. But if you're interested in gaming anyway (board games too!), you should stop in at this up-and-coming festival.

Arabian Sights Film Festival brings its twentieth year to Friendship Heights

From From A to B

We're close to the start of the unending stream of Halloween-related activities, but the rest of the world doesn't stop in October. There are plenty of film happenings around DC this month, so let's talk about one of the cooler ones, the twentieth anniversary of the Arabian Sights Film Festival.

Sponsored by Filmfest DC and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, Arabian Sights is one of DC's best annual showcases of Arab cinema, and it takes place in our backyard at the AMC Mazza Gallerie in Friendship Heights. From October 16th to October 25th, you can catch ten new films, as well as a discussion panel titled The New Arab Cinema. On the 24th, you are also invited to a free happy hour event celebrating twenty years of the festival.

Each screening costs $13, which is a pretty good price. You can buy tickets in advance from the Filmfest DC website, or you can buy them at the door. Either way, this should all be very tempting for fans of world cinema. If you need to get a little culture in before everything turns to skeletons in a few weeks, Arabian Sights is only a quick walk from AU campus.

DC Shorts is happening... right now!

One of DC's biggest film events has been happening under our noses! DC Shorts, an annual showcase of short films, has been going on since last Thursday, but there's still a few more days worth of films to catch.

Over the course of a week and a half, DC Shorts screens over 100 shorts from local and international, including documentaries, music videos, and animation. The size and quality of the festival is a testament to the strength of the local film scene, and the concurrent screenplay competition shows that you don't need to know lens focal length to be involved.

Counting today, there are still three days of new films to watch, followed by a Best of Show revue over the weekend. See DC Shorts's schedule for a listing of what will screen where. All the new screenings are at E Street Cinema, so depending on when you show up, you could have your choice of local shorts, LGBT films, comedy, or a general competition showcase. You can still watch these shorts if you can't make it out, too. For $30, you can watch nearly all the festival's shorts online. That's a great alternative if you want to see quality short films without having to schlep to E Street.

We hope you'll attend! There's a few big festivals every year in DC, and this is a favorite.

Buenos Aires film festival puts decades of Latin American films online for free

Our comfortable routine of watching major blockbusters and idly browsing Netflix often blinds us to titles we wouldn't otherwise seek out, and too often, that includes world cinema. Our usual outlets sometimes either downplay or outright omit films from other countries and in other languages. If you want to watch something from elsewhere on the globe, where can you start?

If you're interested in Latin American films, look no further than Cinemargentino, a streaming website that recently got a big kick from the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema. BAFICI released hundreds of films from the festival's 16-year library to Cinemargentino, which can now be streamed from free via your browser. The library includes shorts and feature-length videos totaling over 15 hours, guaranteeing you, at the very least, one extremely aggressive day of world cinema.

The deal between BAFICI and Cinemargentino seems to be temporary, so you'll want to cram those 15 hours in while you can. The site does have plenty of other exciting Latin American film, so even if you miss this window, you still might've found your favorite new streaming site.

(Thanks to Professor Jeffrey Middents for tipping us off!)

Television's reign of visual media continues, bleeds into film festivals

Even in a post-Breaking Bad and nearly-post-Mad Men landscape, television continues to assert its cultural dominance. More directors and actors turn to television for a chance to tell experimental or long-form stories, and the film world has unsurprisingly taken notice. In the latest sign of this explosive growth and relevance, the Toronto International Film Festival is changing tune and including television shows in its regular lineup for the first time.

TIFF is billing this new selection as Primetime, a roster of six shows from around the world that highlight the increasing quality of international television programming. TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey is direct in his praise of television, noticing that "film and television have been converging for years, with many filmmakers gravitating to television to experiment with that medium." It's a bold statement – both the words and the gesture – that suggests the staying power of television's seeming golden age.

Submissions for TIFF are still open, so we can't tell you what they'll be highlighting just yet.

Television has come a long way in public and critical esteem since HBO premiered The Sopranos (many critics consider this the medium's turning point.) We wouldn't be surprised to see other festivals add television episodes to their lineups in the coming years.

Cultural fragmentation begets bizarre niche film festivals

If you pay attention to film news, you may have noticed a brouhaha this weekend over the Telluride Film Festival, one of the first stops on the road to Oscar contention and a recurring favorite for independent filmmakers. But back in May, you might have missed out on Blobfest, a festival that only screens movies similar to The Blob.

As told in a recent profile from The New York Times, Blobfest is one of the many niche film festivals springing up around the world. The Times has assembled an impressive list of these weird and unusual events, ranging from the Feline Film Festival (which has come a long way since its first year) to mockumentary haven Mockfest. This is probably a result of the Long Tail-ization of interests and the ability for small audiences to thrive in the digital age, but it still gives critics like Peter Bogdanovich "a headache just trying to think of possibilities."

We saw some of this locally too; among all the various outdoor film festivals this summer, many had very specific themes, such as "flight" or "work." Plus, the annual festival held by the cinema-focused University College group always rallies around a specific, unusual topic. Frankly, it's fun to run with these somewhat silly and specific premises, especially when they can have positive effects (as the Times mentions for the Anxiety Arts Festival). Maybe we too will have a chapter of the Feline Film Festival one day.

SXSW continues to promote original voices in film

South by Southwest , a cultural festival held every March in Austin, may have grabbed headlines this year for its keynote speech from whistleblower Edward Snowden. But SXSW is much more than a soapbox. Each year, the SXSW Film Festival hosts upcoming independent talent, debuting feature films and documentaries from newcomers in the industry. Not all of the highlighted filmmakers go on to big careers and future successes, but the talent is always worth checking out.

It's far too early to say whether any this year's films are the next big thing, but SXSW has a good track record. Many successful movies, including the first work by Girls creator Lena Dunham, debuted at SXSW. Many of the selections, like Best Worst Movie and Winnebago Man, err on the edgy, unusual side that SXSW specializes in. But if that means that this festival has become a haven for new, alternative voices in film, all the better.

The AU Library's film collection includes a number of notable world debuts from SXSW, from war crimes documentary War Don Don to nerd anathema outlet The People vs. George Lucas. Come check them out before SXSW ends this Sunday!

Brooklyn Castle – HU DVD 2826
Beware of Mr. Baker – HU DVD 4400
Kumaré – HU DVD 6716
Garbage Dreams – DVD 7149
I Love You, Man – HU DVD 7778*
 Best Worst Movie – HU DVD 7880
Marwencol – DVD 8347
Barbershop Punk – HU DVD 9245
Tiny Furniture – HU DVD 9713
War Don Don – DVD 10095
The People vs. George Lucas – HU DVD 10241
The Cabin in the Woods – HU DVD 10724
Where Soldiers Come From – DVD 10604
Winnebago Man – HU DVD 11171
Short Term 12 – HU DVD 11178
Wikileaks: Secrets and Lies – Streaming video

SXSW 2013 continues a tradition of fine film

It's spring break here at American University, but that doesn't mean that the rest of the world is on pause. Austin is currently hosting South by Southwest (SXSW), an annual film/music/silly cat festival that attracts big names in media. SXSW festival entrants have launched careers, won top Oscars, and made people look at the world differently. Or at they very least, they've been entertaining.

In the spirit of SXSW's credo of being a "destination of discovery," here is a list of films shown or premiered at SXSW. It's an eclectic mix of niche documentaries and big feature films that's worth exploring.

This Film is Not Yet Rated – DVD 2414
Undefeated – HU DVD 3068
The Horse Boy – HU DVD 3783
Knocked Up – HU DVD 4166
By Hook or By Crook – HU DVD 4353
The Price of Sugar – DVD 6261
The Hurt Locker – HU DVD 6762
Garbage Dreams – DVD 7149
Winnebago Man – HU DVD 7958
Kick-Ass – HU DVD 8005
Blue Valentine – DVD 8296
Marwencol – DVD 8347
Bridesmaids – HU DVD 9104
Tiny Furniture – HU DVD 9713
War Don Don – DVD 10095
Drag Me to Hell – HU DVD 10122
A Mighty Wind – HU DVD 10218
Weekend – DVD 10364
Where Soldiers Come From – DVD 10604
The Cabin in the Woods – HU DVD 10724
Killer Joe – HU DVD 10876
Before the Music Dies – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 158

Relive last year's Sundance with 2012 notables

The Sundance Film Festival is underway! It'll be some time before we know what films will come out with good deals or publicity, but suffice to say, the spotlight has never been brighter on Park City. 2012 festival favorite Beasts of the Southern Wild recently received multiple Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Director, leaving many to wonder if they'll find the next big thing at Sundance this year.

Last year certainly turned out a few notable movies, many of which are in our collection. Several have been nominated for major awards as well.

The Ambassador – HU DVD 10722
Arbitrage – HU DVD 10864
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry – HU DVD 10873
Beasts of the Southern Wild – HU DVD 10813
The Invisible War – HU DVD 10567
Putin's Kiss – HU DVD 10885
The Queen of Versailles – HU DVD 4553
Safety Not Guaranteed – HU DVD 10874
Compliance – HU DVD 10905
Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap – MUSIC LIBRARY DVD 349

DC Shorts Film Festival opens tomorrow

For the second time in a week, two significant film festivals are kicking off. Perhaps the most significant is the Toronto International Film Festival, which opens tomorrow and will premiere a number of film on the radar for the upcoming award season.

More interestingly for the audience of this blog, the DC Shorts Film Festival also opens tomorrow! DC Shorts is entering ninth year and will premiere over 100 films from across the globe. Tickets to screenings are relatively inexpensive, hovering around $12 per screening, or $125 for a festival pass. If you're in the DC area and a fan of world cinema, take advantage of such a large festival going on in the DC area.

Even if you're not, DC Shorts also offers to stream the festival selections online through your computer or smartphone for a small fee. If you're interested, there really isn't much of an excuse at this point.

Two film festivals with very different audiences

Today marks the start of the Venice Film Festival, the oldest international film festival. Though smaller than notable rivals such as Cannes and Sundance, the Venice Film Festival is getting attention this year by premiering new movies from award magnets Paul Thomas Anderson and Terrence Malick. Some might call it the start of the Oscar season; in any event, it's sure to debut some thought-provoking films.

Which brings us to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Tomorrow, the Walker debuts the world's first Internet Cat Video Film Festival, which, it should be clarified, is a real thing that is actually happening. The hour-long festival will be preceded by something identified only as the "Death Metal Drawing Club."

In a way, these festivals embody the immense scope of film. One celebrates the auteurs of a traditional art form, while the other pushes the definition of film as a social experiment. Arguably, they're two great tastes that taste well together.

Filmfest DC begins Thursday, April 12 and runs through Sunday, April 22!!

Welcome to Filmfest DC: April 12 - 22

The 26th Annual Washington, DC International Film Festival...for people who love movies! Featured this year will be:

• The Lighter Side - A series of international comedies. Politics isn't the only funny thing in Washington.
• Caribbean Journeys - New films from Jamaica, Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago, the Dominican Republic and more.
• Justice Matters - A series exploring issues of social justice.

Advance Tickets Now On Sale

Opening Night: April 12

Starbuck (Canada), directed by Ken Scott

As seen on the Filmfest DC website. For a list of theaters, showtimes, and more info, check out FilmfestDC.org

The 2012 New African Film Festival begins Thursday (and runs from March 8 - 13)

AFI Silver Hosts the 8th Annual New African Films Festival
Thursday, March 8 - Tuesday, March 13
AFI Silver Theatre
8633 Colesville Road
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Get tickets

AFI Silver is proud to host the 8th annual New African Films Festival, co-presented by AFI, TransAfrica and afrikafé. The vibrancy of African filmmaking from all corners of the continent is on display in this year's acclaimed selections.

To see the entire schedule, visit AFI's New African Film Festival site.

MAMA AFRICA
Opening night: Thu, Mar 8, 7:00
Opening night tickets $12/$10 AFI Members
Additional screening: Mon, Mar 12, 9:20

The late, great singer Miriam Makeba (1932–2008) was one of the most charismatic African performers of her time. At the height of her popularity in Africa, Makeba boldly took a public anti-apartheid stand that led to the revocation of her passport and the beginning of a lifetime in exile. Director Mika Kaurismäki uncovers stunning archival footage that offers a rare glimpse into Makeba's personal life, highlighting the admiration and gratitude that she felt for Harry Belafonte, who managed her career in the United States. This documentary reveals private moments which illuminate this legendary artist's political activism. Official Selection, 2011 AFI Fest presented by Audi. – Courtesy of AFI Fest presented by Audi

DIR/SCR/PROD Mika Kaurismäki; SCR/PROD Don Edkins; PROD Rainer Kölmel. Finland/Germany/South Africa, 2011, color/b&w, 90 min. In English and French with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Mama Africa trailer

Mama Africa – Miriam Makeba from trigon-film on Vimeo.

To see the entire schedule, visit AFI's New African Film Festival site.

Excerpted from the AFI Silver site.

The 7th Annual Spring 2012 Film Series - Wechsler Theater, 3rd Floor, Mary Graydon Center

AU’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking and Filmmakers for Conservation Present:
The 7th Annual Spring 2012 Film Series - February 7 - April 3, 2012
Hosted by Chris Palmer and Justine Schmidt

Wechsler Theater, 3^rd Floor, Mary Graydon Center
American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016-8017
Directions: http://www.american.edu/maps/
Metro: Tenleytown/AU, shuttle bus service to AU

Free and Open to the Public
No Reservation Required

For more information, please contact:
Chris Palmer 202-885-3408 or palmer@american.edu

Or visit environmentalfilm.org or filmmakersforconservation.org

Tuesday, February 7 at 7 pm

Shark Week with Executive Producer Brooke Runnette

Brooke Runnette, the key person behind Discovery Channel’s famed Shark Week annual event, will show clips while explaining why Shark Week is so successful, what is does for shark conservation, and the challenges she faces in producing the programs.

Tuesday, February 14 at 7 pm

Defending Eden: Indigenous People, Conservation and Film

How storytelling over multiple media platforms might enable Ecuador's Waorani people to defend their biologically rich territory from the incursion of industry. Filmmakers Keith Heyward and Jennifer Berglund of Prehensile Productions will discuss their film and their experience as new environmental filmmakers trying to hang on to their values in a competitive industry.

To see the the rest of the schedule go to: environmentalfilm.org