News

The Park: "XYZ Films is proud to announce that they will be releasing Shal Ngo's dystopian thriller The Park on North American VOD March 2nd. A tale of apocalyptic adventure and survival set within a long-abandoned amusement park, the thriller, which occurs in a world without adults, stars an amazing ensemble of young talent.

Filmmaker Shal Ngo's feature debut is a thrilling, dark journey through a dystopian world where children rule - and life is fleeting.

When a mysterious virus starts killing all adults, society is left to be governed by children living on borrowed time. After the adult population is wiped out, rival kids battle for control of an abandoned theme park. Danger lurks around every corner, and they must do whatever it takes to survive their hellish Neverland.

James Emanuel Shapiro, XYZ Films' Executive Vice President of U.S. Distribution, notes, "The Park is one of the...

The film world is remembering Noah Cowan, the beloved former TIFF leader, festival programmer, visual arts consultant, and Sffilm executive director, who died on January 25 at age 55.

Those filmmakers whose careers he touched and helped shape as former artistic director of TIFF Bell Lightbox, among many other posts, include Guy Maddin. The “My Winnipeg” director has shared words with IndieWire about his fellow Canadian film advocate, who in recent years consulted for organizations like IFC, the Telluride Film Festival, and the Centre for the Moving Image in Edinburgh.

Cowan regularly championed and screened Maddin’s influential avant-garde features in Toronto and San Francisco, throughout which the two maintained a friendship and admiration for one another. Below is Guy Maddin’s message, shared with IndieWire:

“Noah Cowan was one of the great ambushing charmers of the film business. He was a festival director who walked among us at sidewalk level, all...

Nobody director Ilya Naishuller joins Josh and Joe to talk about his favorite movies.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Nobody (2021)

Hardcore Henry (2016)

Billy Jack (1971)

My Winnipeg (2007)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

Top Gun (1986)

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Seven (1995)

Bill Hicks: Revelations (1993)

The Mission (1986)

The Killing Fields (1984)

Captivity (2007)

The Killing (1956)

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004)

Once Upon A Time In America (1984)

You And I (2008)

Infested (2002)

No Country For Old Men (2007)

The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Goodfellas (1990)

Goldfinger (1964)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

Papillon (1973)

Papillon (2017)

Midnight Run (1988)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Oldboy (2003)

Parasite (2019)

Assassins (1995)

Ladder 49 (2004)

Waterworld (1995)

Heathers (1989)

Mad Max (1979)

A History Of Violence (2005)

The ’Burbs (1989)

Punishment Park (1971)

The War Game (1966)

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

Uncut Gems (2019)

Culloden (1964)

Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Fail Safe (1964)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Let The Right One In (2008)

Patton (1970)

Hardcore (1979)

Mr. Nobody (2009)

District 9 (2009)

Paths of Glory (1957)

A Clockwork Orange...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

17 Films by Anand Patwardhan

One of the greatest chroniclers of Indian history over the past half-century, Anand Patwardhan has caused controversy in his native country for his searing, in-depth political documentaries . Now, his complete filmography is available to view, from his first film Waves of Revolution made in 1974 through his most recent film Reason completed in 2018.

Where to Stream: Ovid.tv

Ammonite (Francis Lee)

Calling a Kate Winslet performance career-best is no easy statement, but her turn as 19th-century English paleontologist Mary Anning in Ammonite is certainly in consideration. Few writer-directors trust their actors to do so much with so little dialogue as Francis Lee. Like Josh O’Connor’s Johnny in Lee’s debut,...

Indebted to Guy Maddin, German Expressionism, and Elaine May all at once, . Whereas even the most revisionist takes on American history are shaped by a myopic sense of divine importance and the dick-measuring that tends to come with it, director Matthew Rankin’s leaky snow globe of a movie leans on Canada’s pathological fixation with being second-best; with “simping,” being friend-zoned, and elevating its reputation for polite submission into something that almost seems patriotic if you squint hard enough. “Canada is just one failed orgasm after another,” someone laments towards the end of this unclassifiable wonder, but there’s something to be said for impotence after watching an(other) American president fuck the entire world.

A student of Canadian history in addition to being an accomplished maker of short films, the Winnipeg-born Rankin comes into his debut feature with the confidence of someone who’s been working towards this bugnuts spectacle his entire life,...

It's nearly August, and Arrow Video's streaming channel has announced their newest addition to an already stellar lineup. As such, they've decided to celebrate one of their contemporary acquisitions by sharing this exclusive clip from Ryland Brickson Cole Tews' The Lake Michigan Monster. The film, which follows a ragtag team of adventurers as they attempt to find the legendary aquatic beast, is a stylistically exciting mix of lo-fi indie filmmaking reminiscent of the works of both Guy Maddin (My Winnipeg) and Larry Blamire (The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra). In the clip below, we get our first introduction to the men and women assigned to this monumental task. Synopsis:  On the shores of Lake Michigan, the eccentric Captain Seafield enlists a colourful crew of misfits in...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Metrograph

Three by Ringo Lam and the films of Ulrike Ottinger, rarely screened, come in a pair with respective series.

Weekend and Ghost in the Shell have late-night showings, while Some Like It Hot plays through the weekend.

In honor of Michel Legrand, Cléo from 5 to 7 screens this Saturday.

Anthology Film Archives

Films by Renoir...

Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel died in 1983, but his films continue to inspire many filmmakers today, including Woody Allen and David O. Russell. New York’s Metrograph theater is presenting a series of the surrealist filmmaker’s work from March 30 to April 6 entitled “Buñuel in France” that will feature five of his films. Buñuel directed 35 movies between 1929 and 1977.

Read More: Watch: Was Luis Buñuel a Fetishist? A Video Essay

Here are seven filmmakers who have listed a Buñuel film in their top 10 movies of all time.

Woody Allen

Allen’s favorite Buñuel film is 1972’s “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” the famous comedy about six middle-class people attempting to have a meal together. Allen wore his inspiration on his shirt sleeve in his 2011 fantasty-comedy “Midnight in Paris,” casting the actor Adrien De Van to play Buñuel in a scene also featuring the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí (Adrien Brody) and visual...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Assassin’s Creed (Justin Kurzel)

Over three-dozen times has Hollywood tried their hand at the videogame adaptation, and the results, to say the least, have left much to be desired. Perhaps it’s the lack of venerable source material, but translating the entertainment factor of videogames — an experience in which the user often repeatedly fails until some enjoyment is ultimately had — has most adaptations feeling like one is watching characters play in God mode,...

Looking back on this still-young century makes clear that 2007 was a major time for cinematic happenings — and, on the basis of this retrospective, one we’re not quite through with ten years on. One’s mind might quickly flash to a few big titles that will be represented, but it is the plurality of both festival and theatrical premieres that truly surprises: late works from old masters, debuts from filmmakers who’ve since become some of our most-respected artists, and mid-career turning points that didn’t necessarily announce themselves as such at the time. Join us as an assembled team, many of whom were coming of age that year, takes on their favorites.

It’s some time after midnight, and you’re riding the bus. The rehearsed movements from here to bed are already running through your head: ten or eleven more blocks, fifty steps to the building door, up two flights of stairs,...

Once the default mode, black and white has now become a bold statement of artistic intention. What that intention is, however, seems to be a little bit different for all of the recent films that have made the most of it. Often, monochrome is used as a pipeline to the past — in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” a lack of color not only speaks to how history remembers Edward R. Murrow, it also conjures the imagery of his television news broadcasts. Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” similarly uses the technique to take us back in time, but is less about recreating an era than it is about establishing a chokehold of fatalistic austerity.

“The Man Who Wasn’t There” is another period piece, but the lack of color in the Coen brothers’ film — which was shot in color and then bled dry — assumes a moral quality, making Billy Bob Thornton...

Tomorrow night, the Northwest Film Center kicks off their 39th annual Portland International Film Festival. They’ll be screening Klaus Härö’s The Fencer as the opening night film (unfortunately the screenings are sold out, but there will be an additional showing on Sunday the 14th). Over the course of the next sixteen days there will be over 90 feature films shown around town at various theaters.

This is one of my favorite festivals that I’ve had the privilege of attending, and I cannot wait to see a some of the films that they have programmed.

As usual, we here at the site will be covering a number of the films throughout the festival, but I wanted to make sure that any local Criterion Collection fans were alerted to some of the treats that we have in store. While there are many films at the festival that will align with...

Mark and Aaron take a trip north to the wonderful world of Canada. This is a special, unscheduled episode to celebrate the O’ Canada Blogathon. We talk about all things Canadian, including our Canadian Connections, film and media culture from Canada, and two particular films from The Criterion Collection — Videodrome and My Winnipeg.

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes

Buy The Films On Amazon:

Episode Links & Notes

0:00 – Introduction to Canadian Close-Up

2:10 – Canadian Connections

9:30 – O’ Canada Blogathon

15:30 – Celebrating Canadian Culture

29:20 – Videodrome

50:10 – My Winnipeg

O’ Canada HQ Aaron’s review Episode Credits Mark Hurne: Twitter | Letterboxd Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email

Next time on the podcast: Fat Girl...

Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson will share the C$100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award following the critics group’s gala dinner on January 5.

The Toronto Film Critics Association presented C$5,000 runner-up prizes from Rogers Communications to Philippe Falardeau’s My Internship In Canada and Andrew Cividino’s Sleeping Giant.

This marks Maddin’s second win of the Toronto Film Critics Association’s top Canadian prize after he won for My Winnipeg in 2008.

“At its best, Canadian cinema is notorious for stunning the world with outlandish originality,” said Tfca president Brian D Johnson. “And that’s what Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson have done with The Forbidden Room.

“Their film is a tour de force. The stellar casting, the visual wit, the narrative gymnastics — this is a cinematic cirque that leaves us amazed that it could even exist.”

“Guy Maddin won our inaugural Rogers Best Canadian Film Award with My Winnipeg,” said Phil Lind...

Diving into the hundreds of new theatrical releases, including large chunks of grueling, gluttonous marathons through world cinema’s greatest offerings from a variety of film festivals, and coming to a reasonable list of selections demonstrating what one deems to be ‘the best,’ remains an utterly self-involved, sometimes fruitless tradition. Who, after all, can rightly determine what is indeed ‘best’ in an art form where one person’s trash is another’s treasure? Personally, I prefer to compile a list of ‘favorite’ things, items which remain meaningless unless you put stock in its author’s general tastes.

Amidst the incessant jabbering of awards season exaggeration, it’s difficult not to be swayed by the most topical, most shiny and brand new theatrical releases courting awards voters (which is why I felt it necessary to see Inarritu’s new film twice). Nearly half of my selections appeared on my mid-year list of favored theatrical releases,...

Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Film Society of Lincoln Center

Perhaps the year’s most intriguing retrospective is “Lynch/Rivette,” and it begins this weekend. Pairing seven films from David Lynch with eight from Jacques Rivette, it seeks to find commonalities between two thoroughly unique film artists. Things begin with Friday’s double-billing of The Duchess of Langeais and Blue Velvet...

I entered the BFI IMAX, the largest and loudest screen in the United Kingdom, at 18:20. At a shade after 18:40, Guy Maddin’s The Forbidden Room began. About two hours later I stumbled, disorientated, mumbling and drooling, onto the sandy banks of the Thames.

I can’t say I wasn’t warned; Guy Maddin himself had introduced the film, off-handedly joking that what we were about to see a) has the potential to induce aneurysms, b) that he’d be surprised if there was anyone left by the time it was finished and c) that he himself would only dare to watch the opening scenes before skedaddling backstage.

For those unfamiliar with Guy Maddin’s work, he’s an experimental filmmaker/installation artist with inclinations towards the silent/early talkie aesthetic. His plots often dive into the surreal and the metafictional, usually feeling as if they’re written according to alien rules of narrative.

Imagine this. As you sit down in a full theater, the lights dim, curtain opens, and the projector strategically placed in the back of the room begins playing what you assume will be a relatively standard narrative feature film akin to the rest of the fall film slate. Oscar bait is on your mind, as all of a sudden, a prologue begins instructing the viewer on how to properly take a bath. Surreal, experimental, absurdest and delightfully childish, this is not the opening of the latest awards hopeful. Instead, this is how one of today’s greatest surreal auteurs has begun his latest masterpiece, one of 2015’s most dream-like, breathlessly original motion pictures.

Guy Maddin is at it once again with The Forbidden Room, a film beyond description. Opening with the aforementioned ode to proper hygiene, the film then shifts to what one could possibly describe as its central narrative,...

The 44th edition of the Festival du Nouveau Cinema has just announced their entire lineup and it’s pretty insane! The festival which takes place in Montreal from October 7 to 18 is screening nearly 400 films and events in only 11 days. This includes 151 feature films and 203 short films from 68 countries – 49 world premieres, 38 North American premieres and 60 Canadian premieres. Give credit to the team of programmers: Claude Chamberlan, Dimitri Eipides Julien Fonfrède, Philippe Gajan, Karolewicz Daniel, Marie-Hélène Brousseau, Katayoun Dibamehr and Gabrielle Tougas-Frechette.

Below is the lineup. There’s a lot to process so take your sweet time!

Opening and closing

The whole New Testament directed by Jaco Van Dormael (Toto the Hero, Mr Nobody, The Eighth Day), will kick off this 44th edition.

After its world premiere at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes last May, the new opus unconventional Belgian director, starring Benoît Poelvoorde (Three Hearts, Ransom of Glory), Yolande Moreau (Mammuth,...

Art house distributor Kino Lorber has an outstanding lineup at Tiff 2015 that includes some of the most acclaimed international films of the year. Miguel Gomes' "Arabian Nights," which Volume 2 (The Desolate One) was just announced as Portugal's Oscar entry; Guatemala's "Ixcanul," which will also represent the Central American country at the Academy Awards; and Jafar Panahi's latest clandestine feature ,"Taxi," made under incredibly difficult conditions and winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, are among their upcoming titles.

Take a look at when and where you can catch some of these films while you are at Tiff this week.

"Arabian Nights Trilogy" [Wavelengths]

A major hit at this year's Cannes, this epic, three-part contemporary fable by Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes ( "Tabu" ) adopts the structure from "Arabian Nights" in order to explore Portugal's plunge into austery.

Directed by Miguel Gomes

Screening with Volume 1-3,

381 minutes

Screening Date:

9/19/15, Public Screening, 1pm, Jackman Hall

"Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One" [Wavelengths]

Directed by Miguel Gomes

North American Premiere, 125 minutes

Opens Dec. 4th in New York (Film Society of Lincoln Center)

Upcoming Screening:

9/19/15, Public Screening, 11:45am, Jackman Hall

"Arabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One" [Wavelengths]

Directed by Miguel Gomes

North American Premiere, 131 minutes

Opens Dec. 11th in New York (Film Society of Lincoln Center)

Upcoming Screening:

9/19/15, Public Screening, 3pm, Jackman Hall

"Arabian Nights: Volume 3, The Enchanted One" [Wavelengths]

Directed by Miguel Gomes

American Premiere, 125 minutes

Opens Dec. 18th in New York (Film Society of Lincoln Center)

Upcoming Screenings:

9/14/15, P&I 1, 7:15pm, Scotiabank 6

9/16/15, Public Screening, 6:15pm, Jackman Hall

"Ixcanul" [Discovery]

In this dreamlike fusion of documentary and fable, two young, impoverished Mayan lovers escape from their servitude on a remote Guatemalan coffee plantation and attempt to make their way to the United States.

Directed by Jayro Bustamante

Canadian Premiere, 93 minutes

Upcoming Screenings:

9/16/15, Public Screening, 6:30pm, Tiff Bell Lightbox 2

9/18/15, Public Screening, 9:30am, Tiff Bell Lightbox 2

9/20/15, Public Screening, 9:30pm, Scotiabank 2

"Jafar Panahi's Taxi" [Masters]

Shooting almost entirely within a cab circling the streets of Tehran, the great director Jafar Panahi ( "Offside," "This Is Not a Film") offers a multilayered mosaic of life in today's Iran.

Directed by Jafar Panahi

Canadian Premiere, 82 minutes

Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival

Opens Oct. 2nd in New York (IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas)

Upcoming Screenings:

9/17/15, Public Screening, 5pm, Winter Garden Theatre

9/19/15, Public Screening, 3:30pm, Cinema 1

"Mountains May Depart" [Masters]

The new film from Mainland master Jia Zhangke ("A Touch of Sin") jumps from the recent past to the speculative near-future as it examines how China's economic boom has affected the bonds of family, tradition, and love.

Directed by Jia Zhangke

North American Premiere, approximately 131 minutes

Upcoming Screenings:

9/14/15, Public Screening, 9:30pm, Princess of Wales

9/15/15, Public Screening, 11:45am, Cinema 1

"The Forbidden Room" [Wavelengths]

Evan Johnson and Winnipeg’s wizard of the weird Guy Maddin ("My Winnipeg," "The Saddest Music in the World") plunge us into celluloid delirium with this mad, multi-narrative maze of phantasmal fables.

Directed by Guy Maddin and co-directed by Evan Johnson.

North American Premiere, 119 minutes

Opens Oct. 7th at New York's Film Forum.

Upcoming Screenings:

9/16/15, Public Screening, 9:15pm, Tiff Bell Lightbox 2

9/18/15, Public Screening, 3:15pm, Jackman Hall

"The Pearl Button" [Masters]

The great Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán ("The Battle of Chile," "Nostalgia for the Light") chronicles the history of the indigenous peoples of Chilean Patagonia, whose decimation by colonial conquest prefigured the brutality of the Pinochet regime.

Directed by Patricio Guzman

North American Premiere, 82 minutes

Winner of the Silver Bear at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival

Opens Oct. 23rd in New York City (IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas)

Upcoming Screenings:

9/13/15, Public Screening, 11:30am, Tiff Bell Lightbox 3

9/18/15, Public 3Screening, 3pm, Tiff Bell Lightbox 2...

The BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its industry programme and added three innovative film-makers to new strand Lff Connects.

Industry talks Lff Connects, which aim to explore the future of film and how film engages with other creative industries, has added writer, director, visual artist and vocalist Laurie Anderson; filmmaker and artist Guy Maddin; and virtual reality maestro Chris Milk.

This is on top of the previously announced talk featuring Interstellar director Christopher Nolan and artist Tacita Dean.

Us artist Anderson is best known for her multimedia presentations and innovative use of technology. As writer, director, visual artist and vocalist she has created ground-breaking works that span the worlds of art, theatre and experimental music.

Her new documentary Heart of the Dog, which screens as a new programme addition at Lff, is her first feature since the 1986 concert movie Home of the Brave. At Lff Connects, Anderson will talk about her creative approach to filmmaking and how...

Laurie Anderson has picked a set of films, titled "Laurie Anderson Collection," now streaming on boutique Svod service SundanceNow Doc Club. The artist-filmmaker is currently in the news for her autobiographic Telluride premiere "Heart of a Dog," a cinematic collection of remembrances of her late, beloved, piano-playing, finger-painting dog Lolabelle. The film moves onto to Toronto this weekend before opening Wednesday, October 21. The six films now streaming in her Doc Club collection, including directors Werner Herzog and Guy Maddin, are "5 Broken Cameras," "Ballets Russes," "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," "Exit Through the Gift Shop," "My Winnipeg" and "The Unmistaken Child." Below are her appropriately idiosyncratic notes for each film. Read More: Laurie Anderson's Puppy Love Paean 'Heart of a Dog' Warms Telluride and Venice 5 Broken Cameras (2012) "Here is the desert between Palestine and...

Tiff is about to kick off, and it wouldn’t be Tiff without a new film from Guy Maddin. The Canadian filmmaker, the man behind “Twilight Of The Ice Nymphs,” “The Saddest Music In The World” and “My Winnipeg,” among many others, is one of the country’s great arthouse exports, a filmmaker whose work both celebrates and examines film history while delving into all kinds of different subjects. Maddin’s latest is “The Forbidden Room,” and it’s heading to Tiff from Berlin and Sundance. To mark the occasion, Entertainment Weekly have debuted a new trailer for the film. Co-directed with his student Evan Johnson, the film is firmly in the phantasmagoric tradition of Maddin’s earlier work, with the usual silent cinema nods, a loose plot involving a submarine crew, and a starry cast featuring Mathieu Amalric, Geraldine Chaplin, Caroline Dhavernas, Charlotte Rampling, Ariane Labed and more. Maddin’s not for everyone,...

How do you make a movie about an artist whose craft traverses cartooning, graphic design, puppetry, comic books, model-building, and interior design? Here’s a better question, how do you make a film about this person and condense it down into 42 minutes? Seth’s Dominion is not an exhaustive documentary about the work of the Canadian cartoonist, but it’s almost exhausting as you bounce around the various thoughts, works, and biographical details from Seth’s life as covered by director Luc Chamberland. Seth’s Dominion is a 42 minute whirlwind that really neither asks nor answers anything of its subject matter and may be best viewed as kind of a film sketchbook, a rare look inside the thought process of an artistic renaissance man.

For the record, like Seth, I live in Guelph, Ontario, a city that lies about an hour’s drive west of Toronto. I walk past his...

My Winnipeg

Directed by Guy Madden

Written by George Toles and Guy Madden

2007, Canada

Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Winnipeg. Where sleepwalkers roam the snow laden streets. Where gender seperation exists in public swimming holes. Where the Winnipeg Jets arena is a shrine to everything that matters. It will be difficult to forget the Winnipeg Guy Madden has envisioned in this documentary for his hometown.

Originally concieved as a simple documentary about his hometown of Winnipeg, My Winnipeg subverts the traditional form of documentaries. Inspired by his producer to create something that would go outside the limits typically imposed on city stories, Maddin uses this opportunity to create a new genre he called “docu-fantasia”. The story is about “Guy Maddin” (played here by Darcy Fehr) and his attempt to film his way out of Winnipeg. Traveling by train he believes the only way to get out of the frozen wasteland would be to...

"Art of the Real" is returning to the Film Society of Lincoln Center with a celebration of Agnès Varda (who will attend!) and more:

"The 2015 edition, taking place April 10-26, will again feature dozens of new works from around the world and in a variety of genres alongside retrospective and thematic selections. Opening Night will premiere new works by João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata (The Last Time I Saw Macao, Mahjong), Eduardo Williams, and Matt Porterfield (I Used to Be Darker), with all filmmakers attending the evening."

Above: For The Criterion Collection, kogonada's new video essay, "Mirrors of Bergman." Abderrahmane Sissako, the director of Timbuktu, will be heading Cannes' Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury. In his NY Times home video column, J. Hoberman writes on Richard Linklater's Boyhood and Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg. Richard Brody writes about Spike Lee's Da Sweet Blood of...

Dear Danny,

You describe the Maddin and Panahi well, and we have similar takes on them—but please allow me to digress before I address those films, as I’ve just come out of Jem Cohen’s Counting, and I’d like to take advantage of its freshness in my mind. Organized into 15 chapters, the film more or less documents certain excerpts from the filmmaker’s travels over the past three years. The chapters vary in length and focus, with different headings & descriptions (“New York City, 2012-2014,” “The Millions,” etc.), and taking place in different locations across the globe (Moscow, Porto, Istanbul). Entirely made up of subjective glimpses of these places, the film resembles a diary or travelogue—but in spite of its seeming slightness in its minute pieces, in total it is a perceptive and honest record of the world today. Cohen understands the limitations of the image, of...

Kino Lorber has announced the acquisition of all Us rights to Guy Maddin’s (My Winnipeg, The Saddest Music in the World) The Forbidden Room (2015), following the film’s world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

The Forbidden Room was produced by Phi Films, Buffalo Gal Pictures and the National Film Board of Canada (Nfb), with the participation of Telefilm Canada and with the financial investment of Manitoba Film & Music and Sodec.

“I feel fantastic about Richard Lorber and his team handling The Forbidden Room,” wrote director Guy Maddin. “When we first met, before he saw the movie, I felt that rare pleasure of tastes synching up every second moment, but immediately after the screening we connected with wondrous electrified crackles! It was like we were giddily letting this film finish each other’s sentences for us! Our movie instantly galvanized a shared experience. It’s only right, and extremely thrilling,...

There are few things as futile (or daunting) as trying to make sense on paper of a Guy Maddin film. Save for My Winnipeg, which given its relative specificity and coherent narration serving almost as commentary for the flood of images, his films are a tough nut to crack. Yet unlike many films that fall into the general rubric of "avant garde" or "experimental", Maddin's films differ greatly. Firstly, if anything the films are delightfully retrograde rather than at the vanguard, a future/past hybrid that sees echoes of expressionism and early cinema thrust onto modern screens. In lesser hands this would be hipster fetish fodder, no more than an affectation like luxurious beards, bowler hats, and a penchant for shellac recordings on '78. For...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Guy Maddin is an aberration of modern cinema. From his first film "The Dead Father" in 1985 to his latest "The Forbidden Room" (premiering at this year's Sundance Film Festival), the Canadian director utilizes the techniques and tones intrinsic to silent films and early talkies while coupling them with scripts that often feel both literary and tawdry. He has a ludic sensibility that may be an acquired taste, but his presence is welcome —even his misfires provide an antidotal experience for anyone burned by the unambitious state of moving pictures. This month, The Criterion Collection released his 2007 film "My Winnipeg," a documentary/memoir/essay on the home he finds impossible to leave. We sat down with the director and spoke with him not just about 'Winnipeg' but about his entire career (his first feature "Tales from the Gimli Hospital," the Toronto International Film Festival-produced short "Heart of the World," German...

My Winnipeg

Written by Guy Maddin, George Toles

Directed by Guy Maddin

Canada, 2007

Since its release in 2007, a good deal of the conversation surrounding Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg has been how exactly to define the film. Is it, as Maddin himself has dubbed the picture, a “docu-fantasia,” or is that not even accurate? During an interview between Maddin and critic Robert Enright, as part of the newly released Criterion Blu-ray, the two evoke a number of references in hopes of situating the film: Werner Herzog, melodrama, Chris Marker, city symphonies of the silent era, Fellini’s I Vitelloni. Yes, it is like these, but also not quite. An essay by Wayne Koestenbaum, also included with the disc, likewise alludes to everything from Hitchcock and James Joyce to Andy Warhol’s Blow Job and Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah. So what does it say about a film that can draw such parallels,...

One of our most anticipated Sundance 2015 titles is Guy Maddin's latest foray into avant-weirdness, a cinematic hybrid project the Canadian auteur's been cooking up since his docu-fantasia "My Winnipeg" bowed in 2007. The director's 11th film, "The Forbidden Room" stars a top-drawer Euro cast including Mathieu Amalric, Udo Kier, Charlotte Rampling, Geraldine Chaplin, Roy Dupuis, Clara Furey, Louis Negin, Maria de Medeiros, Jacques Nolot, Adèle Haenel, Amira Casar & Elina Löwensohn as "a cavalcade of misfits, thieves and lovers, all joined in the joyful delirium of the kaleidoscopic viewing experience," per the press release of this elusive new movie. Made with the help of American poet John Ashbery, who aided in defining modern poetry in the mid-20th century, "Forbidden Room" premieres at Sundance next week before heading to Berlin in February. Below, check out the "living poster" for the film, which apparently...

You certainly can and probably should go home again, at least according to the faux approximation of himself in the 2007 pseudo-documentary/experimental homage My Winnipeg from Canadian auteur Guy Maddin. However, donning nostalgic garb calls for drastic reinvention. A director who has built a painstaking filmography of films imitating silent and lost titles from annals of vintage cinematic eras, his name can both provoke and evoke the emotional state phonetically represented by his surname. But whether one embraces his style or not, there’s no one quite like him.

This year is off to a great start for Maddin, beginning first with his second title to grace the Criterion collection (his 2006 title Brand Upon the Brain! also holds this distinction) as well as the premiere at the Sundance Film Festival of his latest work, the operatic The Forbidden Room (which pays homage to the two-headed Roman god, Janus, looking forwards and backwards simultaneously,...

The Drop I really liked The Drop and it was a little frustrating Fox Searchlight didn't show much interest in raising the film's awareness after the lukewarm response in Toronto. I think this still could have been a hit of sorts if they had shown a little more enthusiasm, but I guess once it was clear it wasn't going to be an Oscar contender they just figured "what's the usec" Nevertheless, check it out now that it's on DVD and Blu-ray, and for my theatrical review click here.

Lucy Solid movie, fun and certain to be quite enjoyable from the comfort of your own home. I have a Blu-ray copy here and I'm going to check it out a second time... at some point.

My Winnipeg (Criterion Collection) It was nice to get back to reviewing some Blu-ray titles recently as Criterion's release of Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg was...

At a loss for what to watch this week? From new DVDs and Blu-rays, to what's streaming on Netflix, we've got you covered.

New on DVD and Blu-ray

"The Boxtrolls"

Laika's latest stop-motion film is about a kiddo named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead Wright) who is raised by a gaggle of trolls under the streets of Cheesebridge. It got pretty good reviews, as well as an Oscar nomination, and while it hasn't snatched up as many eyes and hearts as "Coraline" or "ParaNorman," it's still a solid kid's movie. The Blu-ray includes audio commentary from directors Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi, as well as a few other extra goodies.

"Lucy"

Scarlett Johansson's actioner has been available digitally, but now you can snag it on Blu-ray.

"My Winnipeg"

Guy Maddin's wonderfully weird ode to his hometown is finally on Criterion. In addition to your typical Criterion updates -- a high-def digital video transfer,...

I need to step it up and one of these weeks soon I need to watch at least seven movies, but this week ended with me only seeing four. It began with the endurance test that is the awful Blackhat as one of two theatrical screenings along with the adequate The Wedding Ringer. At home things were a little more interesting with Criterion's upcoming Blu-ray release of Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg, which I already reviewed right here and last night my wife, sister and I watched St. Vincent and I'm happy to report they both loved it. I don't know why St. Vincent wasn't received any better by critics, but if you're looking for one of 2014's overlooked gems, this is one of them. Otherwise, I watched a fair amount of college basketball (none of which was all that great), I caught "Saturday Night Live" last night, "Real Time...

Before receiving Criterion's new Blu-ray release of Guy Maddin's 2007 feature My Winnipeg I hadn't seen any of Maddin's films, and about 30 minutes into this one I felt I'd made the right choice. However, as the short, 80-minute, "something like a documentary" played out, I found myself increasingly intrigued. The Lynchian vibe matched with visuals appearing as if it had been made in the mid-'20s, slowly drew me in. I was fascinated by the preposterous (but true) story of Winnipeg's "If Day", the idea of a "Ledge Man" television show and then those frozen horse heads... I'll get to those in just a second. Described as a "docu-fantasia" by the folks at Criterion, Maddin sets out to tell the story of his hometown of Winnipeg, but in his own unique fashion. Using stories of his childhood to the point he even hires actors (including iconic femme fatale Ann Savage...

F for Fake

Written and directed by Orson Welles

France/Iran/West Germany, 1973

The most enjoyable thing about F for Fake is that Orson Welles seems to be having such fun with it. It’s rare to see a filmmaker displaying, though his actual presence and through the tools of his trade, such an unadulterated delight in expression. In fiction films, this sort of exuberance has to be limited, or at least contained to the degree of being still in the service of the narrative. Documentary films usually have their agenda or message, so there shouldn’t be too much to distract from these larger aims. Experimental films revel in the technique of filmmaking like Welles does here, but they are commonly done with such strained seriousness that they don’t necessarily feel, for lack of a better word, fun. Perhaps the reason F for Fake defies these general tendencies...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Jan. 20, 2015

Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95

Studio: Criterion

The geographical dead center of North America and the beloved birthplace of Guy Maddin (Brand Upon the Brain), Winnipeg, Canada is the frosty and mysterious star of Maddin’s 2007 “docu-fantasia” My Winnipeg.

A work of memory and imagination, My Winnipeg burrows into what the filmmaker calls “the heart of the heart” of the continent, conjuring a city as delightful as it is fearsome, populated by sleepwalkers and hockey aficionados. Take part in Winnipeg’s annual epic scavenger hunt! Pay your respects to the racehorses forever frozen in the river! Help judge the yearly homoerotic Golden Boy pageant! What is real and what is fantasy is left up to the viewer to sort out in Maddin’s hypnotic, expertly conceived paean to that wonderful and terrifying place known as My Hometown.

Criterion’s director-approved Blu-ray and DVD editions of the unrated...

Perhaps Criterion has been paying attention to my Best Movies posts. Next week sees the release of Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita on Blu-ray, which was the first installment in my Best Movies feature and a title I'll be reviewing later this week, and now my third installment, Kihachi Okamoto's The Sword of Doom will be arriving on January 6 with a new high-definition digital restoration. Unfortunately the Sword of Doom release won't come with any new features, though the film, Hiroshi Murai's cinematography, Masaru Sato's score and an audio commentary from Stephen Prince will do for me as that is a title that simply must be part of my collection. Also coming in January is Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant on January 13, Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg on January 20, Preston Sturges's 1942 comedy The Palm Beach Story starring Claudette Colbert...

The 2nd edition of the Urban Lens film festival will screen over 35 non-fiction films from India, South Africa, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Canada, in an attempt to engage with how the ‘city’ has found a cinematic expression in non-fiction films over a period of time.

The festival will be held from September 26-28, 2014 at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (Iihs), Bangalore City campus. This year, the festival will also feature specially curated package of films from the Films Division archive, special screenings and a public talk. Entry to all films is free.

Each film that is part of this festival will explore different facets of what the city produces – whether political, social, economic or cultural. Deepa Dhanraj’s classic documentary film Kya Hua Is Shehar Ko looks at the communal riots of Hyderabad while Saba Dewan’s The Other Song chronicles the life of the singer Rasoolan Bai from...

Exclusive: Rhombus Media, WTFilms and Canada Company are teaming up on the Afghanistan war film, set to begin shooting in Manitoba in late September before relocating to Jordan.

Paris-based WTFilms is the international sales outside Canada, where Elevation Pictures will distribute. Canada Company will handle Canadian educational rights.

Passchendaele director Paul Gross will helm the project from his screenplay, described as a high-octane tale in the vein of The Hurt Locker and Lone Survivor.

Gross will play a veteran intelligence officer in the story of three men whose lives intersect in the murky world of modern warfare.

The producers will unveil Hyena Road at a breakfast on Saturday (September 6) and expect to announce further casting shortly.

Rhombus Media will produce in association with Buffalo Gal Pictures and Whizbang Films.

Rhombus head Niv Fichman, whose credits include Enemy and Blindness, produces with Gross, Buffalo Gal’s Phyllis Laing, who previously made My Winnipeg, and [link=tt...

Exclusive: Rhombus Media, WTFilms and Canada Company are teaming up on the Afghanistan war film, set to begin shooting in Manitoba in late September before relocating to Jordan.

Paris-based WTFilms is the international sales outside Canada, where Elevation Pictures will distribute. Canada Company will handle Canadian educational rights.

Passchendaele director Paul Gross will helm the project from his screenplay, described as a high-octane tale in the vein of The Hurt Locker and Lone Survivor.

Gross will play a veteran intelligence officer in the story of three men whose lives intersect in the murky world of modern warfare.

The producers will unveil Hyena Road at a breakfast on Saturday (September 6) and expect to announce further casting shortly.

Rhombus Media will produce in association with Buffalo Gal Pictures and Whizbang Films.

Rhombus head Niv Fichman, whose credits include Enemy and Blindness, produces with Gross, Buffalo Gal’s Phyllis Laing, who previously made My Winnipeg, and [link=tt...

Main Street during The Telluride Film Festival

The Telluride Film Festival seemingly appears overnight against the gorgeous backdrop of rugged mountains. It lasts just four days but in fact it takes more than a month of intensive labor to transform the elementary school, high school, hockey rink, library, the park in the middle of town and a masonic temple into theaters. Now in its 41st year,up until recently this hallowed Labor Day weekend event has long been a quiet fixture on the festival circuit. As most of the festival world knows, the escalating word of mouth about the quality of Telluride’s unofficial premieres caused the Toronto International Film Festival to issue an ultimatum to those hoping to land choice spots in the fall line-up: if you choose to screen at Telluride first, your film will be pushed back on Tiff’s slate. Realistically- Toronto has little to fear from Telluride besides buzz.

The Telluride Film Festival announced today Guy Maddin and Kim Morgan as the 2014 guest directors. The husband and wife duo will select and present a series of films at the 41st Telluride Film Festival running over Labor Day Weekend, August 29 - September 1, 2014. Maddin is screen-writer, director, author, cinematographer and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist. He is known for works such as "My Winnipeg" (2007) and "The Saddest Music in the World" (2003). Morgan is a film, music and culture writer who has written for Salon, GQ, La Weekly, Criterion, MSN Movies, Huffington Post, IFC, Entertainment Weekly, The Dissolve, Playboy, The Los Angeles Review of Books and Garage Magazine. Both commented jointly,"We are honored and thrilled to be guest directors at Telluride, by far the most concentrated, smartly curated, and enchanting of all the film festivals." Festival passes are now available at the Telluride Film.

All creations are, in some way, autobiographical. As the merging of imagination and experience, at least a little bit of the creator’s self is infused in their creation. At times, it’s little more than a thematic hint, like Ethan Hawke’s discussion of his failing marriage in Before Sunset, as the actor himself went through a public break-up. It can also be the combination of memory and fantasy, like Guy Maddin’s eccentric documentary about his hometown and childhood memories, My Winnipeg. And other times, cinema becomes the therapist investigating familial turmoil, like Sarah Polley’s excellent Stories We Tell. On occasion, the film itself becomes a revealing cinematic journal, one that makes its audience witting (or unwitting) voyeurs snooping through private lives with a depth tabloids can only dream of. These films allow the filmmaker moments of introspection, revenge, and confusion that make for compelling narratives, but even more fascinating autobiographies when you know...

Exclusive: The Film Sales Company president Andrew Herwitz has acquired international rights to Jody Shapiro’s documentary ahead of its world premiere in Toronto.

Burt’s Buzz chronicles the career of Burt Shavitz, founder of the cosmetic giant Burt’s Bees.

Shapiro previously directed How To Start Your Own Country and produced My Winnipeg.

Shapiro produced Burt’s Buzz and Jean Du Toit, Phyllis Laing and Isabella Rossellini serve as executive producers. Cinetic is in talks to represent Us rights.

Herwitz’s Toronto roster includes When Jews Were Funny and White Lies.

Frances Ha

Dir. Noah Baumbach

Noah Baumbach continues his film-by-film evolution—Margot is the exception that proves the rule—with Frances Ha. It's not as disciplined as Greenberg, nor does it really intend to be, but Frances finds Baumbach as an assured stylist and storyteller behind the camera—and in the great Gerta Gerwig he has found himself a creative force that merges rather beautifully with his own. Gerwig co-wrote the film with Baumbach, and imbues the film with her infectious personality while intelligently alternating between wit and reflexive insight (it's difficult not to draw a direct contemporary comparison to what Lena Dunham is doing on HBO). Frances is a dancer, and Gerwig and Baumbach also engage in an intimate dance of emotions in a subjective tour of metro-middle-class pressures (more academically but also more substantially than Dunham) that organically and fluidly unspools a careful study of diverse settings and moods.

Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects and its digital sister, SundanceNOW and Thom Powers, curator for SundanceNOW.s Doc Club, announced on Thursday that director Jonathan Caouette.s documentary Walk Away Renee will have its North American premiere as part of the website.s new Svod (Subscriber Video-on-Demand) program Doc Club. The film, which premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and is the follow-up to Caouette.s 2004 groundbreaking hit Tarnation, will be released simultaneous with its North American Premiere on Wednesday, June 27th at BAMcinemaFest 2012. Doc Club subscribers will be able to download or stream the film as part of the June offerings entitled Up Close And Personal or the film can be rented on SundanceNOW for $6.99.

In Walk Away Renee, Caouette embarks on a road trip to move his mentally ill motherRenee across the country. As they encounter roadblocks in the present, we begin to flash back to moments from the past,...

If you've been at a film festival at the last few months, chances are you've bumped into Guy Maddin. The idiosyncratic Canadian director of "Twilight of the Ice Nymphs," "The Saddest Music In the World" and "My Winnipeg" has a new film, the offbeat haunted house tale "Keyhole" starring Jason Patric and Isabella Rossellini. And he's been on the festival circuit in a big way, debuting the film at Tiff (read our review from there), before heading to Halifax's Atlantic Film Festival, and then last month in Berlin (where we interviewed the director) before landing in the last week at SXSW.

We were able to talk to the filmmaker in Austin about the project, as well as what he's working on at the moment, an intriguing-sounding tribute to lost cinema named "Spiritismes." Maddin told us,"I just wrapped the first stage of an insanely over-ambitious project, the first eighteen days...