By Gary Meyer
Have you ever wondered how movies are selected for film festivals? EDF wanted to know about the process of creating an exciting line-up and we learned a lot interviewing Ruthe Stein , founder and Co-Director of the Mostly British Film Festival 2020, playing at San Francisco’s Vogue Theatre February 13-20.
EDF: You must look at scores of movies. How do you find them?
By Julie Lindow
Focus, focus, focus on Moringa! I just drank a Kuli Kuli raspberry, acai, Lion’s Mane mushroom, and most importantly, Moringa dietary supplement shot—it is nourishing my mind right now as I write. It tastes like slightly sweet matcha tea with raspberry and lemon. Yum!
By C.J. Hirschfield
Clockwise from bottom left: ‘For Sama,’ ‘The Cave,’ ‘American Factory,’ ‘The Edge of Democracy,’ ‘Honeyland’
Many of you are no doubt rushing to catch up with your movie viewing in advance of Feb. 8’s annual Academy Awards. While “Best Picture” always draws the most attention and conjecture, this was a particularly great year for films in the documentary feature category, and they are well worth exploring. With Netflix, Amazon, HBO, PBS, and even the Obamas now in the documentary film production business, the number of quality offerings has grown dramatically, as have the ways to view them. Some show us worlds we’ve never imagined, while others offer us a deep dive into subjects that we may know only as headlines. There are also a number of excellent films that that didn’t make the final Academy cut. Here’s the list, along with my take on each. And unlike the directors considered for “Best Picture,” three out of five of the nominated documentaries were directed or co-directed by women.
By Monica Nolan
For seventeen years now I’ve devoted the last week of January to Noir City, and the festival never fails to thrill me. This year’s annual valentine to the dark side of the dream factory opens at the Castro on Friday, January 24, and all over the Bay Area cinephiles like me are beginning to dream in black and white, the vintage-minded among us brushing off fedoras and veiled hats, polishing wingtips and spectator pumpsin preparation for opening night. Soon we’ll be sinking into the Castro’s cushioned seats for ten days of heists and double-crosses, killers and con-artists, revenge, paranoia, and bleak despair.
Pure heaven.
By C.J. Hirschfield
In 1964, renowned and prolific choreographer Merce Cunningham and his troupe embarked on their first world tour. In Paris, angry audience members threw eggs and tomatoes at him. “I wished it was apples; I was hungry,” he recalls. But when they performed in England, the response was dramatically different: “Merce Cunningham Conquers Conservatism,” read the headlines. And although Cunningham famously refused to define his work as modern or avant garde (preferring to let his audience define him based on their experience), he, and his partnerships with celebrated artists of the day, was in the center of an influential group changing the way we characterize music, visual art—and dance.
The original Merce Cunningham Dance Company. ©Robert Rutledge. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
By Howie Movshovitz
I have been thinking a lot about Agnés since she died just shy of 91 years old on March 29, 2019. She made her first film, La Pointe Courte in 1954, establishing the French New Wave five years before the boys, François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and others got into the act. She appeared this past February at the Berlin film festival for the Premiere of her last film, an autobiographical piece called Varda by Agnés. To celebrate the theatrical release of this new film and her life, there is a traveling retrospective of her films playing around the U.S. this winter. (See details below)
By Gary Meyer
It was opening day of the San Francisco production of HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD and we found ourselves talking with a woman during the intermission of Part One. A friend invited her but she had been skeptical since other than being aware of Harry Potter she knew very little about the books, movies or characters beyond that it was a popular culture phenomenon. She had read the informative “Journey to the Eight Story” in the program book and that was helping her understand who and what are important in the narrative (see below). She said she was hooked by the first act and certainly the cliffhanger at its end was a mind-blower that had us all anxious for more.
By C. J. Hirschfield
It’s hard to be objective when you’re watching a film about people you’ve known and cared about for nearly 40 years, but I’ll try. I guess you could say that prolific British director Michael Apted’s Up documentaries represent the original reality series, following the lives of a group of seven year-old schoolkids he first met in 1964, and then checking in on their lives via celluloid every seven years. I myself first caught up with the series watching 28. 63 Up is now in theaters, and Apted’s “kids” are even more interesting as they approach retirement. And although Apted’s numerous Academy Award nominations for 1980’s Coal Miner’s Daughter assured his place in the annals of cinema, it will be the stories of Tony, Andrew, Sue, Nick, Bruce, Jackie, Peter, Lynne, Paul, Symon, John, Suzy, and Neil for which he might best be remembered.
by Julie Lindow
Cocktails are a wonderful way to celebrate special occasions and the holidays. I don’t drink a lot so when I do, I want my cocktail to be an extraordinary experience. During the past few years, I have developed several cocktails to commemorate various occasions in my family and friend’s lives. Gary Meyer told me that Eat Drink Film readers love new recipes, so I thought that sharing these with all of you might be a welcome gift. These recipes are simple and can be made in large batches for holiday parties. I developed these cocktails without outside influence, but I would not be surprised if others have come up with similar recipes, so I don’t claim any ownership over these gems.
By C.J. Hirschfield
Former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos would love it if you just think of her as the eccentric beauty with three thousand pairs of shoes. She knows, as does any great magician, that if you focus on the shiny thing in front of you, you probably won’t pay attention to the sleight of hand that’s really going on—in the 86 year-old Marcos’ case, the brilliantly Machiavellian manipulation of her country’s political process that is quietly placing the Marcos family back in power.
By C.J. Hirschfield
Some of the best documentaries have had to shift direction after filming began, based on changed circumstances that must be included. Life happens, and able filmmakers pivot, and re-think the narrative to match a new—and often more compelling–reality.
