Scary!

Kind of relieved I didn't enroll.

AFI, serving the cineastes of the world

American Film Institute's annual showcase of domestic and international movies opens this week despite financial pressures.

By John Horn

October 25, 2009

It was launched in the Rose Garden by President Lyndon B. Johnson to advance and preserve the art of the moving image. For decades, the American Film Institute thrived doing just that. Now, like almost every other nonprofit organization knocked sideways by the recession, AFI finds itself having to script its own comeback story.

Much of AFI's campus near Griffith Park has neither air conditioning nor heating. AFI's last televised Top 100 show lost more than $1 million, and the cable ratings for its Life Achievement Award are plunging. An ambitious, encyclopedic AFI directory of American movies still has four decades of films to catalog, and government support for the project has dried up.

If any organization needs to unwind in a movie theater for an hour or two, it's AFI -- and from Friday through Nov. 7, the institute can do just that with its annual AFI Fest, primarily playing at Grauman's Chinese Theater and Mann Chinese 6 theaters in Hollywood.

Unlike many other leading film festivals, AFI Fest, now in its 23rd year, is not interested in an onslaught of glitzy, star-filled premieres. Film distributors and sales agents do not converge on the festival to strike rich deals as they do at Sundance, Toronto and Cannes. And while AFI Fest (which is co-sponsored by The Times) has a handful of gala screenings -- Tom Ford's "A Single Man," Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" and Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" -- most of the festival's tickets were given away for free this year, with almost all screenings filling up just a few hours after tickets became available online.

"It was inspired by the times," says Bob Gazzale, AFI's president and chief executive officer. "If you can't look to the American Film Institute to open the doors to a movie theater, I'm not sure who you can look to." Gazzale says much of the lost revenue from ticket sales will be covered by underwriting from sponsor Audi. That said, the festival has reduced the number of features it is showing from 98 a year ago to 67 this year, and AFI Fest movies will be shown only once instead of enjoying multiple screenings.

"We wanted to figure out how we could get people excited about a celebration of film," says Rose Kuo, AFI Fest's artistic director. "The AFI has a mission to celebrate film artists. This is completely in line with that."

The festival is filled with some of the most acclaimed films from this year's more prominent film festivals, making for a weeklong primer in the best of world cinema.

AFI Fest's schedule includes Germany's "The White Ribbon" (winner of Cannes' Palm d'Or); the U.S. film "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Sundance Grand Jury Prize, Toronto and Sundance audience awards); Spain and Peru's "The Milk of Sorrow" (winner of Berlin's Golden Bear prize); Germany's "Everyone Else" (Berlin's Silver Bear prize); Iran's "About Elly"(Berlin's best director trophy); and China's "City of Life and Death" (San Sebastian's Golden Seashell award).

"Many of our audience members work in the industry, but a surprising number of them haven't seen these films," Kuo says of her programming philosophy. "We approached this as a survey of the year's most significant films. If you're going to make a Top 10 list, you have to see these movies."

While the town's other leading festival, summer's Los Angeles Film Festival, mixes high-profile studio films ("Public Enemies") with sometimes obscure independent dramas and documentaries ("Paper Man," "Bananas"), AFI Fest favors world cinema. "I think the city benefits from different festivals with different agendas spread out through the year," says Robert Koehler, the festival's programming director. "Our focus leans much more toward the international."

It's among the few distinctions between the annual festival and the heavily Americanist institute.

Since its founding in 1967, the AFI has focused its energies on three distinct but sometimes overlapping endeavors: preserving the nation's film heritage, training the next generation of filmmakers at its Los Angeles film school, and recognizing and celebrating U.S. film excellence through annual awards, tributes, screenings and festivals.

The AFI campus, adjacent to Griffith Park, has been home to some of the industry's most prominent filmmakers. AFI Conservatory (as the two-year film school is known) alumni include directors Ed Zwick ("Defiance"), Terrence Malick ("The Thin Red Line") and David Lynch ("Blue Velvet"); screenwriters Paul Schrader ("Taxi Driver"), Scott Frank ("Get Shorty") and Susannah Grant ("Erin Brockovich"); and producers Steve Golin ("Babel"), Marshall Herskovitz ("Blood Diamond") and Mark Waters ("(500) Days of Summer").

Even though the film school tuition (including housing and film production costs) tops $70,000 a year, the campus, which also houses AFI's administrative offices, needs millions in deferred maintenance and capital improvements. Many offices are oppressively hot in the summer and bone-chillingly frigid in the winter. Current staff members complain that the electrical system is so antiquated (the campus was formerly Immaculate Heart College) they can't run portable heaters and coffee makers at the same time without blowing a fuse.

While the 40-year-old conservatory is still among the nation's top film schools, even some AFI faculty members say it may no longer be considered in the same league (and certainly does not attract as many multimillion-dollar gifts) as similar M.F.A. programs at USC and UCLA. At the same time, Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts has poured a fortune into its new Orange County campus and may soon be a much closer AFI rival.

Gazzale and Nancy Harris, AFI's chief operating officer, concede that the campus needs work. "There will be a significant capital investment in this building," Gazzale says, noting that some work already has begun and that AFI's final, $500,000 payment on buying the campus will be made next year, freeing up some buildings and grounds capital. "We have work to do, and we're doing it."

In a potentially troublesome development, the Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges has deferred its accreditation of the conservatory. Gazzale and Harris say they are confident the school will receive WASC's endorsement soon when it better understands the quality of AFI's students and their work after a WASC visit to AFI in November.

Gazzale says that even if AFI's air conditioning, soundproofing and electrical system is dodgy, its filmmaking tools -- such as cameras and editing bays -- are not.

"The equipment [the students] work on is the finest in the business," he says. Harris says Chapman "may have a better infrastructure and building" but adds that "I'd love to put our fellows up against theirs any day."

Not long after Gazzale replaced Jean Firstenberg in AFI's top spot in November 2007, AFI reorganized its staff to trim its payroll and eliminate redundancies. Last summer and fall, AFI eliminated 22 full-time positions while adding 10 new positions, for a total of 130 full-time employees (Firstenberg remains a consultant, earning $72,000 a year).

One of the hardest-hit departments was the AFI catalog. Having recently lost a two-year, $300,000 pledge for the catalog from the National Endowment for the Humanities, AFI eliminated five catalog positions, three of which were full time. Catalog executive editor and project director Patricia Hanson recently retired, but the AFI is looking to replace her, Gazzale and Harris say.

The catalog, started in 1968, represents a remarkable undertaking with a devoted fan base -- a 50,000-entry compendium of not only the detailed credits for every American feature since 1893, but also a repository of plot summaries and scholarly histories of those movies. Having once had as many as 11 researchers and editors, the catalog now has a full-time staff (counting Hanson's position) of three, currently finishing their review of films from 1975.

Over the next year, AFI will explore building an association of scholars (who may or may not be paid) to work on the catalog. "We want to build an academic network and say, 'Help us fulfill this promise,' " Gazzale says. "And the editing staff will grow." Plans call to add five full-time research assistants next year.

Although AFI's annual "Life Achievement Award" has moved from the popular USA Network to the lower-profile TV Land, it remains the institute's largest annual fundraiser. Thanks to donations and an unspecified license fee, the 2007 show, which honored Al Pacino, netted AFI about $2 million, while 2008's tribute to Warren Beatty brought in about $1.7 million, says Bruce Neiner, AFI's chief financial officer. July's tribute to Michael Douglas, which made around $1.6 million, was seen in about 500,000 households, a steep decline from previous years, and a collapse from 2002's honoring of Tom Hanks, seen in some 2.9 million households.

Because General Motors pulled out as a sponsor of the best-in-multiple-genres roundup "AFI's 10 Top 10," part of "AFI's 100 Years . . ." series, that 2008 CBS broadcast lost more than $1.1 million, Neiner says. AFI's annual revenues were $27.6 million in the 2007-08 fiscal year, the most recent figures available.

Tom Pollock, the former Universal Studios head who is vice chair of AFI's board of trustees, says that in difficult economic conditions AFI has fared better than several local arts organizations, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which suspended (then temporarily relaunched) its film screening program. While there have been AFI layoffs and pay freezes, he says, "Luckily, we haven't yet had to do any serious program cutting."

Pollock says that while AFI's endowment needs to grow by $50 million or more, the institute's most trying times are behind it.

"AFI is still a great organization," he says. "It's just struggling like everybody else in this economy. But it will come through with flying colors."

Cracks in the Future

By BOB HERBERT

New York Times Op-Ed Columnist

Berkeley, Calif.

While the U.S. has struggled with enormous problems over the past several years, there has been at least one consistent bright spot. Its system of higher education has remained the finest in the world.

Now there are ominous cracks appearing in that cornerstone of American civilization. Exhibit A is the University of California, Berkeley, the finest public university in the world and undoubtedly one of the two or three best universities in the United States, public or private.

More of Berkeley’s undergraduates go on to get Ph.D.’s than those at any other university in the country. The school is among the nation’s leaders in producing winners of the Nobel Prize. An extraordinary amount of cutting-edge research in a wide variety of critically important fields, including energy and the biological sciences, is taking place here.

While I was roaming the campus, talking to students, professors and administrators, word came that scientists had put together a full analysis and a fairly complete fossilized skeleton of Ardi, who is known to her closest living associates as Ardipithecus ramidus. At 4.4 million years of age, this four-foot tall, tree-climbing wonder is now the oldest known human ancestor.

Give Berkeley credit. The school’s Tim White, a paleoanthropologist, led the international team that worked for years on this project, an invaluable advance in human knowledge and understanding.

So it’s dismaying to realize that the grandeur of Berkeley (and the remarkable success of the University of California system, of which Berkeley is the flagship) is being jeopardized by shortsighted politicians and California’s colossally dysfunctional budget processes.

Berkeley is caught in a full-blown budget crisis with nothing much in the way of upside in sight. The school is trying to cope with what the chancellor, Robert Birgeneau, described as a “severe and rapid loss in funding” from the state, which has shortchanged Berkeley’s budget nearly $150 million this year, and cut more than $800 million from the higher education system as a whole.

This is like waving goodbye to the futures of untold numbers of students. Chancellor Birgeneau denounced the state’s action as “a completely irresponsible disinvestment in the future of its public universities.”

(The chancellor was being kind. Anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes watching the chaos of California politicians trying to deal with fiscal and budgetary matters would consider “completely irresponsible” to be the mildest of possible characterizations.)

Berkeley is laying off staffers, reducing faculty through attrition and cutting pay. Student fees will no doubt have to be raised, and the fear is that if the financial crisis continues unabated it will be difficult to retain and recruit the world-class scholars who do so much to make the school so special.

Chancellor Birgeneau said he is optimistic that Berkeley will be able to maintain its greatness and continue to thrive, but he told me candidly in an interview, “It’s hard to see when we are going to get back to a situation where we can start rewarding people properly.”

We should all care about this because Berkeley is an enormous and enormously unique national asset. As a public university it offers large numbers of outstanding students from economically difficult backgrounds the same exceptionally high-quality education that is available at the finest private universities.

Something wonderful is going on when a school that is ranked among those at the very top in the nation and the world is also a school in which more than a third of the 25,000 undergraduates qualify for federal Pell grants, which means their family incomes are less than $45,000 a year. More than 4,000 students at Berkeley are from families where the annual income is $20,000 or less.

More than a third are the first in their families to attend a four-year college.

Berkeley is aggressively pursuing alternative funding sources. The danger is that as public support for the school declines, it will lose more and more of its public character. Substantially higher fees for incoming students would be the norm, and more and more students from out of state and out of the country (who can afford to pay the full freight of their education) would be recruited.

This would most likely hurt students from middle-class families more than poorer ones. Those kids are caught between the less well-off, who are helped by a variety of financial aid programs, and the wealthy students, whose families have no problem paying for a first-class college education.

The problems at Berkeley are particularly acute because of the state’s drastic reduction of support. But colleges and universities across the country — public and private — are struggling because of the prolonged economic crisis and the pressure on state budgets. It will say a great deal about what kind of nation we’ve become if we let these most valuable assets slip into a period of decline.

Final Two Days

Sunday, September 6 Seminar in Elks Park on "The Challenge of Portraying Complex Heroines on Screen." Speakers included Michael Lerner, Lone Sherfig, moderator Annette Insdorf, M. von Trotta and Brenda Blethyn

Monday, September 7 Labor Day Picnic Seminar on "The Edge of Humor." Speakers included moderator Anne Thompson, George Gittoes, Nicholas Cage, Jason Reitman and Paul Schnieder

On Sunday I woke up to catch the 8:30 screening of Haneke’s The White Ribbon, probably tied with Life During Wartime for the best film I’ve seen at the festival. It is a black and white film set in a German village prior to the first world war that has a more classical style compared to his other work. There’s no one else who depicts brutality, both visual and emotional, the way Haneke does. The White Ribbon is an excellent film, however I prefer his films that deal with contemporary life. For me those films provoke more thought and offer more insights. Afterwards I caught a few minutes of “The Challenges of Portraying Complex Heroines on Screen” seminar at Elks Park.

After work I went to see Samson and Delilah, the film that won the Camera d’Or at this years Cannes.

I hated it.

Not the way you hate an amateurish film that gives you a headache, but the way you hate a film that is a complete indulgence of a craft-less filmmaker. It has its merits. Great cinematography. The film is seamless, there aren’t any framing or editing mistakes that throw you out of the film. The problem is that I was never drawn into the story and then the film just dragged on and on. Kind of like the interweaving or nonlinear narrative films of the late nineties, these meditative almost-plotless films with non-actors are becoming a huge tiresome fad. When the hell did everyone think they can be Bresson. All these filmmakers are attempting to out due each other by taking this style of filmmaking to a new extreme. Samson and Delilah does so by presenting two aboriginal teenagers who rarely, almost never, speak. For some reason they don’t even speak their native aboriginal language. Many critics see this as one of the films strengths, it’s main virtue. I see it as a huge deficiency on the part of the director who clearly cannot write dialogue and I think the film suffers enormously from it. The story just doesn’t work. My main issue is with Delilah, who is set up as an independent, responsible, creative thinking teenage girl, which I thought was great and made me like her immediately. But when she runs off with Samson, who is her complete opposite, she inexplicably stays devoted to him after two horrendous violent episodes that leave her near death; and Samson does nothing to prevent or offer any help. (By the way, these two horrendous episodes are completely contrived; I don’t see how these two things could befall the same girl. It’s excessive and ridiculous. Absurd really.) The fact that she goes back to him is in complete conflict with the type of girl she is set up to be. What’s even more frustrating is that when she returns, she doesn’t even say anything because the whole ploy of the film is that these two characters don’t speak. What she went through demands an exchange, some kind of communication.

Then the film’s music was horrible, with the exception of the opening scene. It uses “When the money runs out” in the most cliché, sentimental way imaginable. In the end, the film simply wasn’t for me. This might be the film for those who like Kelly Reichardt, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Lance Hammer and even Carlos Reygadas, but not necessarily Bresson (who was brilliant.) It's interesting. There's an interview with Haneke in the Film Watch where names Bresson's Au hasard Balthazar as the film that changed his life. He says it "remains for me the most precious of all cinematic jewels. No other film has ever made my heart and head spin like this one. " Scott Foundas states that the influence of Bresson manifests itself in Haneke's work in many ways, but most of all in the way his films ask a "great many more questions than they answer about motives of human behavoir." I feel Haneke saw Bresson's films and acknowledge the great questions you can ask with films, others saw his films and acknowledged a cheap, economical way to make a film.

Samson and Delilah left me in a bad mood. I almost decided not to see Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank as I originally planned because I knew it would have a similar style as Samson and Delilah, but I went anyways. It was the first film by Andrea Arnold I had ever scene. It was good. I laughed to myself as the film went on because in some ways it is a ghetto version of An Education. Fish Tank is almost entirely hand held, shot on full frame 16mm. The cinematography is amazing, each frame could be its own perfect still image. The director must have been referencing photographers like Nan Goldin or Ryan McGinley. Michael Fassebender has a great role in the film. It’s a great depiction of a teenage girl, almost as if Dawn Wiener grew up in urban England.

I then rushed over the Gondola to see sneak preview of the newest Herzog film My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done? Herzog flew in from Venice to present the film along with two additional shorts. The first I don’t remember the title to but it was shot somewhere in Africa. The other was a short film by Ramin Bahrani titled “Plastic Bag” that Herzog narrates, playing the role of the plastic bag. I tried my best to stay awake for My Son, My Son. I really wanted to watch it because I think Michael Shannon is amazing. But I must of passed out during the opening sequence and then became conscious again at the closing credits. That happens to me every now and then. Oh well.

The final morning of the Festival, I debated between seeing the Viggo Mortensen tribute and the Daisan No Kagemusha: The Third Shadow Warrior, another Alexander Payne selection. I decided on the Mortensen tribute because the Third Shadow Warrior was screening all the way in Mountain Village. Additionally, I became a little exhausted of watching a film based on the rarity of it’s print. If you walk away from a film only being able to say “Well I’ll never be able to see that again,” it wasn’t really worth it and it’s a lame way to comfort yourself. I am guilty of that all the time. (I thrive off of the idea or potential of a film being amazing, it works out some of the time.) While watching his clip reel at the Viggo Tribute, I had totally forgot he was in Carlito’s Way, and he’s amazing in it. It really struck me how accomplished of an actor he is. His onstage interview was great, he mostly shared stories about his son and how he got involved in acting. When the interview concluded, John Hillcoat’s The Road was screened. The film was getting a lot of bad reviews from it’s premiere at Venice. I haven’t read them, but I think they might be right. I read the novel a couple years ago (which I enjoyed, but it's not McCarthy’s best) and for some reason the filmmakers decided to have the father narrate the story, which wasn’t how the book was told. I found it a little weird because I know that the father dies at the end, so it struck me as not the best approach (It worked in Sunset Blvd and Casino). The film has excessive flashbacks, the novel didn’t have as many. It is a very brutal story, but it seems like they made things more brutal than what they needed to be. Like the birth of the son. There’s a flashback of Chalize Theron standing up and screaming for her life during childbirth. It seemed a bit excessive and artificial. Since I knew the story and wasn’t that interested in how the film worked out, I left early to make it to the Labor Day Picnic at Town Park.

At the Picnic there was a seminar moderated by Anne Thompson titled “The Edge of Humor.” Speakers included George Gittoes, Nicholas Cage, Jason Reitman and Paul Schneider. These seminars are rarely informative as far as the topic goes, but they are great for personal anecdotes of the speakers.

The TBAs for Monday disappointed me. I put off seeing A Prophet to see the other films, hoping it would screen on the last day of the fest. It wasn’t and most of the films selected for TBAs I had already seen. So I went to the Great Expectations program of short films by non-student filmmakers. It’s always a big gamble to attend these screenings and this one didn’t pay off. The only notable short was called The Door, a film by an Irish filmmaker shot in the Ukraine concerning the effects of Chernobyl. The rest ranged from mediocre to horrible.

I didn’t want my Festival to end with the shorts program so I went to the outdoor screening of Jane Champion’s Bright Star. I withstood the cold weather as long as I could and enjoyed what I saw, but I gave in as the evening went on and the night grew colder.

In comparison to past Festivals, this year’s Telluride was my least favorite. I think overall 2009 is not the strongest year for films. The films I chose to attend (I felt) were safe bets as far as quality, but almost all of them under whelmed me. I’m still interested in seeing A Prophet, Farewell, The Last Station, The Miscreants of Taliwood, Vincere, Vision and Window. Hopefully they will be distributed. Unfortunately my work shifts coincided with most of the revival screenings, if I’m lucky I’ll be in the right place at the right time to see them. Back to Los Angeles. There’s a long list of September screenings I am eager to see there.

Interview

In front of the Palm Theatre, Telluride, CO, Thursday, September 3

Friends from San Francisco asked me to do a brief interview regarding my job at Telluride. My interview and others are here at SF360.org.

First Two Days

Opening Night Feed, Friday, September 4

Conversation with Michael Haneke, Saturday, September 5

The Festival opened on Friday with a screening of the complete Red Riding trilogy, a miniseries produced for British television. I watched the first installment Red Riding: 1974. I thought it was beautifully shot and wonderful to look at, but I lost interest in the story. I didn’t see any motivation for the lead character’s behavior and on top of that the actor portraying him wasn’t very good. For some strange reason, David Thomson said that Red Riding is superior to the Godfather trilogy. I don’t see any basis for comparison at all; I would never associate the two films.

After the screening, I went to the Opening Night Feed to eat and spend time with friends. Alexander Payne was accompanied Anouk Aimee to the Feed. Aimee is one of this year’s tributes. Even though my predictions were wrong, I am very excited about the actors and filmmakers selected this year for tributes.

Following the Feed I went to the first Alexander Payne selected screening of The Day of the Outlaw, an old western by Andre de Toth starring Robert Ryan. The film print was from the Scorcese’s personal collection. It had great scenes filmed in Wyoming during the winter. Afterwards, I caught Gigante, a charming romantic comedy from Uruguay.

On Saturday morning I woke up early to watch Todd Solondz’s new film Life During Wartime, by far the best film I’ve seen at the Festival so far. (I’ve also seen Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant and Lone Sherfig’s An Education and was under whelmed by both.) Welcome to the Dollhouse is still my favorite film by Todd Solondz, but I really feel that Life During Wartime is his best film. It is the perfect balance of dark, uncomfortable humor with dramatic insight. Every scene is its own perfect vignette, it’s so incredibly well written. The cast is amazing, Charlotte Rampling has a brief cameo and it’s so good. Beck and Devendra Banhart contributed to the soundtrack. Also, the film was shot on the RED and it looks great.

After work I caught the last minutes of Michael Haneke’s conversation with Scott Foundas. My favorite comment by Haneke: “I love working with children.” Then I tried to get into Fish Tank screening but the theatre was full so I went to the Sheridan Opera House to see the Anouk Aimee tribute. The tributes are always emotional and inspiring. Aimee shared stories about working with Fellini, Jacques Demy, Claude Lelouch, Robert Altman, Sidney Lumet; the list went on and on spanning over 60 years in the film industry and working on some of the greatest films ever made. (Model Shop, the film she made with Jacques Demy in Los Angeles was just released on DVD)

Afterwards I went to another Alexander Payne screening, this one titled El Verdugo, a 1963 Spanish film by Luis Garcia Berlanga.

The Show

Official Release:

36th Telluride Film Festival is pleased to present the following new feature films to play in the ‘SHOW’:
• A PROPHET (d. Jacques Audiard, Germany/Austria/France, 2009)
• AN EDUCATION (d. Lone Sherfig, U.K., 2009)
• BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS (d. Werner Herzog, U.S., 2009)
• BRIGHT STAR (d. Jane Campion, U.K./Australia/France, 2009)
• COCO BEFORE CHANEL (d. Anne Fontaine, France, 2009)
• FAREWELL (d. Christian Carion, France, 2009)
• FISH TANK (d. Andrea Arnold, U.K., 2009)
• GIGANTE (d. Adrián Biniez, Uruguay, 2009)
• HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOUT’S INFERNO (d. Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea, France, 2009)
• LIFE DURING WARTIME (d. Todd Solondz, U.S., 2009)
• LONDON RIVER (d. Rachid Bouchareb, U.K./France/Algeria, 2009)
• RED RIDING – three-part series: 1974 (d. Julian Jarrold, U.K., 2009); 1980 (d. James Marsh, U.K., 2009); 1983 (d. Anand Tucker, U.K., 2009)
• ROOM AND A HALF (d. Andrey Khrzhanovsky, Russia, 2009)
• SAMSON & DELILAH (d. Warwick Thornton, Australia, 2009)
• SLEEP FURIOUSLY (d. Gideon Koppel, U.K., 2007)
• TERRA MADRE (d. Ermanno Olmi, Italy, 2009)
• THE JAZZ BARONESS (d. Hannah Rothschild, U.K. 2009)
• THE LAST STATION (d. Michael Hoffman, U.K., 2009)
• THE MISCREANTS OF TALIWOOD (d. George Gittoes, Australia/Pakistan, 2009)
• THE ROAD (d. John Hillcoat, U.S., 2009)
• THE WHITE RIBBON (d. Michael Haneke, Germany/Australia/France, 2009)
• VINCERE (d. Marco Bellocchio, Italy, 2009)
• VISION (d. Margarethe von Trotta, Germany, 2009)
• WINDOW (d. Buddhadeb Dasgupta, India, 2009)

In keeping with Festival tradition, additional “Sneak Previews” are expected to surprise attendees over the weekend. Sneaks will be announced here. Stay tuned!

MEDALLION AWARDS
The 2009 Silver Medallion awards, given to recognize an artist’s significant contribution to the world of cinema, go to:
• ANOUK AIMÉE - French film star Anouk Aimée will receive the Silver Medallion followed by an onstage interview conducted by Scott Foundas (Friday) and Davia Nelson (Saturday). The program will include a screening of Jacques Demy’s 1961 film, LOLA, starring Aimée in her iconic role as the lovelorn burlesque dancer.
• VIGGO MORTENSEN – Telluride audiences will be the first to see American actor Viggo Mortensen’s performance in John Hillcoat’s THE ROAD. The film will be preceded by the presentation of the Silver Medallion and an onstage interview with Ken Burns (Sunday) and Davia Nelson (Monday).
• MARGARETHE VON TROTTA – Historical filmmaker, actress and a key member of New German Cinema, von Trotta will be presented with the Silver Medallion by Barbara Sukowa, followed by an onstage interview conducted by Annette Insdorf (Friday) and Gary Giddens (Saturday). A screening of Von Trotta’s latest film, VISION, will follow the program.

Lobster Films’ Serge Bromberg will receive this year’s Special Medallion award, which honors a “hero” of cinema, at the program “Retour de Flamme,” Bromberg’s famed live cinema show. Bromberg’s new film, HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOUT’S INFERNO plays in main program. Bromberg will also sign Flicker Alley DVD sets featuring works discovered and restored by Lobster Films.

GUEST DIRECTOR PROGRAMS
Guest Director Alexander Payne presents six forgotten film treasures from the past:
• EL VERDUGO (d. Luís García Berlanga, Spain, 1963)
• DAISAN NO KAGEMUSHA: THE THIRD SHADOW WARRIOR (d. Inoue Umetsugu, Japan, 1963)
• LE RAGAZZE DI PIAZZA DI SPAGNA (d. Luciano Emmer, Italy 1952)
• DAY OF THE OUTLAW (d. André De Tothe, U.S., 1959)
• THE BREAKING POINT (d. Michael Curtiz, U.S., 1950)
• MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (d. Orson Welles, U.S., 1937)

FILM REVIVALS
• LES NOUVEAUX MESSIEUR (d. Jacques Feyder, France, 1929) - With live music by Stephen Horne, performing his original score
• L’ARGENT (d. Marcel L’Herier, France, 1928) – Featuring the world premiere of a new score written and performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
• LOLA (d. Jacques Demy, France, 1961)
• MIRACLE OF MALACHIAS (d. Bernhard Wicki, Germany, 1961)
• TONI (d. Jean Renoir, France, 1934)


CELEBRATING MANNY FARBER
Our Celebration of Manny Farber includes a screening of one of Farber’s favorite films, TONI, followed by a panel discussion exploring Farber’s work with Greil Marcus, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Kent Jones, Robert Polito, Robert Walsh and Patricia Patterson. Following the panel, editor Robert Polito will sign copies of Farber On Film: The Complete Writings of Manny Farber.


POSTER ARTIST WILLIAM WEGMAN
Poster Artist William Wegman will present a selection of his short films followed by a conversation with art curator David Ross and the audience. Poster signing to follow. An exhibit of the posters with which Wegman experimented before selecting the final version will be on display at the Wegman Gallery, along with a series of original paintings created for Telluride and the unveiling of a second, limited edition poster. Gallery only open throughout the four-day Festival.

TALKING HEADS
Features six Conversations between Festival guests and the audience about film and culture, and three outdoor Seminars with a panel of Festival guests. These programs are free and open to the public.


ADDITIONAL FESTIVITIES
• Fellini’s Book of Dreams – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ exhibition includes reproductions of the 12-time Oscar nominee Federico Fellini’s dream-world sketches.
• Russian Master: Animation by Khrzhanovsky – A rare screening of Andrey Khrzhanovsky’s animated films. His debut feature ROOM AND A HALF plays in the main program.
• Alice Waters Book signing – Following the screening and intro of TERRA MADRE, Waters, vice president of Slow Foods International, will sign her classic Art of Simple Foods

Pre-Fest

I wrote this several days ago, but I didn't want to post it until today. Some of my predictions may have been correct and it could have gotten me into trouble since I'm staff. Now that the line up has been announced, it doesn't matter

On Wednesday I leave for Telluride for the fourth time. I’ve attended three of the past four Festivals (2006 being the year I couldn’t make it). I enjoy taking the time to guess what films and tributes could be held at each festival, mostly because it gives me a bit of an edge on deciding what to watch during an overwhelming weekend of films. Educating myself on certain filmmakers and films during the festival eats a lot of time, makes decisions harder.

Plus the guessing game is fun, mostly because I end up being completely wrong.

As of right now all that has been announced is Alexander Payne as Guest Director and a special tribute to Manny Farber. I am really looking forward to both.

TRIBUTES

As far as tributes, I’ve noticed a small discernable pattern during the past four years:

2005 Festival Tributees

Mickey Rooney

Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne

Charlotte Rampling

2006 Festival Tributees

Walter Murch

Penelope Cruz

Rolf de Heer

2007 Festival Tributees

Daniel Day-Lewis

Shayam Benegal

Michel Legrand

2008 Festival Tributees

David Fincher

Jean Simmons

Jan Troell

The directors of the Festival like choosing one notable figure from classic Hollywood, one contemporary figure established and active in Hollywood, and a foreign filmmaker still largely unknown to the U.S. Based on this pattern my ideal Telluride Tribute would be:

Tom Waits

Martin Scorcese

(I don’t know who for the foreign filmmaker, because well, I’m American)

Tom Waits because he’s a personal favorite and has collaborated on so many great films by either acting or providing music. The tribute reel could have great clips from works by Coppola, Jarmusch, Altman and Robert Frank. Then show portions of his upcoming role in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Then on stage Q&A followed by a live performance. That would be amazing.

Martin Scorcese, unless he hasn’t already had a tribute. He may have. But now that the release of Shutter Island has been pushed back, he may have time to stop by. He could also receive the Festival’s Special Medallion for film preservation. I’m hoping one day Bob Rosen will receive that award.

I don’t know of anyone for the foreign filmmaker tributee mostly because, well I’m still learning about film, and Telluride still has the ability to surprise me with work I’ve never seen before. I could guess someone but it wouldn’t be nearly as good as the person they will choose. Last years tribute to Jan Troell was amazing. It really rearranged how I thought and felt about filmmaking.

FILMS

Tran Ahn Hung’s I Come With the Rain is the only film I’m really wishing to show. If this film alone screened, I would be thrilled. Well, no . . . . Paul Greengrass’s Green Zone would be amazing as would Where the Wild Things Are. The rest of the films are simple predictions and I’m not as invested on whether or not they screen. I’ll see them eventually.

The White Ribbon - Haneke’s newest work and the 2009 Palme d’Or winner. Very excited about this one. I met Haneke when he brought Cache for the 2005 festival.

A Prophet - Audiard’s newest work and 2009 Grand Prix winner. I started The Beat My Heart Skipped but I didn’t finish it. And I don’t really care if I do.

Kinatay - Winner of 2009 Cannes Best Director for Brillante Mendoza.

Spring Fever - Winner of 2009 Cannes Best Screenplay

Samson and Delilah - Winner of 2009 Camera d’or for Warwick Thornton

Ajami - Winner of 2009 Camera d’or Special Distinction

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - Herzog’s newest films are almost certain to show at Telluride, but Herzog might not be there because the film is in competition at Venice

The Road - Also in competition in Venice

Life During Wartime - Solodnz new film, also playing at Venice

Amelia - Mira Nair’s new film

An Education - Sundance hit by Lone Scherfig. I think it’s a Nick Hornby adaptation

A Serious Man - Coen Bros. Not likely

Bright Star - Jane Campion. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was a tributee

Up in the Air - New Jason Reitman

Several of the films I’ve listed I don’t care if I ever see, particularly Amelia and Up in the Air. Last year I unfortunately missed Hunger and Revanche and instead saw Slumdog Millionaire, Adam Resurrected and Kisses; all of which I didn’t care for. Hopefully I’ll do better this year, both in predictions and deciding on which screenings to attend.