Wednesday 25 July 2007

Goin' out west


This evening I will be starting a bus journey through Europe to London in what is perhaps the most foolhardy of endeavours. I will continue posting when possible and in an oblique manner documenting the journey visually on Noodles.

And in a fit of the obvious, this seems an appropriate moment to post this gem:


Tuesday 24 July 2007

The Darjeeling Limited


The trailer for Wes Anderson's latest, The Darjeeling Limited has surfaced online. See the trailer below and here is the synopsis courtesy of Fox Searchlight:
THE DARJEELING LIMITED starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman is an emotional comedy about three brothers re-forging family bonds. The eldest, played by Wilson, hopes to reconnect with his two younger siblings by taking them on a train trip across the vibrant and sensual landscape of India.




Links:
Fox Searchlight
Supplemental video link
Wes Anderson wiki
Film Ick (source) + Quicktime links

Monday 23 July 2007

Interview: KEETRA DEAN DIXON


The work of Keetra reminds me of the pet projects of Amelie of Montmartre with their infusion of optimism and rich creative nature. Indeed, the parallels continue with the inspirational imagery provided in the course of this interview as well as her fascinating photobooth imagery.

Her creations demonstrate not only a mature aesthetic sensibility but a unique view of the world that is at once unpredictable yet consistently her own. A number of artists working commercially often find that their commercial work spills into their personal work, but in Keetra's case her personal work is dominant. It is her personal vision that permeates her commercial designs. They fit seamlessly with her independent creations.



With little background information available online, she has provided the following information as a background to her work:
----------------------------------------
A Character Profile of Keetra Dean Dixon, by Joshua Walton.
Some clarification, by Keetra Dean.
----------------------------------------

Keetra prefers the trashier version of a grilled cheese sandwich.
She used to live in an Igloo and fight bears on a daily basis for survival.

KEETRA DEAN:
I was born & raised Alaskan.

Joshua:
She only eats the flesh of other designers.

KEETRA DEAN:
I fall on the veggie side of things, but that never squelches my competitive nature.

Joshua:
She'll punch you (HARD) in the face if you say she can't live without electricity for a week.

KEETRA DEAN:
I DON'T NEED NO ELECTRIC!

Joshua:
She feels that cars move too slow and days move too quick.

KEETRA DEAN:
True.

Joshua:
If she ever went to prison she would design the best tats for people.
Oh, and one more thing, she can outshoot me at the gun range every time so keep her on your side for the zombie invasion.

----------------------------------------
Some standard stats:
Education: MFA, Cranbrook Academy of Art + BFA, Minneapolis College of Art & Design
Owns her own studio, From Keetra, in NYC. Often collaborates with the Time and Place Workshop.

And so with heaps of appreciation, I'm very pleased to present the following interview with Keetra.

SIOUXFIRE: Were you creative as a child? Were there any key moments while growing up that shape your work? And at what point did you decide that ‘art’ was your calling?
KEETRA DEAN:
Both of my parents have had careers focusing on practical fabrication - seamstress & metal smith. So I grew up in a hands on environment, but I don't think I was any more or less creative than other children. I did make my first cash in high school doing portraits of friends & people in the community. It went from there.


SIOUXFIRE: Are there similarities between how you approach a personal and commercial project? And what are the differences?
KEETRA DEAN: I approach commercial work like I approach gift giving. "What would ____________(insert client name) REALLY want for their Birthday?" Where as un-commissioned work is a present all for me! It's problem solving VS a more indulgent exploration. Either way I am looking to make someone smile.


The Artistry of JAPANESE SWEETS


Attempting to describe the virtues of oriental sweets to westerners is difficult. The doughy, gnocchi-like textures, tempered sweetness, and marzipan-like shapes are a refreshing alternative to the sugared sweets typically on offer in the west. Their colours and aesthetic are wonders on their own.

Given the attention that food has received recently in arts circles, I can't help but consider the possibilities in the mediums used in these confectioneries. Ferran Adrià, chef and proprietor of El Bulli was featured in this year's Documenta art show which kicked off that perennial and pointless question of "Is it art?"

PingMag have a fascinating post on wagashi(Japanese sweets) and their reflections in colour and scent of the seasons for which they are made. Read it HERE and should you have the opportunity to sample oriental sweets, do not let it pass.

Links:
PingMag article
Is food art? - Guardian Unlimited article
Documenta 12
Toraya - Japanese confectionery
Wagashi - Tokyo Cube article
Wagashi wiki

Wagashi Japanese Bakery (London) 02086991393

Sunday 22 July 2007

Featurette: CY TWOMBLY


In a career spanning 5 decades, Cy Twombley's work makes use of a wide variety of mediums and styles often with foundations in classicial arts. His work is difficult to pin down but its subtle balance between order and chaos, comfort and angst is compulsive viewing.

See more of his work and learn more about Cy Twombly at the links below.



Links:
Cy Twombly - Tate Collection
Cy Twombly - Lingering at the Threshold (Tate Etc)
Cy Twombly Gallery - The Menil Collection
Assessing Cy Twombly - Slate Magazine image essay
Cy Twombly - Artscenecal
Cy Twombly - Centre Pompidou (book)
Cy Twombly - Wiki

Friday 20 July 2007

SIOUXSIE SIOUX: Into a Swan video


I'm not sure if it's comforting or disappointing to find bands from my youth returning exactly as I remember them. Here is the first video(dir. Harvey & Carolyn) released from Siouxsie Sioux's new solo album MantaRay as well as a classic.




The single Into a Swan will be released on the 27th of August with the full album MantaRay scheduled for the 10th of September.

Links:
Siouxsie & the Banshees/Creatures
Harvey & Carolyn
if:mv (source) with Quicktime
Siouxsie Wiki
MantaRay

Wednesday 18 July 2007

Introducing RAOUL SERVAIS


Born in Ostend, Belgium in 1928, Raoul Servais studied Decorative Arts at the Ghent Royal Academy of Fine Arts and started his career in moving images with a short animated titled Spokenhistorie ("Ghost Story"). Made with fellow students and the support of his teacher, Albert Vermeiren, Servais made use of a homemade camera constructed from a cigar box in its creation.

After serving in the military during the second World War and experimenting with short films, he becomes the youngest member of a team working with René Magritte who became furious with him for offering technical advice to the master. In spite of this, Servais' admiration for Magritte doesn't falter. Through his political commitments, he finds work illustrating for the Labour and Socialist movements.


In the sixties, his appointment as teacher of decorative arts at the Ghent Academy of Fine Arts finally provides him with the support and stability to pursue his aspirations in film and animation. He founds Europe's first department of animation and begins work on his individual and eclectic collection of films.

In the late seventies, he creates and registers Servaisgraphy, a technique by which he shoots live action characters and prints them on cellophane which allowed him to integrate live action shots into animated backgrounds. The first work to feature this was Harpya (1979) and he would use it further in Taxandria(1994) and Nocturnal Butterflies(1998).


Despite finding success throughout his career with prestigious accolades, he has not been shy in making dramatic changes between works. Below are a selection of some of Servais' work in Flash format. Links to vendors for DVDs featuring his work are available in the links.


Chromophobia - 1965


Harpya (The Harpy) 1979


Nachtvlinders (Nocturnal Butterflies) 1997

Links:
Raoul Servais
FilmRef.com
Raoul Servais interview - AWN
DVD Beaver - Raoul Servais
Raoul Servais DVD - xploitedcinema.com

Tuesday 17 July 2007

Interview: ELIJAH GOWIN

The work of Elijah Gowin spans the documentary tone of his Lonnie Holley series to the whimsical narratives of "Hymnal of Dreams" to the ethereal and timeless imagery of his "Of Falling & Floating" series.

Despite the diverse nature of his collections, Gowin manages to keep his mark. Themes transcend his work: isolation, fragility, and the integration of new and old media.
With a willingness to broaden his work and intriguing new projects on the horizon, I was very grateful to Elijah for sparing the time to provide some insight into his work.

Elijah Gowin is now an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City where he directs photographic studies.

Would you say your work has progressed and/or changed since your work on projects like the Lonnie Holley or Hymnal of Dreams series?
Certainly much has changed in my methods of making a photograph from those earlier series made mostly in the 1990s. The new millennium brought many changes personally and globally and I saw it as an opportunity to reinvent how I made my art.


I think as I have aged (I have a family now and moved to Kansas City for a teaching position five years ago) I have been able to step back and deal with issues outside of the region that fueled my early work-namely the landscape and mythology of the Southeastern United States. I am much less internal as an artist these days and am able to empathize better with others around the world. I am looking more to picture a wider world psychology rather than my own.

But hopefully people see a few links from the older to newer series. I continue to push the alternatives to straight photography and am still interested in ritual and the landscape.

Featurette: MARK JENKINS

Mark Jenkins's tape sculptures are compulsive viewing spanning the realistic to the surreal. Often times, his figures are perfectly convincing in stature and pose but either their stillness or pose itself (sometimes impossible -- see below) render them a step outside the rational.

See more of his work ranging from the disturbing to the hilarious at his site.


Links:
Mark Jenkins
Interview (The Morning News)
LAZinc

Monday 16 July 2007

Lars Skjelbreia's & Seabear's "Hands Remember"


This stop-motion video from director Lars Skjelbreia's for the Seabear's single Hands Remember is a beautiful mix of imagery. Here is the Flash version. Links for higher resolution Quicktime and MP4 renditions are listed below(recommended).


Links:
Lars Skjelbreia
Seabear MySpace
Quicktime
MP4
YouTube link

Sunday 15 July 2007

Boredom a myth?


The emotion of boredom is often overlooked though reading reviews heavily over the past several months, it crops up regularly in terms of art. It's never rested easy with me as I have quite a high boredom threshold. My response to boredom is to think/imagine and sometimes, I think artists make use of this reflex to encourage the viewer to do just that.

The British Psychological Society posted an article on John Eastwood of York University(Toronto, Ontario) whose research suggests that boredom has less to do with external stimulation and more to do with how well we know ourselves.

It found that students who were susceptible to boredom were more externally focused and had difficulty identifying their emotions. Eastwood and his colleagues believe seeking outside stimulations and distractions from ourselves leads to further isolation.

From the BPS Research Digest Article:
“Like the trap of quicksand, such thrashing only serves to strengthen the grip of boredom by further alienating us from our desire and passion, which provide compass points for satisfying engagement with life”, [John Eastwood and his team] said. Instead the researchers suggest treating boredom as an opportunity to “discover the possibility and content of one’s desires”


Links:
BPS Research Digest post
A desire for desires: Boredom and its relation to alexithymia
John Eastwood (York University Ontario)

Friday 13 July 2007

The Voyeur Project

The Voyeur Project from BBDO New York forHBO looks to be an interesting proposition employing the real time techniques of Mike Figgis Timecode with transparent walls. Each floor was filmed separately with its own clock for timing the interaction between each set and the entire collection was then composited by VFX house Asylum. This promotion was directed by Jake Scott of RSA.

Here is the trailer in Flash format. The Quicktime version is available HERE.


Here is Michel Gondry's video for Massive Attack's Protection which makes use of transparent walls though in this case, it was all created in-camera:



Then there's Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window which didn't employ open walls but did make use of a massive, real time set:



The Story Gets Deeper
HBO Voyeur Quicktime
HBO Voyeur YouTube
Motionographer article
FEED article
Asylum FX
Protection YouTube
Rear Window YouTube

Thursday 12 July 2007

Introducing SASKIA OLDE WOLBERS


Since completing her MA at Chelsea College of Art & Design in 1996, Saskia Olde Wolbers has gained considerable notoriety for her work. In her films, she uses narration together with bristling and fantastic settings to pull together literary, sculptural, and cinematic elements taking inspiration from contemporary mythology, news, and documentaries.

Creating her miniature sets entirely by hand in a painstaking process that often spans years, she develops her imagery without computers opting for a lo-fi approach with stunning and unique results. She inverts our perspective in paddling pools and miniature sets using diverse (and often discarded) materials.

This ingenuity and tangibility is part of the charm in her work. She subverts our perceptions of the world and brings to life her vision within the confines of our own world. At once, her work is real, tactile, and dream-like.


From a narrative standpoint, her work reminds me of the magical realism of writers like Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar. In particular, I am reminded of Cortazar's inversion of reality in stories like Axolotl and Blow-up.

Her films from a cinematic standpoint have elements reminiscent of Matthew Barney (with whom she has been compared), David Lynch, Jean-Luc Goddard, Maya Derren, Chris Marker, Michel Gondry and Zbig Rybczynski.

In her latest film Trailer, a man is looking for answers after discovering that his parents were B-movie film stars in the 1930s who disappeared in the jungle. He has surpassed his parents age in terms of their preserved image on screen and as he narrates, the imagery passes between an empty, blood-red cinema and structural imagery of the jungle.

The narrative is absorbing, skillful and well-defined. Combined with her strong visual language, it's a symphony. I am eagerly anticipating the opportunity to see more of her captivating work.


Saskia was awarded the Baloise Prize at the Basel Art Fair in 2003 and the Becks' Futures Award at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London. She was born in Breda, Netherlands in 1971 and currently lives and works in London. Her works to date include: Octet(1997), Cosmos(1998), Day-Glo(1999), Kilowatt Dynasty (2000), Placebo(2002), Interloper(2003), Trailer(2005).


Links:
Saskia Olde Wolbers (Creative Time) - video/quicktime
Saskia Olde Wolbers (Saatchi Gallery)
Saskia Olde Wolbers (the-artists.org)
Trailer - South London Gallery
Trailer - BBC Collective
Trailer - NYArts
Narration Text (Trailer/Placebo/Interloper/Kilowatt Dynasty) - PDF
BBC News - Winning Beck's Futures
Fantasy: Brian Griffiths, Chad McCail, Saskia Olde Wolbers (Tate) - video/realplayer*
Don't be ashamed to cry - Galleries.NL
Placebo/Interloper (Drawn by reality)
Saskia Olde Wolbers (Artforum 2002)
South London Gallery
Chelsea College of Art & Design

* As an alternative to RealPlayer I recommend Media Player Classic

Tuesday 10 July 2007

DAVID MAISEL's "Library of Dust"


When I first saw Library of Dust, I thought it was interesting in that it echoed David Maisel's Black Maps project which consisted of aerial photographs. Library of Dust felt like the micro to the macro of Black Maps.

If you've read Andrew Blum's article in the last Snippets, you might recall the reference to Jorge Luis Borges' short story On Exactitude in Science which tells of an empire so fixated on cartography that they created a map of its domain on a 1:1 scale. That story and the linkage between representation and scale were the thoughts that went through my mind on first observation of Library of Dust.


And then a revelation: I read the background to the project and the images became even more profound. For those who wish to share the approach which I took, I'll spare spoiling the experience. What I can say is that comparisons of the perspectives of being with and without particular knowledge was interesting in itself.

Library of Dust will be published as a monograph by Chronicle Books, with a fall 2008 release. In addition, Library of Dust will be featured in an exhibition opening this month at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.


Links:
David Maisel
Chronicle Books
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

* images posted with the kind permission of David Maisel

Monday 9 July 2007

SiouxWIRE Snippets 4.0


Another fresh batch of links to various articles of interest from the last fortnight:

My life as a smoker (audio slideshow)
Alan Sillitoe, BBC News
Alan Sillitoe reminisces on a life of cigarettes as a ban on pub smoking looms.

Who is an artist(and who decides)?
Joerg Colberg/Ed Winkleman, Conscientious / Edward_ Winkleman
The scientist who can't bear to be called an artist

The novelist who got beaten up by his own characters
Giles Foden, Guardian Unlimited
A French author has been assaulted by the neighbours he wrote about. What are the responsibilities of writers who describe people still living?

Art on the cutting edge?
Brigitte Werneburg, Sign and Sight
Is today's art no more than the fashion of the day? Are there only niches in art, each with its own cutting edge?

Dreaming in code
Andrew Blum, Metropolis Magazine
Jonathan Harris distills the Web’s infinite avalanche of thoughts, facts, and feelings into exquisitely framed portraits of humanity.

Save our film heritage from the political vandals
Colin MacCabe, Guardian Unlimited
The dismantling of the British Film Institute.

Fractured Franchise
Louis Menand, The New Yorker
Are the wrong people voting?

The perpetual myth of free energy
Professor Sir Eric Ash, BBC News
"Marvelous things can happen in this world."

A Missed Wonder & 7 Postcards


So with the unveiling of the new "Seven Wonders of the World" inexplicably getting more publicity than it really should and germinating from a Dubious (yes, capital D) process, I was reminded of a recent modern wonder that is among many incredible structures built in the name of science, the Super-Kamiokande neutrino observatory in Japan.

1000 meters underground in a disused mine, consisting of 50,000 tons of pure heavy water, 11,200 photomultiplier tubes, 41.4 meters tall, and 39.3 meters across, the Super-Kamiokande's purpose is hard to grasp (neutrino observation) but its beauty both in terms of aesthetics and theory is not.

So where does science fall into the public's conscience in terms of "wonder"? The world's larger satellite arrays could easily dwarf the Taj Majal (not that that's hard to do), but are we resistant to accepting something utilitarian as beautiful? Or something sourced from science as art?

Take for example, photographer Felice Frankel who revolutionized scientific photography but doesn't feel her works merit being called art. She cites that they don't sell and have no emotional investment as they simply record phenomena. Edward Winkleman has the full story on his blog.

Returning to the original "New Seven Wonders" (Does that not sound like a new cola or boy band?), it is undeniably flawed. Did everyone voting visit all these wonders? Or consider the creator's motivation? Or even simply think about why a list like this is even necessary?

UNESCO has stated the following in regard to the "New Seven":

In order to avoid any damaging confusion, UNESCO wishes to reaffirm that there is no link whatsoever between UNESCO’s World Heritage programme, which aims to protect world heritage, and the current campaign concerning “The New 7 Wonders of the World”.

This campaign was launched in 2000 as a private initiative by Bernard Weber, the idea being to encourage citizens around the world to select seven new wonders of the world by popular vote.

Although UNESCO was invited to support this project on several occasions, the Organizaton decided not to collaborate with Mr. Weber.

UNESCO’s objective and mandate is to assist countries in identifying, protecting and preserving World Heritage. Acknowledging the sentimental or emblematic value of sites and inscribing them on a new list is not enough. Scientific criteria must be defined, the quality of candidates evaluated, and legislative and management frameworks set up. The relevant authorities must also demonstrate commitment to these frameworks as well as to permanently monitoring the state of conservation of sites. The task is one of technical conservation and political persuasion. There is also a clear educational role with respect to the sites’ inherent value, the threats they face and what must be done to prevent their loss.

There is no comparison between Mr Weber’s mediatised campaign and the scientific and educational work resulting from the inscription of sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The list of the “7 New Wonders of the World” will be the result of a private undertaking, reflecting only the opinions of those with access to the internet and not the entire world. This initiative cannot, in any significant and sustainable manner, contribute to the preservation of sites elected by this public.


Links:
Kamioka Observatory
Super-Kamiokande wiki
UNESCO
Felice Frankel (MIT)
Edward Winkleman blog

* Title image composited from photographs credited to Kamioka Observatory, ICRR(Institute for Cosmic Ray Research), The University of Tokyo, originally found on Pruned

Sunday 8 July 2007

WORLD CINEMA FILMS & DIRECTORS - PART 2: Klimov to Yimou


It looks so simple yet is so much work. This is the second part of the list continued from HERE.

Elem Klimov - wiki / more info
Agony, Come and See

Masaki Kobayashi - wiki / more info
The Human Condition trilogy, Harakiri

Satoshi Kon - wiki / more info
Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress

Akira Kurosawa - wiki / more info
Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Dersu Uzala, Ran

Emir Kusturica - wiki / more info
Time of the Gypsies, Underground

Edvin Laine - wiki
The Unknown Soldier

Fritz Lang - wiki / more info
Der Müde Tod (Destiny), Metropolis, M

Claude Lanzmann - wiki / more info
Shoah

Patrice Leconte - wiki / more info
Monsieur Hire, Le Mari de la coiffeuse (The Hairdresser's Husband)

Ang Lee - wiki / more info
The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman, The Ice Storm

Sergio Leone - wiki / more info
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in America

Majid Majidi - wiki / more info
Children of Heaven, The Willow Tree

Louis Malle - wiki / more info
Les Amants, Le Voleur, Au revoir les enfants, Damage

Julio Medem - wiki / more info
The Red Squirrel, Sex and Lucia

Fernando Meirelles - wiki / more info
City of God


Jean-Pierre Melville - wiki / more info
Les Enfants Terribles, Le Samourai,Le Cercle Rouge (The Red Circle)

Hayao Miyazaki - wiki / more info
My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away

Kenji Mizoguchi - wiki / more info
The 47 Ronin, Miss Oyu, The Life of Oharu

Lukas Moodysson - wiki / more info
Fucking Åmål, Tillsammans(Together)

Fei Mu - wiki / more info
Spring in a Small Town

F. W. Murnau - wiki / more info
Nosferatu, The Last Laugh, Sunrise

Idrissa Ouedraogo - wiki / more info
Tilaï (The Law), Yam Daabo, Le Cri du cœur (Heart's Cry)

François Ozon - wiki / more info
Water Drops on Burning Rocks, 8 Femmes, Swimming Pool

Yasujiro Ozu - wiki / more info
There Was a Father, Tokyo Story, Late Autumn

G. W. Pabst - wiki / more info
Die Büchse der Pandora(Pandora's Box), The Threepenny Opera

Jafar Panahi - wiki / more info
The White Balloon, The Circle

Sergei Paradjanov - wiki / more info
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, Sayat nova


Chan-wook Park - wiki / more info
Old Boy

Pier Paolo Pasolini - wiki / more info
Accatone, Teorema, Il Decameron

Roman Polanski - wiki / more info
Repulsion, Cul-de-Sac, Chinatown, Death & the Maiden

Luis Puenzo - wiki / more info
The Official Story

Jean-Paul Rappeneau - wiki / more info
Le Sauvage, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Horseman on the Roof

Satyajit Ray - wiki / more info
Pather Panchali, Aparaijito, Hirok Rajar Deshe (The Kingdom of Diamonds)

Jean Renoir - wiki / more info
La Grand Illusion, La Regle du Jeu

Alain Resnais - wiki / more info
Hiroshima mon amour, Last Year at Marienbad

Jacques Rivette - wiki / more info
Paris nous appartient, La Bande des Quatre, La Belle Noiseuse

Glauber Rocha - wiki / more info
Terra em Transe, Câncer

Eric Rohmer - wiki / more info
Die Marquise von O, Le Rayon Vert (The Green Ray), L'Amour l'apres-midi

Walter Salles - wiki / more info
Central do Brasil (Central Station)


Carlos Saura - wiki / more info
Peppermint Frappé, Cria Cuervos (Feeding the Ravens)

Volker Schlondorff - wiki / more info
The Tin Drum

Ousmane Sembène - wiki / more info
La Noire de…(The Black Girl), Xala, Moolaadé

Vittorio De Sica - wiki / more info
The Bicycle Thieves, Umberto D., La Ciociara (Two Women)

Arne Skouen - wiki / more info
Ni Liv (Nine Lives)

Josef von Sternberg - wiki / more info
The Salvation Hunters, Morocco, Shanghai Gesture

Jan Svankmajer - wiki / more info
Alice, Faust, Otesánek(Little Otik)

Jan Sverák - wiki / more info
Obecná škola, Jizda (The Ride), Kolja(Kolya)

István Szabó - wiki / more info
Szerelmesfilm(Love Film), Mephisto

Andrei Tarkovsky - wiki / more info
Andrei Rublev, Solaris, The Mirror, Stalker


Hiroshi Teshigahara - wiki / more info
Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, Rikyu

Giuseppe Tornatore - wiki / more info
Cinema Paradiso, Malèna

Lars von Trier - wiki / more info
Europa, Breaking the Waves, The Idiots, Dogville

Jan Troell - wiki / more info
Här har du ditt liv(This is your life), The Emigrants

Margarethe von Trotta - wiki / more info
The Second Awakening of Christa Klages, The Promise

Francois Truffaut - wiki / more info
The 400 Blows, La Peau Douce, Jules and Jim

Agnès Varda - wiki / more info
Cléo de 5 à 7, Le Petit Amour, The Gleaners and I

Jean Vigo - wiki / more info
Zéro de conduite, L'Atalante

Luchino Visconti - wiki / more info
The Leopard, Death in Venice

Andrzej Wajda - wiki / more info
Ashes & Diamonds, Danton

Apichatpong Weerasethakul - wiki / more info
Sud Sanaeha (Blissfully Yours)

Wim Wenders - wiki / more info
Kings of the Road, Paris Texas, Wings of Desire

Robert Wiene - wiki / more info
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Edward Yang - wiki / more info
Taipei Story, A Brighter Summer Day, Yi Yi

Zhang Yimou - wiki / more info
Raise the Red Lantern, The Story of Qiu Ju, To Live


Links:
Criterion
DVDBeaver
GreenCINE foreign films
Masters of Cinema
Senses of Cinema

Featurette: FRANCK JUERY

Photographer Franck Juery has an interesting and diverse collection of personal work on his site. See his generous collection of images HERE. The above image is from his collection Haiku.

Links:
Franck Juery
Defocused (source)

Saturday 7 July 2007

Friday 6 July 2007

WORLD CINEMA FILMS & DIRECTORS - PART 1: Almodóvar to Kitano


With the number of lists and posts flying around in response to The Guardian's 1000 Films To See Before You Die, here is the first part of a list of international directors and films each with a link to their wiki as well as supplemental sites where available. The inspiration was a post at GreenCine Daily.

It should also be noted that this is just a list. I prepared this principally by memory and browsing my DVD collection. Hopefully, some of these directors and/or films will be new to you. In time, I will create a more definitive list which will expand on this selection.

And if you can't see your favourite international director whose name fits between A and Kitano or you have suggestions, post a comment. Part 2 is posted HERE.

Pedro Almodóvar - wiki / more info
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Volver

Gianni Amelio - wiki / more info
Stolen Children, Lamerica

Theo Angelopoulos - wiki / more info
Ulysses' Gaze, Eternity and a Day

Michelangelo Antonioni - wiki / more info
L'avventura, Zabriskie Point

Gabriel Axel - wiki / more info
Babette's Feast

Ingmar Bergman - wiki / more info
The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Fanny & Alexander

Claude Berri - wiki / more info
Jean de Florette, Manon des Source, Germinal

Bernardo Bertolucci - wiki / more info
The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor

Robert Bresson - wiki / more info
L'argent, The devil,_probably

Luis Buñuel - wiki / more info
L'Âge d'or, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Jane Campion - wiki / more info
An Angel at my Table, The Piano

Marcel Camus - wiki / more info
Black Orpheus

Ivo Caprino - wiki / more info
Pinchcliffe Grand Prix

Marcel Carne - wiki / more info
Les Enfants du Paradis

Nuri Bilge Ceylan - wiki / more info
Kasaba(Small Town), Uzek(Distant)


Claude Chabrol - wiki / more info
Les Biches(The Does), Le Boucher, Merci pour le chocolat

Souleymane Cissé - wiki / more info
Den Muso(The Girl), Yeelen(Light)

Rene Clair - wiki / more info
Le Voyage Imaginaire

Rene Clement - wiki / more info
Plein Soleil, Jeux Interdits

Henri-Georges Clouzot - wiki / more info
Les Diaboliques

Jean Cocteau - wiki / more info
La Belle et la Bête, Orphée

Jacques Demy - wiki / more info
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

Alexander Dovzhenko - wiki / more info
Zvenigora

Carl Theodor Dreyer - wiki / more info
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, Vampyr

Sergei Eisenstein - wiki / more info
The Battleship Potemkin, October (Ten Days That Shook the World)

Victor Erice - wiki / more info
El Espíritu de la Colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive), Dream of Light

Rainer Werner Fassbinder - wiki / more info
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven, Berlin Alexanderplatz

Federico Fellini - wiki / more info
I Vitelloni, La Dolce Vita, 8½, Satyricon

Georges Franju - wiki / more info
Les Yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face)

Abel Gance - wiki / more info
J'accuse, La Roue, Napoléon

Jean-Luc Godard - wiki / more info
A Bout du Souffle(Breathless), Vivre sa vie (My Life to Live), Bande à part (Band of Outsiders)

Michael Haneke - wiki / more info
Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages, La Pianiste

Werner Herzog - wiki / more info
Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Nosferatu, Woyzeck, Fitzcarraldo

Oliver Hirschbiegel - wiki / more info
Der Untergang(Downfall)

Agnieszka Holland - wiki / more info
Aktorzy Prowincjonalni(Provincial Actors), Europa Europa

Lasse Hallström - wiki / more info
Mitt liv som hund(My Life as a Dog)

Jan Hřebejk - wiki / more info
Musíme si pomáhat (Divided We Fall), Pelíšky (Cosy Dens)

Hou Hsiao-hsien - wiki / more info
Cheerful Wind, A City of Sadness, Café Lumière

Tran Anh Hung - wiki / more info
The Scent of Green Papaya


Kon Ichikawa - wiki / more info
Her Brother, An Actor's Revenge

Alejandro González Iñárritu - wiki / more info
Amores Perros

Miklos Jancso - wiki / more info
Szegénylegények(The Round-Up), Magyar rapszódia (Hungarian Rhapsody)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet - wiki / more info
Delicatessen(with Marc Caro), Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain

Wong Kar-wai - wiki / more info
Chungking Express, Happy Together, In the Mood for Love

Abbas Kiarostami - wiki / more info
A Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us

Krzysztof Kieslowski - wiki / more info
Blind Chance, La Double vie de Véronique, Three Colours Trilogy

Ki-duk Kim- wiki / more info
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring

Takeshi Kitano - wiki / more info
Sonatine, Hana-bi, Dolls, Kantoku Banzai

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