A recap of the screenings and events at the 2015 Middleburg Film Festival.
Highlights of the live-action portion of 2015's D23, featuring "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," "Captain America: Civil War," and more!
At a panel hosted by Chaz Ebert, journalists and film industry members shared their thoughts on empathy.
"Selma" director Ava DuVernay and star David Oyelowo discuss their collaboration at the Film Independent Directors Close-Ups.
A highlights piece of the 2014 Urbanworld Film Festival with a focus on "Beyond the Lights," "Addicted" and "Selma."
Missing Roger's Oscars prognostications and his top ten lists. And making a list of my own.
The Oscars race has hit a holiday lull. It's a good time to pause and take stock of nominations.
By all accounts, 2013 has been a striking year for black film directors. But is the real story about black directors working in television?
Critics groups from around the country are giving awards. What impact do these awards have on the Oscar race, and how useful are they as predictors?
Matthew McConaughey talks about how he is dealing with the Oscar buzz around his "Dallas Buyers Club" performance.
"12 Years a Slave" and "The Butler" are part of a valuable subgenre of American film that dramatizes the fallacy of "Black respectability"—the notion that if African-Americans will only speak, dress and behave in a certain way, discrimination won't affect them, and they'll reap the American dream.
Lee Daniels, the director of "Lee Daniels' The Butler," discusses his personal stakes in the story and working with Forest Whitaker on the way the character grows and changes.
Jenji Kohan on why she can write women of color; a campaign to save drive-in theaters; Danny Boyle's 15 rules of moviemaking; Lee Daniels on how racism impacted funding for "The Butler"; memoirist Laura Bogart on writing and anger.
Marie writes: There was a time when Animation was done by slaves with a brush in one hand and a beer in the other. Gary Larson's "Tales From the Far Side" (1994) was such a project. I should know; I worked on it. Produced by Marv Newland at his Vancouver studio "International Rocketship", it first aired as a CBS Halloween special (Larson threw a party for the crew at the Pan Pacific Hotel where we watched the film on a big screen) and was later entered into the 1995 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix. It spawned a sequel "Tales From the Far Side II" (1997) - I worked on that too. Here it is, below.
Marie writes: It's that time of year again! Behold the shortlisted nominees for The Turner Prize: 2012. Below, Turner Prize nominee Spartacus Chetwynd performs 'Odd Man Out 2011' at Tate Britain on October 1, 2012 in London, England.
(click image to enlarge.)
Marie writes: This week's Newsletter arrives a day early and lighter than usual, as come Tuesday morning, I'll be on a Ferry heading to Pender Island off the West Coast, where I've arranged to visit old friends for a few days and enjoy my first vacation in two years; albeit a brief one. No rest for the wicked. :-)
