University of Pennsylvania student Anna Adler has been diligently keeping us up to date on her trip to the Cannes Film Festival. This is her final post. Enjoy!
I can't believe it has come time for me to leave already! This was such a unique and truly outstanding experience. On Friday, we (the students) had a number of meetings with the program regarding our final paper, which we have a month to complete after the trip is over. Because of this, I did not see any movies that day because the screening times didn't correlate with these other commitments. Instead, Jeff Berg, who is the chairman and CEO of International Creative Management (ICM) (and also a Penn parent), invited us all to his suite at the Carlton Hotel to talk to us about his career path. In particular, he discussed the way in which he broke into the entertainment industry and moved up to his high position. I thought one great piece of advice he gave was to really try to see films of cultures with which you are unfamiliar. Cannes is the perfect opportunity to do this because it is where industry professionals come together from all over the world and display their respective creative works. I believe that I have really challenged myself as a "voyeur" throughout this program--I used to be a little bit intimidated and resistant to watching something so different from what I was used to. Now, I have seen so many amazing films that I know I would have never chosen to see had I not been here, and as a result, will be more open in the future.
Today (Sunday) started out very frustrating, and I thought I was going to have to leave this place on a slightly bad note. Since it was the last day of the festival, all of the main competition and films categorized as "of certain regard" were played again before the prizes were given out. On my way down to the Croisette, I found out that my pass could only serve as an entry ticket to the films that were being shown in the Salle Debussy theater, and only three films of the entire lineup were being shown here; I needed a better pass if I wanted to try to see anything else. I got to the 12 p.m. screening of Mike Leigh's Another Year about thirty minutes before the doors closed, and when I arrived, the line to get in was already around the block. Because of my past good luck with these situations, I thought I would persist and see if I could get in, but the theater filled up as I was approaching the front of the line. While I was slightly annoyed, I realized that Xavier Beauvois' Des Hommes et Des Dieux was going to be the next movie shown in this same theater in a few hours, so I made sure to get in line very early to prevent the screening filling up again. When I went to go show my badge to enter, however, the guard looked down to my feet and refused to let me in because I was wearing flip flops. What was even worse was that he let the next man in behind me who was wearing sandals "without backs," but he claimed that his "were nicer than mine." I was so angry at this point! After I went back to the College International to change my footwear, I was really upset because no other films were going to be played at the Debussy that day. Despite this, I didn't give up and made a paper sign to try to get into the only Lumiere premiere of the day, Julie Bertuccelli's The Tree. In the process of this, a friend of mine in the program with me messaged me that the guards were letting any badges pass to get into Im Sangsoo's The Housemaid, and I quickly jumped in on this opportunity.
Although this movie is very sad, its ambiguous ending (which is similar in this way to Poetry's) has kept me thinking about the film since I've left the theater. What particularly struck me about this film was Sangsoo's deliberate construction of the "mise-en-scene," using lots of imagery of closed and open doorways to represent what is "out in the open" for all to know, and "hidden inside" for the others to figure out.
While I missed getting into the Festival Closing while I was in The Housemaid, I was so happy to hear that Poetry won for best screenplay, and that I had the opportunity to see it while I was in Cannes. I definitely want to see the rest of the films that won a prize when they become available for viewing in the States. I learned so much in the past two weeks, and my love for cinema is now stronger than ever. Even with all of the new ways to view films--on laptops, iPods, premium television, etc.--there is nothing comparable to attending and viewing these types of movies in the magical environment of the Festival de Cannes!
We at Bryn Mawr Film Institute wish Anna many more adventures, cinematic and otherwise, and thank her for sharing her trip to Cannes with us. Au revoir!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Anna Reports from Cannes: Walking the Red Carpet and Antibes Adventures
This is the fifth post from BMFI's own Cannes Film Festival correspondant, University of Pennsylvania student Anna Adler. Enjoy!
Yesterday, the program I am on took us on a road trip to Antibes to meet with Lorraine Carrady Quinn, who is also a Penn alum. The bus took us on a beautiful ride along the shores of the south of France. Lorraine talked to us about what she does for her family-owned movie exhibition business, which manages many theaters in numerous countries throughout the Caribbean. While I have learned a lot about the production, distribution, and exhibition processes in my courses at Penn, Lorraine really went into detail about the challenges she faces as an exhibitor, specifically in this region of the world. In order for movie theaters to make a profit and also stay in business, Lorraine must choose a unique lineup of movies for each theater so that the audience of that particular area will want to come and see them. While a majority of these films come from Hollywood, Lorraine said that the ones that are the most successful are the highly "visual" films, such as action movies or 3D ones like Avatar.
Afterwards, I thought I would try my luck at getting into the premiere of Doug Liman's Fair Game. I waited outside the line to get in the Lumiere for over an hour, and my attempts were really starting to look hopeless. It was about five minutes before the doors opened, however, that someone handed me a type of ticket that allowed me to go in with someone with a "better" pass than my student one. The guard pointed to a line to the far left, and it turned out to be the line that goes through the entire red carpet. As I walked down the line, I realized that I was going to have to walk past all of the cameras and main actors/actresses posing for them. At this exact moment, I realized I was directly in front of Naomi Watts and the real Valerie Plame (whom Watts plays in the film). I successfully walked down the right side of the red carpet quickly (without tripping), and my friends who got in before me saw me on the big screen that shows this action before the movie begins. I will never forget these few seconds of "fame" for the rest of my life!
I wanted to see this movie because I had written a paper on the Plame affair for my Media Law & Ethics class, which I took abroad in London this past fall. While I liked the movie because I knew the historical context behind it, I feel that I wouldn't have had the same reaction without my previous understanding. At times in the film, I felt a little confused about what was happening, and I had to "Wikipedia" the Plame affair on my Blackberry in order to be able to follow the rest of the plot of the movie. Despite this, I felt that both Sean Penn and Naomi Watts did an outstanding job in their respective roles.
Later that night, a friend of mine from Penn (who is not participating in the program but happens to be here this week) called me at 1:30 a.m. to tell me that she had some extra tickets to the amfAR charity event after party at the Hotel du Cap in Antibes. I thought this opportunity would too be good to pass up, despite my visit to Antibes earlier that day. When we arrived, my friends and I saw that some of the guests who were exiting were wearing black tie and floor-length dresses, and we were casually dressed in jeans! While most of the encounters I have had with security during this trip have been stressful, the woman working the door last night instead laughed with us and let us go right inside. Overall, I can say that this was my favorite day of my Cannes experience thus far!
Tune in for more of Anna's adventures on the Riviera, coming soon!
Yesterday, the program I am on took us on a road trip to Antibes to meet with Lorraine Carrady Quinn, who is also a Penn alum. The bus took us on a beautiful ride along the shores of the south of France. Lorraine talked to us about what she does for her family-owned movie exhibition business, which manages many theaters in numerous countries throughout the Caribbean. While I have learned a lot about the production, distribution, and exhibition processes in my courses at Penn, Lorraine really went into detail about the challenges she faces as an exhibitor, specifically in this region of the world. In order for movie theaters to make a profit and also stay in business, Lorraine must choose a unique lineup of movies for each theater so that the audience of that particular area will want to come and see them. While a majority of these films come from Hollywood, Lorraine said that the ones that are the most successful are the highly "visual" films, such as action movies or 3D ones like Avatar.
Afterwards, I thought I would try my luck at getting into the premiere of Doug Liman's Fair Game. I waited outside the line to get in the Lumiere for over an hour, and my attempts were really starting to look hopeless. It was about five minutes before the doors opened, however, that someone handed me a type of ticket that allowed me to go in with someone with a "better" pass than my student one. The guard pointed to a line to the far left, and it turned out to be the line that goes through the entire red carpet. As I walked down the line, I realized that I was going to have to walk past all of the cameras and main actors/actresses posing for them. At this exact moment, I realized I was directly in front of Naomi Watts and the real Valerie Plame (whom Watts plays in the film). I successfully walked down the right side of the red carpet quickly (without tripping), and my friends who got in before me saw me on the big screen that shows this action before the movie begins. I will never forget these few seconds of "fame" for the rest of my life!
I wanted to see this movie because I had written a paper on the Plame affair for my Media Law & Ethics class, which I took abroad in London this past fall. While I liked the movie because I knew the historical context behind it, I feel that I wouldn't have had the same reaction without my previous understanding. At times in the film, I felt a little confused about what was happening, and I had to "Wikipedia" the Plame affair on my Blackberry in order to be able to follow the rest of the plot of the movie. Despite this, I felt that both Sean Penn and Naomi Watts did an outstanding job in their respective roles.
Later that night, a friend of mine from Penn (who is not participating in the program but happens to be here this week) called me at 1:30 a.m. to tell me that she had some extra tickets to the amfAR charity event after party at the Hotel du Cap in Antibes. I thought this opportunity would too be good to pass up, despite my visit to Antibes earlier that day. When we arrived, my friends and I saw that some of the guests who were exiting were wearing black tie and floor-length dresses, and we were casually dressed in jeans! While most of the encounters I have had with security during this trip have been stressful, the woman working the door last night instead laughed with us and let us go right inside. Overall, I can say that this was my favorite day of my Cannes experience thus far!
Tune in for more of Anna's adventures on the Riviera, coming soon!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Anna Adler's Adventures in Cannes: HOWL, POETRY, and More
University of Pennsylvania student Anna Adler reports from the Cannes Film Festival for BMFI. This is her fourth post--be sure to check out her other adventures on the Riviera!
Today (Wednesday), I woke up to a million missed calls from my mom. She waited outside the Lumiere this morning, and scored a ticket to the "hors" competition film, Olivier Assayas' Carlos. How she managed to accomplish this, I will never know. I really thought she would leave Cannes without seeing a movie, but she proved me wrong! While she was in the movie, we had a speaker come to our program this morning named Rick Hess (of the CAA Investment Group and also a Penn undergraduate alum). He discussed with us the various ways of financing a film, such as bringing the overall package together of actors and talent with investors. While I generally knew about this side of the industry, I really learned a lot about the many, many (and difficult) steps of making an original idea become a visual reality. In particular, he said that his Wharton roommates used to make fun of him for studying English and Cinema while in college, and now today are asking to work for him!
Afterwards, my friends and I decided we would try to get into Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's film, Howl, and we turned out to be successful! It was playing at a smaller theater off the Croisette. James Franco stars in this film as the famous beat poet Allen Ginsburg, whose controversial book Howl and Other Poems made him end up in court in 1957. This became the landmark case that set the legal precedent guaranteeing First Amendment Rights for these type of works. I enjoyed the movie because I have studied this historical era throughout high school and college. We then made our way over to a similar theater on the same "rue" to see a short, documentary film called Modern Day Slaves, which focuses on the abuses of foreigners who come over to the States to find work. While the subject matter was definitely informative and important, I personally did not believe that this content was portrayed in a visually and captivating way. Specifically, I did not feel that the film really left a strong impact on me, as I did not think about it much after I exited the theater.
The most exciting part of the day came next. My mom and I decided we would hold our paper signs out again to try to get into the premiere of Lee Chang-dong's Poetry, which we felt would be impossible since it is a competition movie. My mom said that if I were able to get one ticket, she obviously would let me go first because I am the one who is actually supposed to be here. Fortunately, this never had to happen, because we both were able to get tickets! It was very exciting to enter the Lumiere Theater with my mom, as she truly had such a successful experience during her short time in Cannes. While the movie was very long, I loved this unique screenplay and the way it all tied together thematically and visually. I highly recommend it to all movie-lovers to see. When we walked out, one of the heads of my program said to us, "and that was really cinema!"
Check back for more of Anna's adventures, coming soon...
Today (Wednesday), I woke up to a million missed calls from my mom. She waited outside the Lumiere this morning, and scored a ticket to the "hors" competition film, Olivier Assayas' Carlos. How she managed to accomplish this, I will never know. I really thought she would leave Cannes without seeing a movie, but she proved me wrong! While she was in the movie, we had a speaker come to our program this morning named Rick Hess (of the CAA Investment Group and also a Penn undergraduate alum). He discussed with us the various ways of financing a film, such as bringing the overall package together of actors and talent with investors. While I generally knew about this side of the industry, I really learned a lot about the many, many (and difficult) steps of making an original idea become a visual reality. In particular, he said that his Wharton roommates used to make fun of him for studying English and Cinema while in college, and now today are asking to work for him!
Afterwards, my friends and I decided we would try to get into Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's film, Howl, and we turned out to be successful! It was playing at a smaller theater off the Croisette. James Franco stars in this film as the famous beat poet Allen Ginsburg, whose controversial book Howl and Other Poems made him end up in court in 1957. This became the landmark case that set the legal precedent guaranteeing First Amendment Rights for these type of works. I enjoyed the movie because I have studied this historical era throughout high school and college. We then made our way over to a similar theater on the same "rue" to see a short, documentary film called Modern Day Slaves, which focuses on the abuses of foreigners who come over to the States to find work. While the subject matter was definitely informative and important, I personally did not believe that this content was portrayed in a visually and captivating way. Specifically, I did not feel that the film really left a strong impact on me, as I did not think about it much after I exited the theater.
The most exciting part of the day came next. My mom and I decided we would hold our paper signs out again to try to get into the premiere of Lee Chang-dong's Poetry, which we felt would be impossible since it is a competition movie. My mom said that if I were able to get one ticket, she obviously would let me go first because I am the one who is actually supposed to be here. Fortunately, this never had to happen, because we both were able to get tickets! It was very exciting to enter the Lumiere Theater with my mom, as she truly had such a successful experience during her short time in Cannes. While the movie was very long, I loved this unique screenplay and the way it all tied together thematically and visually. I highly recommend it to all movie-lovers to see. When we walked out, one of the heads of my program said to us, "and that was really cinema!"
Check back for more of Anna's adventures, coming soon...
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Hot off the Press: BMFI’s Summer Programming
If you’re looking for something to do during the dog days of summer, Bryn Mawr Film Institute has got it. We have just gone to press with our Projections program guide, which includes information about summer film courses, series, seminars, and new releases. Keep reading to learn about the highlights, or click here for the full schedule and detailed descriptions. There's truly something for every film fan.
We asked for your suggestions and you selected three fantastic classics to be shown in our inaugural Audience Choice film series: On the Waterfront (1954), The Third Man (1949), and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Enjoy Brando, Welles, and O’Toole on the big screen in these masterful cinematic achievements chosen by you.
For those that want to take a film course at BMFI but can’t commit to multiple sessions, the answer lies in this year’s Summer Classic Seminars. Each night is a stand-alone class built around one of the classics shown in the theater, featuring a lecture and a guided discussion of each. We’ll examine On the Waterfront on Wednesday, July 14, The Third Man on Wednesday, July 21, The Hidden Fortress (1958) on Tuesday, August 17, and The Lady Eve (1941) on Wednesday, August 25. Sessions go from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM with the film screenings at 7:00 PM.
BMFI celebrates song and dance on the big screen this summer. Fred Astaire straps on his dancing shoes in the Fred Astaire Frenzy film series, featuring two films. Daddy Long Legs (June 8, 7:00 PM) and You’ll Never Get Rich (June 9, 7:00 PM) showcase some of Astaire’s best musical romances, co-starring Leslie Caron and Rita Hayworth. For fans looking to belt out a few show tunes, the Singing in the Summer film series is here. Dress up and sing along with the unforgettable movie musicals Oklahoma! (June 2, 7:30 PM), The King and I (July 7, 7:00 PM), and Mary Poppins (August 4, 7:00 PM). You’ll be sure to leave these events “Chim Chim Cheree”-ing all the way home! If you care for a more academic approach, BMFI’s film course Singin’ on Screen: The Musical will certainly increase your appreciation for the movie musical genre.
Another film series all ages can look forward to is Teens on Screen. Enjoy the movies that define the teenage experience through the decades, with George Lucas’s American Graffiti (1973), teen film extraordinaire John Hughes’s Sixteen Candles (1984), and Richard Linklater’s insightful Dazed and Confused (1993) showing on 35mm on Tuesday nights in June.
Those with their eyes on the darlings of film lore can come see the charm and gravitas of Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Barbara Stanwyck on Wednesday nights in August. With the Leading Ladies of the Silver Screen film series, choose from the comedy of Sabrina (1954), the romance of A Place in the Sun (1951), and the hilarity of The Lady Eve (1941), or see all three!
Did the Master of Suspense have a political agenda? See for yourself when Hitchcock returns to BMFI. Enjoy two 35mm screenings of Sabotage (1936) and Lifeboat (1944), shown in conjunction with the four-week film course Alfred Hitchcock: The Political Films.
Another cinematic auteur, Akira Kurosawa put Japanese cinema on the map and influenced many great filmmakers. BMFI is celebrating the legend’s 100th birthday with a five-film series of screenings every Tuesday in August. The Akira Kurosawa Retrospective features his crowning achievement, Seven Samurai (1954), as well as Rashômon (1950), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Stray Dog (1949), and Yojimbo (1961).
Fans of these foreign treasures can also look forward to the wonderful Jacques Tati Festival film series, featuring M. Hulot’s Holiday (1953), Mon Oncle (1958), Playtime (1967), and Trafic (1971). The films, screening four consecutive Tuesdays in July, are shown in conjunction with the course Pantomimes and Proverbs: The Films of Tati and Rohmer, which contrasts the comedy of Jacques Tati (and his alter ego Monsieur Hulot) with the drama and romanticism of Eric Rohmer to reveal new aspects of French cinema.
And of course, you’ll be delighted in the summer’s repertoire of new releases, including the Sundance Film Festival hit The Kids Are All Right, starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, and Mark Ruffalo; the French romance Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky; and much, much more. Become a member and check out the newest issue of Projections or visit BrynMawrFilm.org to see what is currently showing on our screens.
The summer has a whole lot in store at BMFI, so relax, take a break from the heat, and enjoy the shows!
We asked for your suggestions and you selected three fantastic classics to be shown in our inaugural Audience Choice film series: On the Waterfront (1954), The Third Man (1949), and Lawrence of Arabia (1962). Enjoy Brando, Welles, and O’Toole on the big screen in these masterful cinematic achievements chosen by you.
For those that want to take a film course at BMFI but can’t commit to multiple sessions, the answer lies in this year’s Summer Classic Seminars. Each night is a stand-alone class built around one of the classics shown in the theater, featuring a lecture and a guided discussion of each. We’ll examine On the Waterfront on Wednesday, July 14, The Third Man on Wednesday, July 21, The Hidden Fortress (1958) on Tuesday, August 17, and The Lady Eve (1941) on Wednesday, August 25. Sessions go from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM with the film screenings at 7:00 PM.
BMFI celebrates song and dance on the big screen this summer. Fred Astaire straps on his dancing shoes in the Fred Astaire Frenzy film series, featuring two films. Daddy Long Legs (June 8, 7:00 PM) and You’ll Never Get Rich (June 9, 7:00 PM) showcase some of Astaire’s best musical romances, co-starring Leslie Caron and Rita Hayworth. For fans looking to belt out a few show tunes, the Singing in the Summer film series is here. Dress up and sing along with the unforgettable movie musicals Oklahoma! (June 2, 7:30 PM), The King and I (July 7, 7:00 PM), and Mary Poppins (August 4, 7:00 PM). You’ll be sure to leave these events “Chim Chim Cheree”-ing all the way home! If you care for a more academic approach, BMFI’s film course Singin’ on Screen: The Musical will certainly increase your appreciation for the movie musical genre.
Another film series all ages can look forward to is Teens on Screen. Enjoy the movies that define the teenage experience through the decades, with George Lucas’s American Graffiti (1973), teen film extraordinaire John Hughes’s Sixteen Candles (1984), and Richard Linklater’s insightful Dazed and Confused (1993) showing on 35mm on Tuesday nights in June.
Those with their eyes on the darlings of film lore can come see the charm and gravitas of Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Barbara Stanwyck on Wednesday nights in August. With the Leading Ladies of the Silver Screen film series, choose from the comedy of Sabrina (1954), the romance of A Place in the Sun (1951), and the hilarity of The Lady Eve (1941), or see all three!
Did the Master of Suspense have a political agenda? See for yourself when Hitchcock returns to BMFI. Enjoy two 35mm screenings of Sabotage (1936) and Lifeboat (1944), shown in conjunction with the four-week film course Alfred Hitchcock: The Political Films.
Another cinematic auteur, Akira Kurosawa put Japanese cinema on the map and influenced many great filmmakers. BMFI is celebrating the legend’s 100th birthday with a five-film series of screenings every Tuesday in August. The Akira Kurosawa Retrospective features his crowning achievement, Seven Samurai (1954), as well as Rashômon (1950), The Hidden Fortress (1958), Stray Dog (1949), and Yojimbo (1961).
Fans of these foreign treasures can also look forward to the wonderful Jacques Tati Festival film series, featuring M. Hulot’s Holiday (1953), Mon Oncle (1958), Playtime (1967), and Trafic (1971). The films, screening four consecutive Tuesdays in July, are shown in conjunction with the course Pantomimes and Proverbs: The Films of Tati and Rohmer, which contrasts the comedy of Jacques Tati (and his alter ego Monsieur Hulot) with the drama and romanticism of Eric Rohmer to reveal new aspects of French cinema.
And of course, you’ll be delighted in the summer’s repertoire of new releases, including the Sundance Film Festival hit The Kids Are All Right, starring Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, and Mark Ruffalo; the French romance Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky; and much, much more. Become a member and check out the newest issue of Projections or visit BrynMawrFilm.org to see what is currently showing on our screens.
The summer has a whole lot in store at BMFI, so relax, take a break from the heat, and enjoy the shows!
Anna Adler's Adventures in Cannes: Round Three
University of Pennsylvania film student Anna Adler reports from the Cannes Film Festival, exclusively for BMFInsights!
Yesterday (Monday), I started my day by attending a lecture that my program from Penn set up for the students here. The lecturer's name was Geoffrey Gilmore, who is the Creative Director of the Tribeca Film Festival. He was very honest and gave great advice to us, who are all interested in getting involved in the film or media industries professionally one day. A specific, interesting thing I've been thinking about that he discussed is that it is really hard to determine audience behavior today, in particular which exact platform viewers prefer to watch movies on now--such as on a computer, an iPod or iPhone, through premium channel television programming, etc. In addition, Gilmore also talked about how it is really rare for viewers today to agree on whether or not a movie is "good" or "bad." I thought this was "right-on" because every time I have walked out of a film since I've been here, my friends and I always have very different reactions, even to something like Wall Street 2 (see previous post).
Check back for more of Anna's stories from the Riviera!
Yesterday (Monday), I started my day by attending a lecture that my program from Penn set up for the students here. The lecturer's name was Geoffrey Gilmore, who is the Creative Director of the Tribeca Film Festival. He was very honest and gave great advice to us, who are all interested in getting involved in the film or media industries professionally one day. A specific, interesting thing I've been thinking about that he discussed is that it is really hard to determine audience behavior today, in particular which exact platform viewers prefer to watch movies on now--such as on a computer, an iPod or iPhone, through premium channel television programming, etc. In addition, Gilmore also talked about how it is really rare for viewers today to agree on whether or not a movie is "good" or "bad." I thought this was "right-on" because every time I have walked out of a film since I've been here, my friends and I always have very different reactions, even to something like Wall Street 2 (see previous post).
After hearing Geoffrey Gilmore, I went to the Croisette to see three films: one by an independent production company called Brotherhood, which was about the dangers of fraternity pledging; a documentary on the President of the Cannes film festival titled Gilles Jacob, L'Arpenteur de la Croisette; and a horror movie called The Pack (La Meute). I enjoyed Brotherhood in the same way that I enjoyed The Perfect Host (see Thursday's post): it was disturbing, yet entertaining, and I was never bored. The documentary was really interesting, and I especially enjoyed the shots of Gilles Jacob interacting with some of the greatest directors, actors, and actresses throughout film history. Finally, I can say the horror movie was just definitely not for me!
Check back for more of Anna's stories from the Riviera!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Anna Adler Reports from Cannes: Saturday and Sunday
Here is the second installment of Anna Adler's adventures at the Cannes Film Festival, exclusive to Bryn Mawr Film Institute.
Saturday morning, my friends and I woke up early to try to test our luck in getting into the Woody Allen movie that's playing here, You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger. Only one of us was successful. It was a fun experience though standing outside the Lumiere Theater with our paper signs saying "un invitation pour Woody Allen S.V.P." One of the signs that someone wrote was funny; it said "I want to meet a tall, dark stranger...please give me an invitation!" When I couldn't get in, I decided to walk along the Croisette and explore. A few of my friends and I ate lunch along there--it was a beautiful day.
We then saw a documentary in the "marketplace," where a number of non-competition, smaller films are being shown. The documentary was called Gasland, directed by Josh Fox. It was about the dangers of natural oil on the environment. It wasn't my favorite, but it was educational and I learned something new here and there. After resting for a little bit, we then saw another non-competition movie called Jerry Cotton, which was a German film whose concept was very similar to Austin Powers.
Our Penn program gave us premiere passes to Greg Araki's film, Kaboom, which was an overall great experience, but the film was absolutely bizarre. I have never had a reaction to a movie like this before--the plot had so many twists and turns that I truly was left speechless at the end of the film. There really was no solution in the end of the film's plot at all--it was very avant garde-ish. My reaction to this movie is, I believe, very similar to people's when they first viewed Andalusion Dog back in the day (in fact, there was a reference made to this movie within Araki's film). It was very cool to do the whole red carpet thing in the evening and see everyone dressed up in black tie. The film was being shown at 12:30 am, so once it was over I was exhausted from this busy day!
Today (Sunday) my friends from the program and I decided to take a day trip to Monte Carlo, Monaco to see the Grand Prix. The train from Cannes to Monaco was only 16 euros round trip, and was only 1 hour and 5 minutes each way (the same time it takes on the Acela train from Philadelphia to New York City)! The Grand Prix was definitely an exciting day to visit. We were able to catch a quick glimpse of the racecars as they zipped by (and we definitely were able to hear them the whole time)! Many of the streets were closed off during the race, so afterwards we explored and got to know the city. We arrived back in Cannes late this evening, and I am looking forward to seeing what surprises tomorrow may bring!
Enjoy more of Anna's adventures in Cannes, coming soon!
Saturday morning, my friends and I woke up early to try to test our luck in getting into the Woody Allen movie that's playing here, You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger. Only one of us was successful. It was a fun experience though standing outside the Lumiere Theater with our paper signs saying "un invitation pour Woody Allen S.V.P." One of the signs that someone wrote was funny; it said "I want to meet a tall, dark stranger...please give me an invitation!" When I couldn't get in, I decided to walk along the Croisette and explore. A few of my friends and I ate lunch along there--it was a beautiful day.
We then saw a documentary in the "marketplace," where a number of non-competition, smaller films are being shown. The documentary was called Gasland, directed by Josh Fox. It was about the dangers of natural oil on the environment. It wasn't my favorite, but it was educational and I learned something new here and there. After resting for a little bit, we then saw another non-competition movie called Jerry Cotton, which was a German film whose concept was very similar to Austin Powers.
Our Penn program gave us premiere passes to Greg Araki's film, Kaboom, which was an overall great experience, but the film was absolutely bizarre. I have never had a reaction to a movie like this before--the plot had so many twists and turns that I truly was left speechless at the end of the film. There really was no solution in the end of the film's plot at all--it was very avant garde-ish. My reaction to this movie is, I believe, very similar to people's when they first viewed Andalusion Dog back in the day (in fact, there was a reference made to this movie within Araki's film). It was very cool to do the whole red carpet thing in the evening and see everyone dressed up in black tie. The film was being shown at 12:30 am, so once it was over I was exhausted from this busy day!
Today (Sunday) my friends from the program and I decided to take a day trip to Monte Carlo, Monaco to see the Grand Prix. The train from Cannes to Monaco was only 16 euros round trip, and was only 1 hour and 5 minutes each way (the same time it takes on the Acela train from Philadelphia to New York City)! The Grand Prix was definitely an exciting day to visit. We were able to catch a quick glimpse of the racecars as they zipped by (and we definitely were able to hear them the whole time)! Many of the streets were closed off during the race, so afterwards we explored and got to know the city. We arrived back in Cannes late this evening, and I am looking forward to seeing what surprises tomorrow may bring!
Enjoy more of Anna's adventures in Cannes, coming soon!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Anna Adler Reports from Cannes: THE PERFECT HOST and WALL STREET 2
Bryn Mawr Film Institute is getting reports directly from the Cannes Film Festival, thanks to film student Anna Adler. She'll be checking in regularly from the French riviera, giving you the inside scoop on the festival and its films. Enjoy!
Yesterday (Thursday) I started the day in the "Croisette" with a few of my friends in the program by trying to get into any movie possible, and it seemed hopeless. Our student passes were not really getting us anywhere. As things were looking very poor, we were able somehow to sneak through the back of the "marketplace," where a bunch of independent production companies were screening a number of non-competition films and had little mini studio set-ups where they would be setting up deals with distributors. Once we were in the marketplace, we went up to all of these little mini-studios and were able to get free "invitations" to about twelve screenings throughout the festival. We felt very accomplished. We saw one of these films yesterday afternoon, called The Perfect Host (directed by Nick Tomnay of the Cinema Management Group LCC). While the plot had a number of twists (and was actually somewhat disturbing), I was never bored for one second and the film was very entertaining. The rest of my crew saw a few more movies yesterday, but I had to stay in and rest. Last night, we decided after dinner to go over to the Carlton Hotel and "people-watch," where we saw Josh Brolin, which was very exciting.
This morning, we had a few more of these type of screenings planned, but we decided to try to wait outside the Lumiere Theater with paper signs to see if we could get an invitation to the premiere of Oliver Stone's Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (see the picture below).
The sign said, "Un invitation pour Wall Street S.V.P." (SVP = s'il vous plait). As we were all laughing with each other about this unlikely attempt to get in, someone walking out of the theater handed me a ticket. As I jumped in excitement and waited in line to get into the premiere, someone asked if they could trade tickets with me (mine was a balcony ticket) so that he could sit with his wife. The ticket he gave me ended up being in the orchestra, and I sat in the fifth row of the premiere this afternoon. The entire experience was so exciting--although I never saw the original Wall Street, I really enjoyed the sequel. I am sure the experience behind viewing this film biased my opinion of this movie, but I thought the plot was great and entertaining.
Check back for more to come from Anna at Cannes!
Yesterday (Thursday) I started the day in the "Croisette" with a few of my friends in the program by trying to get into any movie possible, and it seemed hopeless. Our student passes were not really getting us anywhere. As things were looking very poor, we were able somehow to sneak through the back of the "marketplace," where a bunch of independent production companies were screening a number of non-competition films and had little mini studio set-ups where they would be setting up deals with distributors. Once we were in the marketplace, we went up to all of these little mini-studios and were able to get free "invitations" to about twelve screenings throughout the festival. We felt very accomplished. We saw one of these films yesterday afternoon, called The Perfect Host (directed by Nick Tomnay of the Cinema Management Group LCC). While the plot had a number of twists (and was actually somewhat disturbing), I was never bored for one second and the film was very entertaining. The rest of my crew saw a few more movies yesterday, but I had to stay in and rest. Last night, we decided after dinner to go over to the Carlton Hotel and "people-watch," where we saw Josh Brolin, which was very exciting.
This morning, we had a few more of these type of screenings planned, but we decided to try to wait outside the Lumiere Theater with paper signs to see if we could get an invitation to the premiere of Oliver Stone's Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (see the picture below).
The sign said, "Un invitation pour Wall Street S.V.P." (SVP = s'il vous plait). As we were all laughing with each other about this unlikely attempt to get in, someone walking out of the theater handed me a ticket. As I jumped in excitement and waited in line to get into the premiere, someone asked if they could trade tickets with me (mine was a balcony ticket) so that he could sit with his wife. The ticket he gave me ended up being in the orchestra, and I sat in the fifth row of the premiere this afternoon. The entire experience was so exciting--although I never saw the original Wall Street, I really enjoyed the sequel. I am sure the experience behind viewing this film biased my opinion of this movie, but I thought the plot was great and entertaining.
Check back for more to come from Anna at Cannes!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
David Brind Dishes on DARE
Filmmaker David Brind visited Bryn Mawr Film Institute on Wednesday, April 14 to teach a free Filmmaking Master Class and to introduce and discuss an evening screening of Dare, the high-school drama he co-produced and scripted. We have done a lot of really wonderful events here at BMFI since we re-opened in 2005, but this Master Class is one of my personal favorites. David was disarming and engaging, leading a no-holds barred discussion of Dare’s five-year journey from his MFA short at Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program to the feature’s premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. He dished about screenwriting, fundraising, the role of producers, agents and investors, and struggling to get good distribution even after a much-hyped premiere and good reviews. Keep reading for excerpts about how Dare made it to the big screen.
Dare stars Emmy Rossum (The Phantom of the Opera, The Day After Tomorrow) as Alexa, a clean-cut aspiring actress in the spring of her senior year of high school who decides to push her limits after an arrogant actor (Alan Cumming) tells her that she lacks experience and challenges her to do something that scares her. Remaking herself into a free spirited risk-taker leads her to seduce her acting partner, the rebellious, popular Johnny (Zach Gilford, NBC’s Friday Night Lights). When her shy best friend Ben (Ashley Springer) also pursues Johnny, the three must navigate an increasingly complicated situation as the school year draws to a close. Told in three parts, one focusing on each of the teens’ perspectives, Dare is set in the suburbs of Philadelphia and was filmed locally.
Excerpts from David's class:
A member of Bryn Mawr Film Institute’s advisory board, Philadelphia-born filmmaker David Brind wrote the screenplay and co-produced Dare, his first feature. He also wrote and produced the award-winning 2003 short film of the same name, which provided the basis for the feature. The short played at over fifty film festivals worldwide and was picked up by Strand Releasing as part of Boys’ Life 5, a series of gay-themed short films. David has also directed three short films, including Twenty Dollar Drinks with Sandra Bernhard and Tony Award-winner Cady Huffman, which premiered in competition at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
Also a successful theater director, David directed Sandra Bernhard in her one-woman show titled Sandra Bernhard: Everything Bad and Beautiful, which ran for four months off-Broadway in 2006 and was restaged at Philadelphia’s Prince Music Theater in 2007. He participated as a director of the benefit performances of “The A-Train Plays” at New World from 2006 to 2008 and also directed Cady Huffman in her first one-woman show, which premiered at the Ars Nova Theater and later played at Birdland Jazz Club in 2007. Recently he directed a reading of playwright Jerome Kass’ Love Song that featured Matthew Broderick and Alan Cumming.
David received his B.A. from Yale University as a double major in Theater Studies and American Studies. He received his MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program.
Watch a trailer and find more information about Dare here.
Dare stars Emmy Rossum (The Phantom of the Opera, The Day After Tomorrow) as Alexa, a clean-cut aspiring actress in the spring of her senior year of high school who decides to push her limits after an arrogant actor (Alan Cumming) tells her that she lacks experience and challenges her to do something that scares her. Remaking herself into a free spirited risk-taker leads her to seduce her acting partner, the rebellious, popular Johnny (Zach Gilford, NBC’s Friday Night Lights). When her shy best friend Ben (Ashley Springer) also pursues Johnny, the three must navigate an increasingly complicated situation as the school year draws to a close. Told in three parts, one focusing on each of the teens’ perspectives, Dare is set in the suburbs of Philadelphia and was filmed locally.
Excerpts from David's class:
What was your inspiration for the short?
The central image for the short was two boys by a pool with a champagne bottle on a ledge. Thematically for me it’s about that moment in adolescence when you have a real connection with the most unexpected of people.
What inspired the feature?
Alexa was a peripheral character [in the short]. I got to capture in that moment [she shares a look with Ben after he has had an intimate encounter with Johnny] that she knows something’s shifted. That moment was my way into the feature film. ‘Who is this girl? What does she know about her friend? What are her feelings about Johnny?’ So I wrote a scene about their conversation in my file-o-fax on a train about 1-1/2 months after shooting the [short] film. That scene made it to the screen [in the feature] unchanged. I started the feature script in September 2004 and finished the first draft in August 2005.
What fueled the expansion of the story from the short to the feature?
So hard to say. With Dare it was extremely personal. It felt like I knew these characters and they were in my head. I’ve always loved high school movies like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, and I wanted to subvert the stereotypes. Of course my own personal experiences from high school influenced the film as well, because you have to write what you know. It’s the oldest adage, but it’s true.
I never had any intention of exploring the same thing as the short. In the short I wanted to tell a twisty, sexy story about a boy who takes a risk and does something he doesn’t expect. In the feature I wanted to expand these three concepts of the good girl, bad boy, and outsider. The feature’s psychologically more complex and more personal. The short’s 17-18 pages, not much revision. With the feature, things get cut and rearranged and rewritten and some scenes don’t feel like my babies anymore.
How did you get support for the feature?
Strand Releasing [the distribution company for the short] connected us with different people to send the script to. There was one producer that courted us offering $500,000, but he wanted nudity and there wasn’t any in the script. (There’s sex, language, underage drinking and smoking, so I’m hardly a prude, but there’s no nudity.) The producer wanted me to add nudity and kept looking for places to do it: “Throw in a shower scene—I don’t know about you, but I shower naked.” Finally, he said, “If you want to get the nickel, you’ve got to show the pickle.” We said no.
Another person who really liked the script was Mary Jane Skalski (producer of The Station Agent, Mysterious Skin, The Visitor). After we passed on the one offer, we decided to throw ourselves at her mercy. She explained that she didn’t want to produce anything just then but said, “I really love your script so I guess I’ll have to produce.” She brought in casting director Kerry Barden (Good Will Hunting, The Visitor, Pineapple Express, Bad Boys II), and we started seeing a list of actors for roles.
Did the film change a lot in post-production?
We spent two months just editing the ending. The ending was found in the editing room.
The editor is hugely important. A film starts with a script, is retold by the director, and is retold again by the editor. Each one doesn’t know exactly what the other ones were thinking, so they bring their own unique spin to the project. It’s a collaborative medium and everyone contributes.
Did you intend to make a “gay film”?
I didn’t intend to tell a “gay” story. I felt like I wanted to tell this story and it had gay content. On a commercial level, having gay content is difficult, unless you’re gay, gay, gay all of the time. The question becomes, “Who do we market it to?”
A member of Bryn Mawr Film Institute’s advisory board, Philadelphia-born filmmaker David Brind wrote the screenplay and co-produced Dare, his first feature. He also wrote and produced the award-winning 2003 short film of the same name, which provided the basis for the feature. The short played at over fifty film festivals worldwide and was picked up by Strand Releasing as part of Boys’ Life 5, a series of gay-themed short films. David has also directed three short films, including Twenty Dollar Drinks with Sandra Bernhard and Tony Award-winner Cady Huffman, which premiered in competition at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
Also a successful theater director, David directed Sandra Bernhard in her one-woman show titled Sandra Bernhard: Everything Bad and Beautiful, which ran for four months off-Broadway in 2006 and was restaged at Philadelphia’s Prince Music Theater in 2007. He participated as a director of the benefit performances of “The A-Train Plays” at New World from 2006 to 2008 and also directed Cady Huffman in her first one-woman show, which premiered at the Ars Nova Theater and later played at Birdland Jazz Club in 2007. Recently he directed a reading of playwright Jerome Kass’ Love Song that featured Matthew Broderick and Alan Cumming.
David received his B.A. from Yale University as a double major in Theater Studies and American Studies. He received his MFA in Screenwriting from Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program.
Watch a trailer and find more information about Dare here.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Sarah Schenk's SLIPPERY SLOPE
Sarah Schenck--writer/director, Bryn Mawr College alumna, and Hepburn Center Fellow--came down from New York to introduce and discuss her 2006 comedy Slippery Slope at Bryn Mawr Film Institute on Wednesday, February 24. Check out some highlights from the Q&A below.
In Slippery Slope, when an ardent young feminist needs cash to get her documentary "Feminism for Dummies" to Cannes, she takes a job directing an adult film... bringing her ideals to the set and awakening her own sexuality. The experience changes her professionally and personally in unexpected ways, jeopardizing her relationship with her politically-correct husband. The sexy screwball comedy gets big laughs, but also raises some serious issues about the uses and types of sexual imagery on film and the state of women's liberation. Slippery Slope premiered at the Montreal International Film Festival with three sold-out screenings and was honored with Best Film at the L.A. Broad Humor Festival.
Sarah Schenck, a Bryn Mawr College alumna and Hepburn Center Fellow, made her feature directorial debut with Slippery Slope. She has written three other feature screenplays. In 2004, Sarah was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for producing Virgin, a $65,000 feature starring Robin Wright Penn and Elisabeth Moss. Her short films as writer/director/producer have won prizes in the U.K. and Belgium. She field produced the New York City segment of The College Track, a documentary about access to college for low-income students that aired nationwide in 2005 on PBS. Sarah has since made three documentaries for Project Renewal, New York City’s largest non-profit providing services to the homeless. She also makes half-hour documentaries on subjects relating to the food supply that air regularly on the Park Slope Food Coop’s cable television show. Sarah also recently began work as Video Producer and Director with Parent Earth, an internet start-up devoted to parenting, food, and environmental sustainability. She is currently raising funds for her next feature film, Primitive Streak.
Sarah received her B.A. in Art History from Bryn Mawr College and her M.A. in Political Economy from Stanford University. Before she became a filmmaker, Sarah served for six years as the New York City Comptroller’s Senior Advisor for Education Policy after working on public education policy for the 1992 Clinton/Gore presidential campaign. She has also worked for The New York Times in Rio de Janeiro researching a story on the sex industry; was a fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and lectured on fifteenth century Flemish painting; worked as a product testing guinea pig for Procter & Gamble in Paris; and cared for patients in Mother Theresa’s hospitals in Calcutta.
In Slippery Slope, when an ardent young feminist needs cash to get her documentary "Feminism for Dummies" to Cannes, she takes a job directing an adult film... bringing her ideals to the set and awakening her own sexuality. The experience changes her professionally and personally in unexpected ways, jeopardizing her relationship with her politically-correct husband. The sexy screwball comedy gets big laughs, but also raises some serious issues about the uses and types of sexual imagery on film and the state of women's liberation. Slippery Slope premiered at the Montreal International Film Festival with three sold-out screenings and was honored with Best Film at the L.A. Broad Humor Festival.
You’ve done a lot of different kinds of jobs. How did you become a filmmaker?
I love film. I’ve always loved seeing movies.
While I was working at the City Comptroller’s office in New York doing education policy, I was at a party with a bunch of Columbia University film students and one had lost his art director. He knew I knew how to paint so he asked me to create a prison rec room set. I did, working nights and weekends, and took the opportunity to hang around the set while shooting. Watching him work with actors was transformative. Grad schools are a close knit community, and soon after I was asked to produce a short film. I’d run a political campaign, and producing a film is similar, there are a lot of transferable skills. Eventually I left my job at the Comptroller’s Office to become a full-time filmmaker.
I did other shorts as a director and writer and produced a feature just before Slippery Slope, Virgin, which got nominated for a bunch of Independent Spirit Awards. It helped that it had Robin Wright Penn in it. I knew that with Slippery Slope I needed to write scripts I could make on the money I could raise, with no stars.
Why did you make a comedy?
I love comedy, it’s an effective, direct way into the subconscious, a way to deal with sensitive and sore issues. Someone more articulate than myself said, “Dying is easy; comedy is hard.” And I agree with that—it's a challenging genre.
What would you do differently?
There’s an alternate ending [that BMFI’s audience got to enjoy, and which is also on the DVD], and I think maybe I chose the wrong one. Also, the sex scenes. I work with actors in a different way when nudity and sex are involved. Those scenes didn’t come out the way that I wanted; I wanted them to look more disorienting and a little less “soft-core”. I had story boards and had it all planned out, but other things took precedence and I wasn’t able to shoot those scenes the way I wanted to.
How long did it take you to write the script?
I wrote the script based on an idea I’d had for some time. Once I sat down to write it, it took about seven months or so, but I was also working on other things. Because I’d done some other scripts and produced a feature, I knew what I could do with the budget of a first-time filmmaker.
What was your budget and how long did it take to make Slippery Slope?
Slippery Slope had a $300,000 cash budget from eighteen private investors, as well as tremendous in-kind support, so it was about a $500,000 film, a much bigger budget than what I’d had to work on before. It took two years, including post-production and one day of re-shoots. We did 3-1/2 weeks of principal photography and then went to the cutting room, a pretty standard process.
For my current project, Primitive Streak, I didn’t feel up to fundraising again, so I am following an alternate model, using a smaller cast and shooting whenever time allows, then cutting and posting short episodes on line. Ultimately, we’ll re-cut and join the episodes to become a feature film.
What kind of distribution did the film get after its premiere at the Montreal International Film Festival?
It’s very difficult to get a theatrical release for a small independent film, so it’s a treat to get to see it on the big screen with you tonight. A distributor [Life Size Entertainment] did take us on, but not for a theatrical release. We sold to HBO Hungary, and some other markets. It’s a hard time for distributors, there are a lot of good films out there that never get released. The challenge with filmmaking is that it is such an expensive medium that if you’re not commercially successful, it’s hard to continue.
I loved Jim True-Frost on TV’s The Wire and it was so fun to see him in Slippery Slope. How was it working with your actors?
I think Jim True-Frost [who plays the protagonist’s very P.C. husband in Slippery Slope] is so wonderful to watch. There are people who really hate his character, so it’s interesting to see how the portrayal is received. His wife said to me that Slippery Slope is his favorite movie that he’s ever been in!
The hard thing about film, unlike painting, is that it’s a very expensive thing to do. Because we were able to pay SAG wages, we were able to get some wonderful actors. They were like racehorses, incredibly fine-tuned, and they brought great suggestions for the script and insight into their characters.
How did you go from working in Mother Theresa’s hospitals to being a filmmaker? How do those other experiences impact your thinking about your work?
It’s funny, I spoke earlier today at Bryn Mawr College about this. Every day I struggle with a sense of failure because there’s so much need [in the world]. I’ve taught kids to read and I know how to shingle a house, so wouldn't those activities be a better use of my time? But being a filmmaker is kind of like marriage. I think people get married when they feel like they have to be together; being an artist is the same kind of thing. You do it because you have to, because part of you can’t not. I love to communicate through film, and I also try to do little things to make the world a better place.
Sarah Schenck, a Bryn Mawr College alumna and Hepburn Center Fellow, made her feature directorial debut with Slippery Slope. She has written three other feature screenplays. In 2004, Sarah was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for producing Virgin, a $65,000 feature starring Robin Wright Penn and Elisabeth Moss. Her short films as writer/director/producer have won prizes in the U.K. and Belgium. She field produced the New York City segment of The College Track, a documentary about access to college for low-income students that aired nationwide in 2005 on PBS. Sarah has since made three documentaries for Project Renewal, New York City’s largest non-profit providing services to the homeless. She also makes half-hour documentaries on subjects relating to the food supply that air regularly on the Park Slope Food Coop’s cable television show. Sarah also recently began work as Video Producer and Director with Parent Earth, an internet start-up devoted to parenting, food, and environmental sustainability. She is currently raising funds for her next feature film, Primitive Streak.
Sarah received her B.A. in Art History from Bryn Mawr College and her M.A. in Political Economy from Stanford University. Before she became a filmmaker, Sarah served for six years as the New York City Comptroller’s Senior Advisor for Education Policy after working on public education policy for the 1992 Clinton/Gore presidential campaign. She has also worked for The New York Times in Rio de Janeiro researching a story on the sex industry; was a fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and lectured on fifteenth century Flemish painting; worked as a product testing guinea pig for Procter & Gamble in Paris; and cared for patients in Mother Theresa’s hospitals in Calcutta.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Filmmaker presents HERB AND DOROTHY at Bryn Mawr Film Institute
How could a postal worker and a librarian acquire one of the foremost contemporary art collections? Over 140 people learned about two such collectors at Bryn Mawr Film Institute’s screening of Herb & Dorothy on Wednesday, January 27. Megumi Sasaki introduced and discussed her documentary about art collectors Herb and Dorothy Vogel, who devoted their lives to filling their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment with one of the world’s finest collections of Minimalist and Conceptual art. Devin Wachs, BMFI’s PR Coordinator, got a chance to talk to Megumi about her film before the screening. Read the interview below.
Herbert and Dorothy Vogel began collecting art in the early 1960s, and over the next thirty years the couple gathered an astonishing assortment of Minimalist and Conceptual art. Living on her salary as a librarian, the couple spent his postal clerk paychecks entirely on expanding their art collection. New pieces had to follow two rules: they had to be affordable and fit in the couple’s tiny, one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Before they moved their collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1992, every corner (including the bathroom and the kitchen) was filled with over 4,000 works by more than 200 artists. Featuring art by such luminaries as Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, Robert Mangold, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Lynda Benglis, Pat Steir, Robert Barry, Lucio Pozzi, and Lawrence Weiner—many of whom the couple also consider friends—the collection had appreciated considerably and was worth millions of dollars, but this remarkable couple never sold off a piece or treated the collection as a financial investment.
Megumi’s film captures how these unorthodox collectors see the art they love. Herb & Dorothy received the Golden Starfish Award for the Best Documentary Film and Audience Award from the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival, as well as Audience Awards from the 2008 SILVERDOCS Film Festival and the 2009 Philadelphia Cinefest. The film was also named one of their “Best of Fest” of the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2009.
Filmmaker Megumi Sasaki on Herb & Dorothy:
How did you get involved with the Vogels?
I was filming a piece for Japanese television on a Christo and Jeanne-Claude exhibit and I saw the Vogels’ names everywhere. Someone told me who they were. I hoped to do something with that story. I went downstairs and bought the collection catalogue, but didn’t do anything with it then. One and a half years later I met the Vogels in person at an event for Christo and Jeanne-Claude in New York. I introduced myself to them and vaguely told them an idea for this project—I knew that it had to be visual, TV or film. One week later I was invited to their apartment. That was September 2004.
Did you know it was going to be such a big project when you started?
Before I started, I didn’t know anything about art or filmmaking. I thought I was making a small film about two small people. I thought it would take six months. [Underestimating the project] was a huge mistake—it took four years and almost bankrupted me. Herb and Dorothy taught me a lot about art, passion, and how to have passion for life. It’s a story about two small giants.
Where there any stories that didn’t make it in the film? Did it change during editing?
I filmed over 120 hours of footage. All of the major stories made it into the film. However, when I first came up with the first cut, there was a lot of talking by curators and art historians and professionals. I didn’t know a lot about minimalist and conceptual art, and was relying on them to explain it. We did a test screening, and people hated it. It was almost a textbook kind of film about art. I learned that if I wanted to talk about minimalist and conceptual art, it had to be through Herb and Dorothy. That was hard though, because they don’t talk about why they like a piece of art; they just think it is beautiful. It is in their faces, how they see art. It was difficult to figure out how to show that.
How did your extensive background as a journalist and TV producer impact how you approached Herb & Dorothy, your first feature?
It did two things. First, it helped me to tell the story. I didn’t want to make just an art film, I wanted it to appeal to the general public. So in a way it helped me that I wasn’t part of the art world, so I could just tell the story from a lay person’s point of view and break down the language. I didn’t want to assume that the audience had prior knowledge of art, like most art documentaries. The second thing is that when I look back on it now, it looks like an extension of a television piece. I think that it’s maybe too informative, explaining too much, forcing my view.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a short sequel. The Vogel collection donated fifty works to fifty states as part of a nationwide gift project in art. I’m looking at the reaction of local museums, how the gifts are affecting them, and how local people accept them. I’ve been working on it since the end of 2008; it’s a matter of funding now.
Herb & Dorothy is available for sale and on Netflix. Visit the film’s official site for more information: http://www.herbanddorothy.com/.
Megumi Sasaki produced and directed Herb & Dorothy. Born and raised in Japan, she began her career as a freelance journalist whose big break came when she covered the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall for Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s highest-circulation newspaper. Megumi then spent four years at NHK, Japan’s sole public broadcaster (akin to the BBC), as an anchor, news director and reporter for Ohayo Nippon, a popular morning news program. As a freelance television documentary news director and field producer, she developed programs for Japan’s premiere documentary series, NHK Special, as well as for commercial networks including TBS, TV Asahi, Nippon Television and TV Tokyo. In 2002, Megumi founded her production company, Fine Line Media, to facilitate her new interest in feature documentary projects, of which Herb & Dorothy is the first.
Filmmaker Megumi Sasaki at BMFI's screening of Herb and Dorothy.
Herbert and Dorothy Vogel began collecting art in the early 1960s, and over the next thirty years the couple gathered an astonishing assortment of Minimalist and Conceptual art. Living on her salary as a librarian, the couple spent his postal clerk paychecks entirely on expanding their art collection. New pieces had to follow two rules: they had to be affordable and fit in the couple’s tiny, one-bedroom Manhattan apartment. Before they moved their collection to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. in 1992, every corner (including the bathroom and the kitchen) was filled with over 4,000 works by more than 200 artists. Featuring art by such luminaries as Sol LeWitt, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Richard Tuttle, Chuck Close, Robert Mangold, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Lynda Benglis, Pat Steir, Robert Barry, Lucio Pozzi, and Lawrence Weiner—many of whom the couple also consider friends—the collection had appreciated considerably and was worth millions of dollars, but this remarkable couple never sold off a piece or treated the collection as a financial investment.
Megumi’s film captures how these unorthodox collectors see the art they love. Herb & Dorothy received the Golden Starfish Award for the Best Documentary Film and Audience Award from the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival, as well as Audience Awards from the 2008 SILVERDOCS Film Festival and the 2009 Philadelphia Cinefest. The film was also named one of their “Best of Fest” of the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2009.
Filmmaker Megumi Sasaki on Herb & Dorothy:
How did you get involved with the Vogels?
I was filming a piece for Japanese television on a Christo and Jeanne-Claude exhibit and I saw the Vogels’ names everywhere. Someone told me who they were. I hoped to do something with that story. I went downstairs and bought the collection catalogue, but didn’t do anything with it then. One and a half years later I met the Vogels in person at an event for Christo and Jeanne-Claude in New York. I introduced myself to them and vaguely told them an idea for this project—I knew that it had to be visual, TV or film. One week later I was invited to their apartment. That was September 2004.
Did you know it was going to be such a big project when you started?
Before I started, I didn’t know anything about art or filmmaking. I thought I was making a small film about two small people. I thought it would take six months. [Underestimating the project] was a huge mistake—it took four years and almost bankrupted me. Herb and Dorothy taught me a lot about art, passion, and how to have passion for life. It’s a story about two small giants.
Where there any stories that didn’t make it in the film? Did it change during editing?
I filmed over 120 hours of footage. All of the major stories made it into the film. However, when I first came up with the first cut, there was a lot of talking by curators and art historians and professionals. I didn’t know a lot about minimalist and conceptual art, and was relying on them to explain it. We did a test screening, and people hated it. It was almost a textbook kind of film about art. I learned that if I wanted to talk about minimalist and conceptual art, it had to be through Herb and Dorothy. That was hard though, because they don’t talk about why they like a piece of art; they just think it is beautiful. It is in their faces, how they see art. It was difficult to figure out how to show that.
How did your extensive background as a journalist and TV producer impact how you approached Herb & Dorothy, your first feature?
It did two things. First, it helped me to tell the story. I didn’t want to make just an art film, I wanted it to appeal to the general public. So in a way it helped me that I wasn’t part of the art world, so I could just tell the story from a lay person’s point of view and break down the language. I didn’t want to assume that the audience had prior knowledge of art, like most art documentaries. The second thing is that when I look back on it now, it looks like an extension of a television piece. I think that it’s maybe too informative, explaining too much, forcing my view.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a short sequel. The Vogel collection donated fifty works to fifty states as part of a nationwide gift project in art. I’m looking at the reaction of local museums, how the gifts are affecting them, and how local people accept them. I’ve been working on it since the end of 2008; it’s a matter of funding now.
Herb & Dorothy is available for sale and on Netflix. Visit the film’s official site for more information: http://www.herbanddorothy.com/.
Megumi Sasaki produced and directed Herb & Dorothy. Born and raised in Japan, she began her career as a freelance journalist whose big break came when she covered the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall for Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s highest-circulation newspaper. Megumi then spent four years at NHK, Japan’s sole public broadcaster (akin to the BBC), as an anchor, news director and reporter for Ohayo Nippon, a popular morning news program. As a freelance television documentary news director and field producer, she developed programs for Japan’s premiere documentary series, NHK Special, as well as for commercial networks including TBS, TV Asahi, Nippon Television and TV Tokyo. In 2002, Megumi founded her production company, Fine Line Media, to facilitate her new interest in feature documentary projects, of which Herb & Dorothy is the first.
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