April 24, 2008

NY NY | Bailey Talks TIFF, Prostitution in NY and Kim Ki-Duk Takes MoMA

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (April 24, 2008)

This was a relatively quiet week for film in New York, as the city prepared for the Tribeca Film Festival. Cameron Bailey gave a little 'hello' from the Toronto, where he is the new co-director of that city's renowned festival, while fellow TIFF programmer Thom Powers used his weekly "Stranger Than Fiction" series to highlight the problems of sexual exploitation in New York. And South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk brought even more prostitutes to MoMA's screens with the start of his full retrospective.
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April 17, 2008

NY NY | Lincoln Center Sings the Praises of Meryl Streep and Turns a Spotlight on Romania

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (April 17, 2008)

This week in New York, throngs of admirers flocked to Lincoln Center, tuxedo-clad patrons shelled out hundreds of dollars for good seats, and trumpeters proceeded ceremonially down the aisle at Avery Fisher Hall to celebrate one fundamental fact: Meryl Streep is rad. With considerably less heraldry, Lincoln Center also confirmed that the history of Romanian Cinema is, likewise, rad. Mid-April reminds Upper West Siders of two things: taxes, and tax-deductible ways to spend refunds. Enter the Film Society of Lincoln Center, with its annual Gala Tribute, an all-star parade that has celebrated a different living legend every year since it began in 1972, with Charlie Chaplin.
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April 10, 2008

NY NY | Gotham Fetes United Artists, Africa and a Bit of Religion

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (April 10, 2008)

As spring lured New Yorkers outside this week, the Film Forum lured them back in again with its month-long tribute to United Artists. Zeitgeist's reception for the Israeli film "Jellyfish" was a bit overshadowed by the neighboring celebrity nuptials, Ondi Timoner's "Join Us" put the fear of God into its audience, and the New York African Film Festival got started, with some help from Danny Glover and Charles Burnett.
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April 3, 2008

NY NY | Spring Brings Festival Season To New York

by Charlie Olsky (April 3, 2008)

Spring festival season is in full swing in New York. The New Directors/New Films festival continued its filmmaker events with a casual dinner at Cineric's lab facilities, and Gen Art launched its week-long series of movies and parties for the urban professional set. And at the Anthology Film Archives, New York prepared to bid a fond farewell to the nation's first underground film festival.
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March 27, 2008

NY NY | Green Screens, New Directors, and the Return of "Stranger Than Fiction"

by Charlie Olsky (March 27, 2008)

To hail the arrival of spring this week, the Film Society of Lincoln Center continued its greening of the Walter Reade theater with help from the environmental doc "Garbage Warrior", while both the Film Society and MoMA celebrated newness with the New Directors/New Films festival. In the meantime, the IFC prepared for a season of "Stranger than Fiction", filled with some particularly exciting guests.
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March 21, 2008

NY NY | Oh! Canada's Movies, Doc Filmmakers Lash out, and Film Philanthropy Hits the City

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (March 21, 2008)

This past week in New York, Canadians shared both their culture and their cultural tensions with audiences at MoMA, and a precious artifact from the former Soviet Union that helped spawn a Cold War was casually displayed at the IFC Center. The much-anticipated Cinema Eye Honors reflected some anxiety in New York and the world's documentary community (but also addressed a longstanding grievance), and Cinereach's young philanthropists expressed far more hope.
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March 13, 2008

NY NY | Celebrating Oliveira, Saluting Hoberman and Examining Rossellini's Insects

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (March 13, 2008)

The Brooklyn Academy of Music, fresh off its winter hiatus, has had a busy month. This week, BAM launched series celebrating both the world's oldest active director, Manoel de Oliveira, and one of its most astute film critics, J. Hoberman. In the meantime, Isabella Rossellini showed off a penchant for insect husbandry at the Bryant Park Hotel.
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February 28, 2008

NY NY | Going Green (Hopefully), MOMI Goes for It, IFC Gets Some BAM Love, and How about a Rendez Vous?

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (February 28, 2008)

This week in New York, audiences at Lincoln Center looked at their water bottles in shame while watching the documentary "FLOW: For Love of Water" as part of the Green Screens series. A number of New York City government officials smiled to dig shovelfuls of virtual dirt for the "Digital Groundbreaking" of the Museum of the Moving Image's new expansion, and both the Film Society of Lincoln Center and BAM prepared themselves for their respective upcoming series, "Rendez Vous with French Cinema" and "A Tribute to IFC Films" respectively.
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February 21, 2008

NY NY | Milos Forman Thrills at MoMA Fete, Film Comment Selects Bows and Redford Talks up Dunn's "Unforeseen"

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (February 21, 2008)

Three exemplary film series got kicked off this week in New York, buoyed by appearances from three exemplary personalities. On Thursday night, MoMA's Milos Forman retrospective got a jump start from the congenially baritone Czech director himself, while on Friday night, formidable French film star Jeanne Balibar helped get The Film Society of Lincoln Center's "Film Comment Selects" underway. On Saturday night, MoMA received a casual visit for its "Documentary Fortnight" series from one Mr. Robert Redford, introducing Laura Dunn's "The Unforeseen."
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February 7, 2008

NY NY | Handheld New York: Pennebaker, Latek and Romero Screen Their Films

by Charlie Olsky (February 7, 2008)

This was the week of the handheld camera in New York. On Monday night, D.A. Pennebaker was at Film Forum, discussing his history-making Bob Dylan documentary "Don't Look Back". Director Erik Scott Latek swung by the IFC Center's Stranger Than Fiction series on Tuesday night with his boxing doc "Sweet Dreams", and veteran horror director George A. Romero celebrated his birthday on Wednesday at a sneak preview screening of his home video-style "Diary of the Dead".
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January 10, 2008

NY NY | Chatting up the Hoberman; Taking on "Sugar" and Jewish Film in the Spotlight

by Charlie Olsky (January 10, 2008)

New Yorkers returning to the city after the holidays were treated to a variety of events around town. The Museum of the Moving Image hosted a conversation with critic J. Hoberman, moderated by New York Times critic A.O. Scott, that remained unabashedly intellectual. Documentary filmmaker Bill Haney held a special screening of his film "The Price of Sugar" at the Bryant Park Hotel, and the 17th annual Jewish Film Festival got its Hebraic start at the Walter Reade Theater.
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January 3, 2008

NY NY | Tributes Galore: Bergman, Preminger and Anderson Receive Gotham Salutes

by Charlie Olsky (January 3, 2008)

New Yorkers dealing with the post-Holiday duldrums have an unusually good selection of films in theaters to help them through, and several rep houses this week are showing films best appreciated on the big screen. Downtown Manhattan's IFC Center presents a previously unscreened five-hour version of one of the best films of all time, Ingmar Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander," while Film Forum salutes versatile Hollywood director Otto Preminger. The Museum of the Moving Image, meanwhile, celebrates Paul Thomas Anderson's current success "There Will Be Blood" with a retrospective of his previous four films.
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December 6, 2007

NY NY | The Old Country Shines on a High-minded NYC

by Charlie Olsky (December 6, 2007)

As snow fell over the Christmas lights in New York and revelers prepared for the holidays, the cinema in New York turned high-minded again (something about the cold makes serious movies more palatable for filmgoers). The Film Society of Lincoln Center hosted a retrospective on Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini in collaboration with the city-wide celebration of the nihilistic renaissance man, and the 2nd Annual Romanian Film Festival showed why that country's films are at the forefront of many a cienaste's mind nowadays.
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November 24, 2007

NY NY | "Diving Bell" Previews; MoMI in "Glorious Technicolor!"; New York Remembers Ingmar Bergman

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (November 25, 2007)

So. New Yorkers. Were you lured into paying money to see Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales" after evil bitches J. Hoberman and Manohla Dargis swore it wasn't the total disaster everybody else said it was? Did it leave you never wanting to see a movie again? Yeah, me too. Luckily, tonic was readily available in several forms: Julian Schnabel and cast showed off the extraordinary new film "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", the Museum of the Moving Image kicked off its "Glorious Technicolor!" series with an informative talk on the history of color in cinema, and several institutions celebrated the cinematic genius that was Ingmar Bergman.
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November 15, 2007

NY NY | Lee and Schamus Talk "Lust, Caution," Baumbach Goes "Margot" at MoMA and Burton Flashes some "Sweeney"

by Charlie Olsky (November 15, 2007)

This was an auteur-filled week in New York. Director Ang Lee was humble and Focus chief James Schamus was hilarious on Friday night in their conversation with the Museum of the Moving Image about "Lust, Caution." Noah Baumbach, meanwhile was a bit sheepish and a bit prickly at the Museum of Modern Art's screening of "Margot at the Wedding." And Tim Burton was brief and blunt during his evening with the Film Society of Lincoln Center, possibly in the belief that the audience was really there for a sneak peak at his much-awaited adaptation of "Sweeney Todd."
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November 8, 2007

NY NY | Museum of Moving Image Goes on Cruise Control; Miramax Fetes "No Country" and Other Israel Fest Finds Drama

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (November 8, 2007)

Everything was classy in New York this week. The Museum of the Moving Image threw a black-tie gala salute for Tom Cruise as a benefit for its education department, and the actor kept his crazy in check to deliver a humble thank-you. Cruise's fellow glitterati, meanwhile praised the actor's work ethic and common touch. Miramax gave a dose of its own glamor, hosting the New York premiere for the Coen Brothers horrific new film and chased it with a lovely little well-catered reception. And bringing a new event to the Big Apple is always a logistic challenge, but the Other Israel Film Festival discovered the difficulties of trying to do the right thing.
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November 1, 2007

NY NY | BAM Gets Sassy and a little Crazy; NewFest and Outfest Trade "Glances" and Truck Drivers Hit IFC Center

by Charlie Olsky (November 1, 2007)

BAM saw critics discussing directors discussing critics discussing directors at BAM in Brooklyn. And, as it turns out, they were critical... The Outfest Legacy Project gave a hometown premiere to its restoration of Bill Sherwood's beloved "Parting Glances," co-hosted with NewFestand the crew discussed the surprising demands of the late director. At the IFC Center, Douglas Pray showed off his "Big Rig" as part of the Stranger Than Fiction series. And BAM has a big night in store for Brooklyn on Saturday.
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October 18, 2007

NY NY | Haneke at the MoMA; De Palma at the Academy; "Frank and Cindy" at CMJ

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (October 18, 2007)

As October reached its midsection, screens in New York turn inevitably turn to horror films of all varieties. On Monday night, Michael Haneke was in attendance for an oblique Q&A for his "Funny Games", while Brian De Palma and Amy Irving discussed their classic "Carrie" at the Academy Theater; on Tuesday night, CMJ opened with a more domestic type of horror, "Frank and Cindy", the story of a hideous marriage that might be the least uplifting thing "This American Life" has ever produced.
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October 11, 2007

NY NY | Herzog and Morris Turn out for New Yorker Fest; NYFF Turns on More Glitz

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (October 11, 2007)

Festival buzz reached fever pitch in New York this week as the literary New Yorker Festival joined the middle stretch of the New York Film Festival. Werner Herzog and Errol Morris joined in on the event, though the subject of Abu Ghraib maintained a sober atmosphere as the fest began its weekend run. Glitz, however, is never too far away as members of celebritydom turned out for a pair of parties for "Paranoid Park" and "No Country for Old Men," which screened at the NYFF. And at Lincoln Square, Halle Berry gave a talk after the screening of her new film, "Things We Lost in the Fire".
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October 4, 2007

NY NY | "Blade Runner" Wows at NYFF, "Culture" Infuriates, "Kid" Delights

Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

by Charlie Olsky (October 4, 2007)

This week in Gotham, the New York Film Festival was in full swing with its 45th annual run of being the most prestigious act around, offering up a bumper crop of contemporary cinema alongside a 25th anniversary screening of "Blade Runner" and a coinciding academic panel. Away from the hubbub, Lynn Hershman Leeson's "Strange Culture" infuriated viewers at MoMA, while at the IFC Center, Jennifer Vendetti's "Billy the Kid" delighted them.
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