Before you stamp your large Hobbit feet or pound your Dwarvish axe on the ground, perhaps wait until you’ve seen the series. Have they dissuaded all of this particular Tolkien fan’s fears? No. Have they set up a show that could be wildly successful and well received by even the most critical hardcore Tolkien enthusiast? Definitely
John Wildman talks with the creators of three films that screened recently at The Festival of Cinema NYC, August of 2022.
In the Russian ballet Petrushka, a Punch-like figure pines for a ballerina who rejects him, and gets killed in a duel. The combination of longing and presumed-crazy ambition imbues Nicola Rose’s Goodbye Petrushka, in which impulsive, puppet-making film student Claire (Lizzie Kehoe) impulsively quits school to go to France, where she longs to study more serious puppetry…and the handsome, recently retired figure skater Thibaut (Thomas Vieljeux) she ran into in New York before they both left.
As Claire attempts to navigate a new life as an au pair, she tries to coax Thibaut into making a skating puppet ballet with her. But her culture shock and his girlfriend just might stand in the way.
Interview with filmmaker Dan Mirvish about 18 1/2, casting Bruce Campbell as Nixon, and what bread has to do with it all.
“…And to the LGBTQ community of Oxford and beyond, I hope that I might have had a small part in helping you feel seen. Cinema absolutely has the power to do that.”
Part of what we understand the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation is looking to do is to use filmmaking to get people to think more and care more overall about how access to education (specifically early education) is essential to the concept of caring for kids everywhere. As one of the parents in the film points out, kids “are our future.” It’s vexing how this seems like something that everyone wants to make happen – and yet, as a country we keep dropping the ball.
In the interview, which also includes producer Ketevan Nozadze, we talk about the approach to the film and in this case a particular person chosen as the film’s subject to build a film around. We also discuss the conflict of emotions as a filmmaker to resist the urge to “assist” the subject when they are struggling with money or aid or other kinds of help, as that could damage the integrity of the film itself. We also talk about the parallels between that conflict and the dynamic between producer and director, in terms of knowing when and when not to “intervene”.
In the interview, we talk about the measures both directors took (in concert and separately) to make sure they were making a film and not “filming a therapy session”. They also discuss what it took to figure out what the film was actually about over the course of the filming and editing process. James also discusses a documentary that he keeps coming back to because it still mesmerizes him to this day.
In the interview, we talk about making horror movies for people that don’t like horror. We also talk about “using the space” cinematically – in this case shooting a film on a stage (or making us think we are on a stage) and making it interesting, if not frightening, as well as utilizing the sound design to also enhance those efforts. We also discuss the work of Greer Phillips to pull off a performance that had so many challenges to make it all work on so many levels.
In the interview, we talked about trusting the audience and not spoon feeding them plot points and character beats and allowing them to “solve the puzzle”. We also talk about editors saving our lives. And there is the inevitable discussion about the blowback he got for shooting in black and white (Spoiler: One distributor told him to “Go to hell.” And hung up on him.)
