A new lens on Satyajit Ray’s Days and Nights in the Forest

Friend-of-the-filmlinc-blog Kevin Lee has created these fascinating video pieces about Satyajit Ray’s Days and Nights in the Forest, featuring commentary by director Preston Miller. Check them out and then join us for a screening of Days and Nights in the Forest Sun Apr 26: 4 or Mon Apr 27: 6:30.

Part I: Introduction

Part II: Analysis of the famous “Memory Game” scene

Part III: Interview with actor Soumitra Chatterjee, star of DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST and the Mastroianni to Ray’s Fellini (they worked on 15 films together)

On the Edge: New Chinese independent cinema in context

Under the control of the state, Chinese filmmakers are often deprived the freedoms that artists in other countries take for granted. “The act of making a film has to be approved at each step,” documentary filmmaker Jian Yi told NPR in an interview last year. “If it’s a sensitive film, it’s difficult to get that approval.”

But with the widespread adoption of digital video technology and DIY editing software, independent filmmaking flourishes in China. This weekend, get a rare glimpse of some of the most exciting young contemporary filmmaking talent as the Film Society invites a select group of Chinese independent filmmakers to appear and show their work during On the Edge: New Independent Cinema from China 2009 April 24-26. Though little viewed in China, these films have made an impressive mark on the international stage: several have received major festival awards, and filmmakers Zhang Lü and Ying Liang are hailed as two of the most promising talents working anywhere today.

To get you primed for the series, we’re thrilled to be able to offer this podcast Kevin Lee created for the dGenerate Films blog. In the podcast, Kevin speaks with the Film Society’s Richard Peña about specific titles in the series and the overall state of independent filmmaking in China.

[Click here to open the podcast]

And be sure to join us at the Film Society to meet these talented filmmakers this weekend!

On the Edge: New Independent Cinema from China 2009 April 24-26

“American films teach you not to bore people” and more from Positif editor Michel Ciment

A revealing interview with Michel Ciment  from friend of the filmlinc blog Kevin Lee. In it, Ciment explains why American films are in the greatest need of reappraisal, the “mythic poetic foundations of the nation” and why he likes Clint Eastwood’s new movies.

Check it out and then come and see the Positif series.

More from the Eastwood Roundatable: Visualizing the “Eastwood Look”

A great series of videos from Kevin Lee that help further put the career of Clint Eastwood in perspective. Above, the roundtable begins with a comparison of Gran Torino and Million Dollar Baby, and then branches out into a full discussion of what is inimitably the Eastwood aesthetic, with plenty of illuminating video examples.

Check out Kevin Lee’s other videos from the critical roundtable:

Roundtable on Changeling

Roundtable on Gran Torino

Are you feeling lucky, punks? See the orginal post and download the full podcast

Do you feel lucky, punks? Then download this critical roundtable podcast on Clint Eastwood

In the spirit of Changeling being this year’s Centerpiece selection at the New York Film Festival–and that Clint Eastwood will most likely gain a bunch of Oscar nominations for Gran Torino–Film Comment decided to host some of New York’s leading critics in a discussion about Eastwood’s career as a director. Film Comment’s Evan Davis led a distinguished panel that included:

• Ed Gonzalez, Film editor, Slant Magazine
• Akiva Gottlieb, Contributor, The Nation & Slant
• Kent Jones, Editor-at-large, Film Comment
• Kevin Lee, Director, Shooting Down Pictures
• Karina Longworth, Editor, SpoutBlog

The wide-ranging discussion covers such topics as the (de)merits of Changeling, the reckoning of Eastwood the director with Eastwood the icon, Eastwood and class, the racial complexities of Gran Torino, Eastwood’s relationship to music and structure, and the director’s ultimate place within American cinema.

[Download the MP3 podcast now]

Many thanks to Glenn Raucher, Paul Brunick, and our sound man, Don Schul!