ephemera

a mouthwatering line up at the sydney film festival next month – unfortunately (or fortunately!) i am (only) going to be there for the last weekend. is the glass half empty or half full? well, i am going to miss a swag of goodies including david lynch’s inland empire which i also missed in new york last year; some very interesting looking docos : the killer within, a walk into the sea : danny williams and the warhol factory; and some intriguing music films : anton corbijn’s biopic on ian curtis called control, shut up and sing, a doco on the dixie chicks’ run in with the american media over the iraq war, a doco about a record the grauniad has called one of the dozen greatest albums of all time : born sandy devotional by the triffids.

on the other hand i’ll be there to see adrienne shelly’s film waitress, the feminist thriller red road (a kind of prequel to italian for beginners, which i loved), the bridge, a doco about the many people that suicide by jumping off the golden gate bridge, miss universe 1929 (For over 20 years, award-winning filmmaker Peter Forgács has examined the private histories of European families between 1930 and 1960, primarily using found footage.) and the monastery : mr vig and the nun (Mr Vig is the owner of a rundown Danish castle. His dream is to turn his rambling home into a Russian Orthodox monastery. The Russian Patriarch sends a delegation of nuns to assess the building’s suitability. Despite the leaking roof and dodgy heating, the nuns return the following summer lead by the young and determined Sister Ambrosija. She is alternately frustrated and charmed by Mr Vig’s recalcitrance and make-do approach. He, in turn, is struggling to accept that to realise his dream he must let go, forfeit his home and his vision.)

and then there is a thing called academy : R.Luke DuBois’ algorithmic programming technology enables an entire feature film to be shown in a perceptible way within the span of a single minute. Academy takes each film awarded the Oscar® for best picture over 75 years, compresses them, and shows them back-to-back in a magnificent play with memory and history. This fascinating project is simultaneously a savvy critique and a celebration of accelerated culture and diminishing attention spans. It also renders visible the historical changes in cinematic structure, timing and technologies.

woa … bugger twenty four hour psycho! this is what busy people need!