film

'Black Swan' Good for Ballet Ticket Sales

Filed under: Events

Darren Aronofsky's hit film, "Black Swan," may do more for the arts than earn Natalie Portman a slew of best-actress awards. It may in fact have helped to boost professional dance companies - at least the ones performing the ballet "Swan Lake," which the film is centered around.

To prepare for the film, Portman trained with former New York City Ballet dancer Mary Helen Bowers. That company performs "Swan Lake" each year and this year its two-week run (which will end on Saturday, Feb. 26) sold extremely well, according to City Ballet spokesman Rob Daniels. The company sold out tickets to all nine of its performances in the 2,500-seat David A. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center.

Tags: academy awards, ballet, city ballet, culture, dance, film, natalie portman, new york city ballet, oscars, oscars 2011

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The Third Act of Francis Ford Coppola

by Ariston Anderson (RSS feed) —

Francis Ford Coppola, just four days after wrapping his latest picture in Northern California, flew to the Marrakesh International Film Festival to share his knowledge of filmmaking with students at a special discussion at the Palais des Congres. Coppola is a rare talent in Hollywood, even rarer for his ability to create outside of the studio system. Luxist spoke to Coppola at a secluded library deep inside La Mamounia on how he's living his Third Act in life.

In what could be called his Second Act, Coppola was dealt a series of blows in big-budget productions, including a heavy legal battle with Warner Brothers over the rights to Pinocchio, and his abandoned utopian vision "Megalopolis." But it was only by delving into his businesses that he was finally able to find his true calling in cinema.

It was only after becoming incredibly successful through his hotel and wine endeavors that Coppola realized that his path was to write and direct deeply personal films in which he had complete control. "I looked at my daughter and I thought gee I taught her how to make a movie for $2-3 million. I can make a movie for $2-3 million. That's when I went off to Romania, very quietly, and made that first film."

The man who once rightly predicted film will go digital, swears by the new medium. Coppola is able to work under low budgets in order to finance his own films, nothing surpassing $7 million, often by working with new actors, and filming in locations where the exchange rate is favorable to the dollar. "I feel blessed. I mean how many filmmakers are given that blank check to say go make a film every year, two years?" he asked. Not many. And, if he ever finds himself without the means to make a movie, he says he'll use whatever resources he has available, even if it's merely an iPhone camera.

To be in such a position involves a fair amount of risk-taking, but even more so a sense of fearlessness. "I recognize in life from my own family, my own father, that people are obsessed with money and frightened about losing money. And somehow I never had that attitude," he said. "I never hesitated to put up my own money or lose money. And I did lose money. I bought the studio in Hollywood. I spent ages 40-50 paying back the Chase Manhattan bank, a big loan that I owed them. So I don't think you can live your life in fear of whether you're going to have money or whether you're not going to have money."

Tags: film, francis ford coppola, marrakech film festival

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Opening Night at the Marrakech International Film Festival

by Ariston Anderson (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events

Cannes may still hold the key in the French-speaking world for film festivals, but Marrakech is quickly gaining rank. Not a film market like Cannes, the festival offers a greater joy: an opportunities for people around the world to converge upon this gorgeous city simply for the joy of cinema.

The Marrakech International Film Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary Friday night. The Opening Ceremony at the Palais des Congres hosted a slew of international film talent. Women walking the red carpet showcased their gorgeous couture caftans, as well as quite a few Dior evening gown numbers. Inside, guests were welcomed by the Royal Symphonic Orchestra, and a special score composed for the occasion.

John Malkovich, president of the 2010 jury, brought onstage the rest of his international team, including Faouzi Bensaidi, Dominic Cooper, Maggie Cheung, Gael Garcia Bernal, Irene Jacob, Benoit Jaxquot, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Yousra, all who welcomed guests in their respective languages. Keanu Reeves introduced his opening night film, Henry's Crime, in which he plays an apathetic tollbooth worker, who after wrongly taking the fall for a bank robbery, decides to initiate a real burglary at the very bank where he was arrested.

Following the film, over 700 guests joined the Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid for a special dinner to commemorate the event. No expense was spared at the sprawling Moroccan feast. Guests dined on a massive array of traditional dishes including chicken tagine, veal shank with eggplant, cumin fish, honey couscous, barley-filled pumpkin, and a variety of famous Moroccan pastries. The Royal Orchestra was on hand to entertain guests with decadent film scores.

Gallery: Marrakesh International Film Festival Opening Night

Festival Director Melita Toscan Du Plantier

Charlotte Rampling, Barry Levinson, Volker Schondorff

Tags: Festival, Film, John Malkovich, Keanu Reeves, MarionCotillard, Marrakesh

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Gen Art Folds

by Jonathon Ramsey (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

After 16 years of art, fashion and film programs and events that have introduced the unknown to the known, Gen Art has done its final fade-to-black, letting go of all of its staff and shutting up shop. The company, founded and run by brothers Ian and Stefan Gerard, simply couldn't get the membership and sponsorship equations to work ever since the financial crisis hit. It will be missed by new and old talent alike, and a note left by the Gerard's on the site asks "We hope that where we have left off, others will step up to help fill the void."

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Tags: art, culture in trouble, fashion, film, gen art

Banksy's Latest Coup: Exit Through the Gift Shop

by Ariston Anderson (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Decor, Auctions, Celebrity Shopping, Art

What would cause the world's most elusive and most illustrious street artist to make a film with never before seen insights into his own life? To get back at a man who used his name and took advantage of his friendship of course. The art world is abuzz with the latest work from the genius that is Banksy, Exit Through the Gift Shop.While the film is not about Banksy, as the hype would have you believe, it's worth seeing for the rare footage into both Banksy's physical and mental studio.

To tell you straight off, you're not going to see Banksy in the film. You're going to see a hooded figure, face blurred and voice disguised, that may or may not be Banksy, embedding the narration with signature Banksy quips. The most revealing clue into who Banksy is, who some sources peg as Robin Gunningham, is a wedding ring on a male hand, shown when the artist is at work. And that Banksy has a team of assistants, any one of whom could have played Banksy in the film, to help produce the massive work. But trying to peg the identity of Banksy is of course not the point of the film.

What you are going to see is a giant art world hoax surrounding amateur filmmaker, Thierry Guetta, turned amateur artist, Mister Brainwash. There's no information given on how involved Bansky was in the actual filmmaking, although by putting his name on the resulting work, it's clear he directed the narrative into a con story, a con named Mister Brainwash.

Thierry Guetta was a successful L.A. storekeeper who lived with a camcorder glued to his hand. After years of recording his day-to-day life, he stumbled upon something worth filming after visiting his cousin, the Atari-cum-mosaic inclined street artist Space Invader. He followed him for years, leading to his entry into the underground scene, filming the movement's multitude of stars: Swoon, Neckface, Poster Boy, Zevs, and Shepard Fairey. After failing to get any ins toward the most coveted subject of them all, Banksy, Guetta's luck changed when Fairey rang him up one day. Banksy was in L.A. and needed someone to show him around. Following his guidance into where to paint in L.A., Guetta gained Banksy's trust and friendship. As Banksy's entourage didn't contain a more worthy photographer, he began bringing Guetta into his more outlandish stunts, for posterity's sake, including the installation of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner inside Disneyland.

Tags: Angelina Jolie, Banksy, Brad Pitt, damien hirst, film, LA, London, mister brainwash, Neckface, Shepard Fairey, street art, Swoon, Theirry Guetta, Zevs

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Forget Popcorn at Movies, Try Oysters

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Even at the poshest of theaters, it's unheard of to be given shellfish.

Apparently, modern theaters are flouting tradition by expecting us to dine on a cheap triviality like popcorn. According to Reuters, Elizabethan theatergoers preferred oysters while they watched Shakespeare's canon take shape -- even the groudlings (those without proper seats who stood on the ground by the stage for a penny).

Oysters were reportedly most popular (and were probably the cheapest), and other "snacks" included crab and other shellfish like mussels, whelks, periwinkles, dried raisins and figs, hazelnuts, plums, cherries, peaches, baked blackberry and elderberry pies and sturgeon, "according to experts who excavated The Rose and The Globe theatres on the south bank of the River Thames."

"Oysters were in fact the staple diet of the poor, right up to the Victorian period, and certainly we find oyster shells by the thousand on nearly every archaeological site we do," senior Museum of London archaeologist Julian Bowsher who excavated the two theater sites told Reuters.

As someone who's paid just as much for popcorn at the movies as I've paid for a fine plate of oysters, I have to say, I think the Elizabethans had it better. You know, besides the way they smelled.

Tags: Elizabethan, Film, Globe Theatre, GlobeTheatre, Movies, Oysters, Popcorn, Shakespeare

V.I.P Package at Providence Film Festival

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Photo of Cable Car Cinema in Providence R.I.

Providence is quite the artsy town, what with the Rhode Island School of Design, the creative foment that is Brown University, not to mention all the culinary talent coming out of Johnson & Wales University.

So it's no wonder that the Rhode Island Film Festival, which goes off August 4th - August 9th, 2009, is quite a good one.The festival, now in its 13th year, shows 175 films and videos, and its philosophy is wide open -- it will show work of any type in any subject matter. It's one of the 63 film festivals in the world that's a qualifying festival in the Short Films category for the Academy Awards.

The deadline's been extended for the festival's V.I.P. Package, which costs $1,200 and includes access to everything, from exclusive parties, premiers, and even workshops. If you have an inner film geek, the included Working in Animation workshop with actor John Ratzenberger could be a thrill. And if you have an even geekier inner geek, you can watch William Shatner receive an award for Humanitarian of the Year for his philanthropy to the American Tinnitus Association, among other charities.

The package also includes two nights in the seriously cool Providence Renaissance Hotel, which was built as a Masonic Temple in 1929, and counts as one of the state's largest restoration projects.

Tags: film, film festival, FilmFestival, providence, rhode island, RhodeIsland

Steve McQueen Wins Gucci Group Award for 2008

by Tracy Chait (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Steve McQueen is the art world's new King of Cool. The British filmmaker whose recent project Hunger won the prestigious Caméra d'Or award at Cannes, adds another prominent award to his collection: Gucci Group's annual recognition of an international artist who makes a significant contribution to film. And this year's group of nominees -- Julian Schnabel, Isaac Julien and Adam Yauch -- provided staunch competition indeed.

Robert Polet, Gucci's CEO and President, presented the award to McQueen during the 65th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy. The committee included some of the world's greatest arbiters of style, Italian Vogue's Franco Sozzani, the artist Jeff Koons, actress Isabelle Huppert, Yves Saint Laurent's creative director Stefano Pilati and the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival, Marco Muller.

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Tags: 2008 gucci group award, 2008GucciGroupAward, adam yauch, AdamYauch, film, filmmaker, franco sozzani, FrancoSozzani, gucci, gucci group, GucciGroup, isaac julien, IsaacJulien, jeff koons, JeffKoons, julian schnabel, JulianSchnabel, robert polet, RobertPolet, stefano pilati, StefanoPilati, steve mcqueen, SteveMcqueen

Bid on Keira Knightley's Atonement Dress

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Apparel, Auctions, Celebrity Shopping, Charity

It was perhaps the most memorable fashion moment from a movie this year, the bottle-green evening dress worn by Keira Knightley in the Oscar-nominated movie, Atonement. The dress is worn during the dramatic scenes between Knightley and James McAvoy. Designers have been copying this dress since the movie came out but if you are a size 2 you can wear the real thing. Clothes Off Our Backs is auctioning off one of the dresses made for Keira Knightley to wear during filming (multiple dresses were made because the dress is delicate). The dress being auctioned off was made under the supervision of, and has been authenticated by, Jacqueline Durran, who is nominated for an Academy Award for her costume design of Atonement. Last time I checked bidding was up to $3,200 with another 19 days left to go in the auction. Proceeds will benefit The Children's Charity of Southern California.

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Tags: atonement, auction, charity, film, keira knightley, KeiraKnightley

Producer To Destroy His Own Carrera GT For Movie

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

The announcement of a new movie starring Eddie Griffin isn't usually exciting news but this may be the first one that I have heard about whether the producer offers up his own cars for the action scenes. "Redline" will be an auto thriller that will include the personal car collection of the producer, real estate investor Daniel Sadek. Sadek who is financing the $26 million movie will be using his own cars including a Phantom, Lamborghini Murcielago, Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari F430, Ferrari Scaglietti and two Mercedes McLarens. Sadek's $200,000 Porsche Carrera GT will be crashed during one sequence. Perhaps he should hire Stefan Eriksson as a stunt driver.

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Tags: eddie griffin, ferrari enzo, film, mercedes mclaren, movie, porsche carrera gt

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