Oscar-shortlisted for Best Animated Short The silence beneath the bark / le silence sous l’écorce by French animator and director Joanna Lurie tells the story of the beauty of snow. In a white forest, little creatures are delighted by the magical qualities of snow flakes. © joannalurie.com
A really moving night at the opera. A short film by Juan Pablo Zaramella.
(Gif from Mon Oncle by Fray Mollo) The first time I saw the film Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953) I realized where Rowan Atkinson got his inspiration for Mr. Bean. Monsieur Hulot is the clumsy alter ego of Jacques Tati (1907-82), the French filmmaker, actor and screenwriter. Born Jacques Tatischeff he enjoyed a long career writing, directing and starring in his own films, winning several awards, including a foreign film Oscar. Coming from a […]
Starting out as an extra in the early days of silent cinema Anna May Wong (Los Angeles, 1906) was one of the first Chinese-American actresses on the silver screen. She managed to land several roles but was often cast as the stereotypical Dragon Lady. Disillusioned about the discrimination she encountered she moved to Europe in 1928 where she became a sensation and worked with people like Marlene Dietrich. During the 1930s, she went back and […]
©Monty Python
A little while ago I went to see the play Grey Gardens by Abattoir Fermé, a Belgium theatre company at De Toneelschuur in Haarlem. The stage was completely trashed with rubbish, the two actors – in drag – talking simultaneously and constantly contradicting each other; it was complete chaos. Somehow it all seemed familiar and after about fifteen minutes I suddenly recognized the narrative and the two eccentric characters and realized it was a stage […]
The Lynchian carpet at the Cinecenter cinema in Amsterdam. It also reminds me of the carpet at the Overlook Hotel in Kubrick’s The Shining.Song for today: Rosie & the Originals – Lonely Blue Nights
I had never heard of them, but a little subplot in Rachel Kushner’s The Flamethrowers was a first hint; meet the China Girls. Nowadays color timing is done digitally, but from the beginning of cinema until the 1990s film technicians used gray scales and color strips as reference to create a uniform color balance and tonal density for each reel. They also used the color of the China Girl‘s skin tones. These women (often lab […]
Trying to imagine the abstract magnitude of space, the infinite distance between galaxies of unexplored heavens; it seems unimaginable. The reverse also true: within the complex cells of all that exists, a mirror universe can be found unseen by the naked eye.
We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep. William Shakespeare – The Tempest Act 4, scene 1, 148–158 A lovely animation was made of The Tempest as part of the Shakepeare: The Animated Tales (1992) Song for today: Frou Frou – Must Be Dreaming
