TCM Classic Film Festival brings subterfuge feminism to 2022 Fest

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pam grier, coffy (1973), in-person at tcm fest ed. note: artsmeme is pleased to have steve farber back to its team coverage of tcm fest. steve offers some of his picks for the 2022 festival. After a full three years away, I look forward to returning to this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival . The ...

Swept away by ‘Mimi’ 50 years later: Laemmle Anniversary Classics salutes Lina Wertmuller

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Ed. note: We celebrate woman artists on artsmeme, and that’s why Italian director Lina Wertmüller’s sexy, impish, outrageous, passionate ouevre of movies mixing sex, love and politics belongs on the blog. Our guest contributor is the host of Laemmle Theatre’s “Anniversary Screenings” series, Stephen Farber. To launch its Anniversary Classics series in 2022, and during ...

‘Refugee’ short film depicts Syrian calamity thru intimate saga

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At a time when Syria is sadly once again at the top of the news, a short film that hopes to compete in this year’s Oscar race takes on added poignancy and relevance. Refugee is an exceptionally well made offering that highlights the plight of the thousands who fled Syria during the earlier humanitarian crisis. ...

Farber on Film: the strong cinematic women of TCM Fest 2018

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In the year of #MeToo, it seems only appropriate that some of the most resonant films shown at the TCM Classic Film Festival had strong women front and center. Both onscreen and off, 100-year-old Marsha Hunt has long been an inspiring figure. Known for her principled stand against the Hollywood blacklist, which damaged her career, ...

Farber on Film: TCM Fest 2018 brings home the power of the press

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This year’s TCM Classic Film Festival, which opens in Hollywood tomorrow night, is divided into several theme-related programs. One of the most intriguing—and certainly the timeliest—is called “Power of the Press” and celebrates movies about journalists. All the President’s Men was the Festival’s opening night film in 2016, so this year’s selections are not such ...

Farber on Film: ‘Lady in the Dark’ @ TCM Fest 2017

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A strong female character is at the center of Lady in the Dark, a forgotten 1944 film that was presented in a beautiful 35mm nitrate print at the Egyptian Theatre on the final night of the festival. This movie was adapted from a Broadway play written by Moss Hart, with music by Kurt Weill and ...

Farber on film: ‘David and Lisa’ @ TCM Fest 2017

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Many out-of-town patrons attend the TCM Festival to catch the big productions with the big stars in attendance: In the Heat of the Night, The China Syndrome, Saturday Night Fever. Or they line up for perennial audience pleasers like Casablanca, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in the large Chinese Theatre. But for some of us, ...

Critic Stephen Farber’s TCM Fest 2016 movie round-up 1

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The fun of the TCM Classic Film Festival [arts•meme has covered since 2010] is the sheer range of offerings, from obscure rarities to Oscar-anointed hits. Three of my favorite events from this year’s festival featured memorable guest appearances. The Yearling was shown in a magnificent 35mm print from The George Eastman House. Not all studio ...

TCM Fest: Angela Lansbury brings wit, hauteur, menace to ‘The Manchurian Candidate’

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In 1961 Angela Lansbury was playing the mother of rising star Warren Beatty in All Fall Down, an intense family drama adapted by playwright William Inge from the novel by James Leo Herlihy. In that film she seemed thoroughly convincing as the overbearing mother to Beatty, even though she was only 11 years older than ...

How now, Shirley MacLaine @ TCM Fest 2015

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Shirley MacLaine made a few appearances at this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival, and she enthralled audiences with her candor. She revealed that when she first received the script for the Oscar-winning film, The Apartment, it was only 29 pages long. Director Billy Wilder and his longtime writing partner, I.A.L. Diamond, continued writing as filming ...