Phantasmagoria on tap in ‘Fantasia of Color in Early Cinema’
A treasure trove of hand-colored cinematic footage restored in rare films illustrate the first-ever uses of applied color in movies. Accompanied by live music, superb digital transfers of restored work from the archives of EYE Film Institute Netherlands transport viewers to a moment in time when colored moving images truly opened a portal into otherworldly ...
Do clothes make the woman? Check with Jane Szabo @ MOAH.
“Artist as Subject,” an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Art and History (MOAH) in Lancaster, California, expands upon the traditional self-portrait by exposing the artist’s inner state, body, history or habits of daily life. Featured in MOAH’s show is photography by Los Angeles artist Jane Szabo, who explores the outward ways in which women ...
French music hall revisited with “Monsieur Chocolat” @ COLCOA
“Monsieur Chocolat,” a biopic set in the fin-de-siècle world of French circus and music hall opened the 20th anniversary edition of COLCOA French Film Festival in Los Angeles last night, bringing exotica and rich visual zing to the big screen of the Director’s Guild of America. The film’s talented director Roschy Zem and its star, ...
French swashbuckling powers “On Guard” @ COLCOA Classics
Apr
18
2016
The yummy goodies that add piquancy to the jam-packed opening-night reception of COLCOA, Los Angeles’s premier French film festival celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2016, carry forth to a rich movie-menu of new releases. There’s even an ‘evergreen’ mini-festival, COLCOA Classics which provides a second look at great movies reprised on the big screen. Romance ...
Brothers Witkin, twins reunited at Newport Beach Film Festival
Jerome Witkin and Joel-Peter Witkin have shocked and stirred the art world for decades. Both men enjoy passionate cult followings, yet few in the arts community had any idea they were related, let alone that they were identical twins who had been estranged for half a century. The gallery show that inspired the film’s title, ...
Conductor Carlo Ponti, son of Sophia, conjures “Movie Magic”
He’s got his father’s name and his mother’s looks. But the richly credentialed classical-music resume is all Carlo Ponti, Jr.‘s. The conductor will lead the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra in an evening of compositions drawn from the industry from whence he came. The aptly titled “Movie Magic” program slated for the charming Theatre Raymond Kabbaz ...
Wake-up call for “Sleeper” modernist auditorium
In the screenshot above, red-headed comic Woody Allen saunters alongside a daring curvelinear-roof’ed structure in SLEEPER (1973). A decade prior, the great Los Angeles architectural photographer Julius Shulman (1910-2009) captured the eggy update on a civic auditorium (below). The building’s bold shape fit aptly with Southern California’s persistent modernist trend when it opened in 1964. ...
Shakespeare anniv brings murder, lust & madness
Apr
5
2016
One thing we wholeheartedly revere about the British, our former colonial masters, is their theater! Um… their theatre. That’s why we’re so looking forward to attending the big Britweek party at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Arts entitled Murder, Lust, & Madness, in honor of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Noted Shakespeare ...
The new Grace Kelly
Apr
4
2016
Classic film fans will be jolted to learn that Grace Kelly has returned. This time ’round she’s as beguiling as ever, having taken the form of a 23-year old saxophone player. We watched the new Grace Kelly wail, pitching her horn skyward at an extreme high angle, at Saturday night’s “Give the Band a Hand” ...
Want to be a movie star? Line up here.
Mar
31
2016
A super interesting evening upcoming at the Academy that examines a critical backstage process in film making — casting. Acclaimed casting directors Lynn Stalmaster, Juliet Taylor and Mike Fenton will sit down with the governors of the Academy’s Casting Directors Branch to discuss the evolution of their profession and the essential role the casting director ...