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Commentary – The Road
Just how near is the apocalypse? My screenings last week consisted of 2012, a CGI version of the next Noah’s Art event. And Philadelphia Film’s Society’s filmadelphiaIndependent presentation of The Road, a bleak, cold look at the future after an unnamed cataclysmic occurrence on the earth. Then to top it off or seal the doom, my Bible study class focused on Matthew 24:4-28, where Jesus tells his disciples of all the end time miseries and destruction to come, “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs”. One things for sure, if life continues after these “birth pangs” and its anything like The Road, then truly woe unto…
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Marco Tullio Giordana (Wild Blood)
My association with Philadelphia Cinema Alliance has once again brought me into contact with a world famous, critically-acclaimed writer/director- Marco Tullio Giordana. In Italy he is one of the most popular and well-regarded filmmakers of the last thirty years. His films such as, I cento passi (2000) Pasolini, un delitto italiano (1995) and most recently Sanguepazzo (Wild Blood) (2008) are so respected that many Universities in the US teach entire courses on Maestro Giordana’s work, both in Cinema Studies and Italian Studies. One of the characteristics of Giordana’s movies is the osmosis, the tight connection between the private history of the characters and History. His movies tell a personal story,…
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Commentary – Eden is West
I knew from the film synopsis that Eden is West was to have some comic overtones, but I still didn’t expect to enjoy it, I figured with all that talk of critically-acclaimed director, the film would be so full of deep meaning and subtext that I’d be itching for it to be over. Not so, actually it’s completely engaging, maybe not from the first scene, but as soon as Elias (Riccardo Scamarcio) washes up on the shores of a nudist resort, the film stays on a lively pace. Elias is an immigrant who along with many other of his countrymen is trying to illegally come into a new country in…
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NY Film & Video Festival Wrap Up
I only saw two films I would recommend to Philadelphia Cinema Alliance for CineFest, but it was great just being in the atmosphere of the festival, building my courage to talk to more and more filmmakers and attendees and trying to do timely posts...
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NY Film & Video Festival Day 4 & 5
So I haven’t seen nearly the amount of films I normally would when covering a festival. But as I’ve mentioned, I’m also here visiting friends and family and truthfully, I’m not crazy about Docs and Shorts. I appreciate them, as I appreciate anyone with the vision, creativity, fortitude and determination to make any film of any size; but preferably, I like to see as many feature lengths as possible and then sprinkle in the documentaries and shorts. Here’s two films I have not seen, but have had the pleasure of conversing with the filmmakers: Greetings (5:13 min) Director: Joe Pearman, Creators: Jason Zeller and Mike Ayllon (3-D Animation) Aliens “Manny”…
