I always look forward to my annual interview with Anita Monga, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. A genteel woman with a sly sense of humor and a wealth of knowledge about cinema history, she never fails to delight in both her conversation and the dynamic cross-section of films that she programs… Read More »
Anita Monga on the 2016 San Francisco Silent Film Festival
Few people speak about silent cinema with such authority and such affection as Anita Monga, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. When we spoke on May 16, 2016, it was to discuss not just the dynamic slate of films at this year’s festival, its 21st, but also the work that the festival… Read More »
Mark Burton and Richard Starzak — Puns, Cryptomnesia, and Dreams with SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE
Aardman Animation. For hordes of animation fans, you don’t need to say anything else about a film in order to get them to pack a theater. I, however, will add that the latest from that storied studio, the SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE, is everything that not just a great Aardman film should be, but also… Read More »
20 Years of Glorious Silence — Anita Monga on the 2015 San Francisco Silent Film Festival
Anita Monga, Artistic Director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, is a treasure trove of all things to do with silent cinema. Every time I talk with her, I learn something new, and every year at the festival that she oversees so lovingly, I see a selection of films that are the perfect distillation… Read More »
Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films talks paternal influences, cocktail-swilling elephants, and when a lobster is not a lobster.
Serge Bromberg, courtesy of the company he founded, Lobster Films, has been discovering and restoring films from the silent era through the 1960s for 25 years. The excuse for myinterview (I’ve wanted to talk to him for years) was his imminent appearance at the 20th anniversary of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, which had… Read More »
BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!
Guy Maddin’s BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! is such a purely, viscerally visual experience that, like trying to describe a dream, much is lost when trying to put the language of the subconscious into words. And that is what Maddin is working with here. Boasting no spoken dialogue, eccentric black-and-white exposures, he bills this as a… Read More »
Michel Hazanavicius is THE ARTIST
Michel Hazanavicius enjoys evoking bygone cinematic eras, as in his spy spoof set in the 1950s, OSS 117 – NEST OF SPIES. When he decided the time was right to make THE ARTIST, a silent film, the first person he had to convince about the viability of his idea was himself. When I spoke to him on… Read More »
Anita Monga and the 2013 Silent Film Festival Winter Program
For Anita Monga, silent film is more than just a quaint curiosity. It’s as vibrant and immediate an art form as any other, as well as the mainspring of modern cinema. When I spoke to her on February 1, 2013, she pointed this out with something I had not thought of before. The first section… Read More »
Stephen Salmons and The 2003 SAN FRANCISCO SILENT FILM FESTIVAL
With co-founder Melissa Chittick, Steve Salmons started the San Francisco Silent Film Festival with a dream, excellent organizational skills, and a firm belief that there was a whole new audience just waiting to rediscover this exquisite art form. To judge by the the way the festival always packs the Castro Theater, a vintage silent movie palace seating… Read More »
Guy Maddin Imprints His BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!
Guy Maddin’s appearance at the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival marked the second consecutive year that he had brought his unique vision to that event. Last year, it was to receive the festival’s Persistance of Vision Award. This year, it was to present his latest film, BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! in its live event incarnation, complete with orchestra,… Read More »