Tomorrow one of cinema’s recent poets Lisandro Alonso arrives in our city for a complete retrospective of his work. While the film forum is responsible for touring Alonso latest film LIVERPOOL throughout the US and Canada, we’ll also be engaging him in several Seattle based cinematic activities; introductions, Q & A’s, a master class, but perhaps most interesting amongst them we’re commissioning a short film as part of our one-shot film commission series. The first international filmmaker and the only one who is a sort of master of the one-shot , we’re giddy with excitement as Alonso takes the helm.

In the meantime I thought I’d provide you with a comprehensive primer on Alonso and his films. Below you’ll find a series of links to various articles, essays and interviews. These links, arranged according to film title, date of production, articles, etc, can also serve as a kind guide into the directors unique aesthetic approach.Hope to see you at his films this week!

S/T sin titulo (2009) Short – BAFICI 2009

• “Days in Buenos Aires: Lisandro Alonso” By: Robert Koehler (Film Journey, 13 April 2009)

Liverpool (2008) IMDb link – Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Cannes 2008

• “Liverpool, Patagonie” By: Jean-Philippe Tessé (Cahiers du cinéma, n° 634; May 2008) [FRENCH]
• “Liverpool (Argentina)” By: Robert Koehler (Variety; 19 May 2008)
• “Liverpool Sud” By: Olivier Séguret (Libération, 20 May 2008) [FRENCH]
• “Regarder le monde et les hommes avec un regard neuf, presque vierge” By: Jacques Mandelbaum (Le Monde; 21 May 2008) [FRENCH]
• Cannes Film Festival, 2008: “Liverpool” (Alonso, Argentina) By: Daniel Kasman (The Auteurs; 21 May 2008)
• “Cannes 2008. Don’t Be So Naïve!” By: Kent Jones (Film Comment; Jul-Aug 2008)
• TIFF08 – Liverpool By: Michael Guillen (The Evening Class, 4 Sept 2008)
• “Toronto Dispatch. 2” By: Michael Sicinski (Green Cine Daily; 7 Sept 2008)
• The London Film Festival: Liverpool – A trilogy of closely observed characters By: Quintín (Sight & Sound; Nov 2008)
• Liverpool Making of By: diasestranhos (YouTube; 29 Nov 2008) part 1 – 2
• “Deep and Wide” By: Megan Ratner (Bright Lights Film Journal; #63; Feb 2009)
• “Liverpool” By: Serge Kaganski (Les Inrockuptibles; 28 Jul 2009) [FRENCH]
• “L’errance fantomatique d’un marin descendu à terre” By: Isabelle Régnier (Le Monde; 5 Aug 2009) [FRENCH]
• “Liverpool” By: Jacques Morice (Télérama, 8 Aug 2009) [FRENCH]
• “Liverpool” By: Fernando F. Croce (Slant; 31 Aug 2009)
• “Being There” By: Ed Halter (Artforum, 31 Aug 2009)
• “Jobber Adrift at Sea Takes Leave in Liverpool” By: J. Hoberman (The Village Voice; 1 Sept 2009)
• Links By: David Hudson (The Auteurs Daily; 1 Sept 2009)
• Liverpool By: Andrew Schenker (The House Next Door; 1 Sept 2009)
• A Bleak Journey Through the Snowy Terra del Fuego By: Manohla Dargis (NYT; 2 Sept 2009)
• “Argentine Winter” By: Benjamin Mercer (The L Magazine; 2 Sept 2009)
• Now in Theaters: “Liverpool” (Alonso, Argentina) By: Daniel Kasman (The Auteurs; 6 Sept 2009)
• New Film: Liverpool & Extract By: Michael J. Anderson (Tativille; 8 Sept 2009)
• Liverpool By: artversussport (via the frog, 1 Nov 2009)

Fantasma (2006) IMDb link – Cannes 2006

• “Fantasma de Lisandro Alonso” By: Jean-Philippe Tessé (Cahiers du cinéma, n° 612; May 2006) [FRENCH]
• “Cannes 2006. Alonso Ascends the Staircase” By: Robert Koehler (FIPRESCI; 2006)
• Fantasma (2006/Alonso) By: HarryTuttle (Screenville; 4 June 2006)
• Haunted Cinema (Fantasma) By: Matt Riviera (Last Night with Riviera; 13 Aug 2006)
• “The Phantom of Liberty : Lisandro Alonso’s ‘Fantasma’” By: Neil Young (Neil Young’s Film Lounge; 15 Jan 2007)

Los Muertos (2004) IMDb link – Cannes 2004

• “Le deuxième souffle” By: Jean-Philippe Tessé (Cahiers du cinéma, n° 590; May 2004) [FRENCH]
• “L’épopée stupéfiante d’un solitaire” By: Jacques Mandelbaum (Le Monde; 15 May 2004) [FRENCH]
• “Des acteurs vierge de cinéma” By: Thomas Sotinel (Le Monde; 15 May 2004) [FRENCH]
• “Lisandro Alonso : géométrie variable” By: Emmanuèle Frois (Le Figaro, 15 May 2004) [FRENCH]
• “That’s How a Man Lives” By: Andy Rector (FIPRESCI; 2004)
• “L’ oubli et l’oubli” By: Sylvain Coumoul (Cahiers du cinéma, n° 595, Nov 2004) [FRENCH]
• “L’enfer vert” By: Vincent Ostria (Les Inrocks; 3 Nov 2004) [FRENCH]
• “Bouffée d’anxiogène” By: Didier Péron (Libération; 3 Nov 2004) [FRENCH]
• “Los Muertos” By: Jacques Morice (Télérama; 3 Nov 2004) [FRENCH]
• “Lisandro Alonso filme son tropisme pour la vie sauvage” By: Thomas Sotinel (Le Monde; 6 Nov 2004) [FRENCH]
• “Los Muertos end credits” By: Zach Campbell (a_film_by, 23 Feb 2005)
• “Los Muertos, 2004” By: acquarello (Strictly Film School, 19 Feb 2005)
• “Los Muertos, 2004” By: Mohit Sabharwal (The New Delhi Biscuit Company, 24 Apr 2005)
• “Lisandro Alonso. Bevrijd in de jungle” By: Gabe Klinger (Filmkrant, #270, Oct 2005) [DUTCH]
• “Films That Got Away” By: Andy Rector (KINO SLANG; 1 Jul 2006)
• “Got Your Goat” By: Nathan Lee (The Village Voice; 27 March 2007)
• “Los Muertos” By: Matt Zoller Seitz (NYT; 5 Apr 2007)
• “Los Muertos”, “Quiet City” By: Michael Atkinson (IFC; 28 Jan 2008)
• “Los Muertos (Lisandro Alonso, 2004)” By: grunes (Dennis Grunes, 23 Jul 2008)
• “Lisandro Alonso『Los Muertos』” By: maplecat-eve (maplecat-eve Diary; 5 Oct 2009) [JAPANESE]

La Libertad (2001) IMDb link – NYFF 2001

• “Conquista argentina” By: Michel Eltchaninoff (Synopsis; May 2001) [FRENCH]
• “La Libertad” By: Vincent Ostria (Les Inrocks; 9 May 2001) [FRENCH]
• “Eloge du dénuement” By: Thomas Sotinel (Le Monde; 12 May 2001) [FRENCH]
• “Un jour sans fin” By: Michel Eltchaninoff (Synopsis; 5 June 2001) [FRENCH]
• “Le dernier des hommes” By: Serge Kaganski (Les Inrockuptibles; 30 Oct 2001) [FRENCH]
• “Les petits riens de la journée d’un bûcheron de la Pampa. Authentique” By: Aurélien Ferenczi (Télérama #2703; 31 Oct 2001) [FRENCH]
• “La libertad” By: Nicolas Azalbert (Cahiers du cinéma, n° 562; Nov 2001) [FRENCH]
• “Au fond de la forêt, l’épopée du quotidien” By: Jean-Michel Frodon (Le Monde; 2 Nov 2001) [FRENCH]
• “La Libertad. Film argentin de Lisandro Alonso” By: Aurélien Ferenczi (Télérama, 3 Nov 2001) [FRENCH]
• “Festival de Gijón 2006. Entrevista con Lisandro Alonso” (tren de sombras; 29 Nov 2006) [SPANISH]
• “Guadalajara Film Fest, Entry 1” By: Robert Koehler (Film Journey; 9 March 2008)
• “Brief thoughts on La libertad” By: Zach Campbell (Elusive Lucidity; ?)

Dos en la vereda (1995) short

• “Ride Lonesome” By: James Quandt (Artforum; Nov 2008) at Highbeam Research Library

GENERAL ONLINE ARTICLES

• “el tiempo de lisandro alonso” By: Enrique Vidal (cinerastas; 17 Jan 2009) [SPANISH]
• “Days in Buenos Aires: Lisandro Alonso” By: Robert Koehler (Film Journey, 13 Apr 2009)
• “At The End Of The World: The Cinema Of Lisandro Alonso” By: Bill White (Seattle Post Globe, 8, Nov 2009)

• “Je voulais faire un film sans savoir lequel” By: Laure Charcossey (Cahiers du cinéma, n° 558; Jun 2001) [FRENCH]
• “Give them ‘Liberty’; Give them ‘The Dead’: Lisandro Speaks” By: Neil Young (Neil Young’s Film Lounge; 17 May 2005)
• “Lisandro Alonso tambien habla, parle” interview By: Hector Bujia (Cinémas d’Amérique Latine, #13, 2005) [French-Spanish]
• “Où va le cinéma?” (Centre Pompidou, 2008) video 48″ (translation at Unspoken Cinema)
• “The London Film Festival: Liverpool – Interview” By: Maria Delgado (Sight&Sound, Nov 2008)
• “The Rumpus Interview with Lisandro Alonso” By: R. Emmet Sweeney (The Rumpus; 9 Feb 2009) on Liverpool
• “Who’s John Ford?”: An Interview with Lisandro Alonso By: Darren Hughes (Senses of Cinema; 2009) on Liverpool
• Shore Leave: Lisandro Alonso’s Liverpool By: Violeta Kovacsics & Adam Nayman (cinemascope #36; 2009) on Liverpool
• “Lisandro Alonso over Liverpool. Wreed landschap” Interview By: Ronald Rovers (Filmkrant #311, Jun 2009) [Dutch]
• Aregentine Cinema: Liverpool — The Evening Class Interview With Lisandro Alonso By: Michael Guillen (The Evening Class, 27 Aug 2009) on Liverpool

• “En la cama de una pension, Calle Juana Fadul, Ushuaia, enero de 2007” By: Lisandro Alonso (Ekran Untranslated, Nov/Dec 2007) [SPANISH] (translation below provided by Jessie Calhoun)

I came back from walking for two or three hours along the uninhabited streets in the outskirts of town.  The truth is I don’t know what I was looking for.  I was thinking about other places and trying to find some common characteristics and attitudes of the people that live there.  I arrived ten or fifteen days ago and feel that I know the main streets of town as if I had been raised there since I was a little boy.

In reality I was tired of searching for something without knowing where my search would lead me to.  I was unable to speak and converse with the people, so I planned where I was going to eat but moreover what I was going to drink.  If I start with wine, beer, whisky,
Everything depended upon the hour of the day and how I wanted to arrive at the end of the evening that in reality was short because in that time night fall came late and cleared up early, but the thing I cared about were those hours of the night and who walked the streets because I was looking for a man from a bar, a drunk that for certain would drink at whatever hour without a care.

Now I was in bed in a small family run inn staring at the ceiling about to take a nap.  I had already made a few calls to Buenos Aires and everything was normal, those unforeseen expenses came a little bit later.  I remember the voices in the house, more than other those of the boys running through the kitchen and fighting for the TV, the wals were very thin and you could hear everything so clearly, also the boys’ Grandfather was always there telling stupid stories.  They also heard me come in at whatever hour of the day or night but since I traveled alone it didn’t cause any major problems between us.

I decided to film a film en southern Argentina, some call it the end of the world but in reality its not although one does feel very far removed, lost…I decided to I wanted to film something that had to do with the sea, with being faraway from everything, someone that came back with out know why, maybe to see if their mother was still living in the same place where they had been born, maybe to see if their mother was still alive, but moreover this was just an excuse to get off the boat and dedicate oneself to emptying glasses and filling them up again and emptying them anew.

I didn’t know really know what I was searching for and so it was difficult to find something, of course there are times that at first glance one perceives of something as strange, people that seem to be out of place, and to find them you just have to be there and wait for them to appear.  Days before I spent a few hours in a school for the disabled, spending a few hours with them and talking with the teachers who would put music on in order to allow the kids to leave their own little world or share their world for a moment, a world that always gave me so much curiousity to learn more about, to enter into the mystery, but not to stay only to see what they feel.  There were all kinds there, but in general they were sweet, I took some photos of the girls with the least degree of  disability because I was also looking for a disabled girl for the film, one that could use the bathroom herself and walk without problems.

To be in the school was a relief because I didn’t feel the pressure of walking the streets searching for something, being with the kids and taking them around in their wheel chairs from one side of the room to the other made me feel useful and furthermore it made me laugh so much.  I felt like I could say anything that came to my mind without having to have a dialogue or wait for a response that had meaning.  What’s your name? I asked one of them, they told me Mountain.  After four or five hours in the school I hadn’t really spoken much, just to ask for food and a few beers.  Afterwards I returned home to read for a bit and stare at the ceiling.  The film will be called Liverpool and I hope they like it.

Published in Ekran, 2007 (November/December)

• IMDb
• cine nacional

Northwest Film Forum’s Winter quarterly calendar is now online, and you can taking a longing look at the movies, classes, and special events coming your way Dec-Feb by visiting our website or downloading a PDF copy of it.

Film Forum members, take note: the printed calendar returns this quarter, so check your mailbox soon. This season’s edition has been streamlined to allow us to keep saving cash and trees while still providing the information you need to not miss exciting events in our cinemas.

And winter program highlights? A visit from one of the infamous Yes Men; a timely look at German cinema on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall; a new wave of classes about film history that we are calling Required Viewing; the premiere of Frederick Wiseman’s La Danse; the annual Children’s Film Festival Seattle and — if you can believe it — even more.

And more yet: stay tuned for our announcement of the winter workshop offerings coming soon.

This week we open Ulrich Seidl’s IMPORT EXPORT, a film that appeared on my top ten list for 2008.  Both confrontational and compassionate, Seidl’s tale of migration and social borders weaves its way through contemporary Europe as it interrogates the political, cultural and economic forces which shape life here. It’s the type of film you’ll never forget, I hope to see you here.

If it is indeed true that Bailey/Coy Books will be closing by the end of this month, it will be a sad day for the Film Forum indeed. Over the years Bailey/Coy has been an important community partner to this organization, offering up their lobby as an extension of what is going on in our cinemas, providing context, and making generous in-kind donations year after year to help support our programs.

Best of luck to the entire staff with whatever is next for you! The neighborhood will not be the same.

Mumblecore haters beware!  Don’t write Beeswax off as just another post-post-modern, vapid hipster flick.  Andrew Bujalski’s third feature is a quiet, mature and humorous work of art, and the critics agree:

“A remarkably subtle, even elegant movie.” -Seattle Times

“A symphony of the ordinary…If Beeswax is part of the mumblecore movement, then it is one of its highest achievements.” -The Stranger

“a near-perfect little film” -Jew-ish.com

“Beeswax is pushing the little movement that could into the Amerindie mainstream.” -Seattle Weekly

“It is time the world stood up and took notice [of director Bujalski” -Seattle PostGlobe

Read more about Beeswax and watch the trailer here.

Also playing this week – and at risk of getting buried – is another little gem called Guy & Madeline on a Park Bench.  I think our synopsis is a pretty good sum-up:

Godard meets Cassavetes with a little Miles Davis thrown in for good measure in a fresh take on the musical by first time director Damien Chazelle. Within the first ten minutes, we meet Guy (Jason Palmer) and Madeline (Desiree Garcia) as they meet each other, embark on a brief romance and part ways. The rest of the film focuses on the mellifluous voice of Guy’s trumpet and Madeline’s charming tap dancing, creating an ode to Boston’s eclectic jazz scene. Shot in black and white on 16mm, grainy shadows and striking lighting combine with gorgeous music and heartfelt romance in this stunning debut.

“A surprise, a delight and a whimsical experiment, it could, despite its rigorous efforts to be noncommercial, end up a bona-fide cult hit.” —John Anderson, Variety

Read more & watch the trailer here.
(Guy & Madeline is playing as part of our annual Earshot Jazz film series)

Northwest Film Forum seeks a talented, independent person with experience in webpage development and back-end website management to write and engineer new webpages as well as to troubleshoot problems on the existing site. Work will be 2-10 hours per week in a creative, fast-paced, casual and hard-working environment.

Northwest Film Forum has one main website (www.nwfilmforum.org) that runs on a content management system, as well as two satellite pages designed for individual events that are designed in HTML.  More information can be provided upon request.

Job hours can be worked from home, but you must be available to meet with NWFF staff as needed and remain in easy contact. Northwest Film Forum requests a commitment to the position of at least one year.

Job perks include unlimited free movie screenings at the Film Forum and $5 for every hour worked toward workshops and equipment rentals.

Applicants should send resume to ryan@nwfilmforum.org by November 15, 2009.

Northwest Film Forum is Seattle’s premier film arts organization, screening over 200 independently made and classic films annually, offering a year-round schedule of filmmaking classes for all ages, and supporting filmmakers at all stages of their careers. NWFF brings together a community of individuals dedicated to great film in Seattle and beyond. You can learn more at http://www.nwfilmforum.org/

Did anyone else not get the update that the press conference of the US Chamber of Commerce reversing climate change policy and causing Nike and Apple to resign their membership was a hoax put forth by the Yes Men?

And now they are being sued.

If you are looking for more Yes Men antics, don’t miss the upcoming documentary The Yes Men Fix the World (not yet posted on NWFF’s website), screening November 27-December 3.

We’re working on getting the Yes Men here to accompany the film – stay tuned!

Back in March I read Amy Taubin’s Film Comment review of Damien Chazelle’s debut feature, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench and knew I had to see it. About one month later the screener arrived in the mail and I realized it was everything I was hoping for.  This weekend I get the chance to share the film with others here in Seattle as part of our Earshot Jazz festival. Below you’ll find the original review, I hope it will also prompt you to join us for the screening.

March/April 2009

ALONE TOGETHER: Fred and Ginger meet John Cassavetes in Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench

by Amy Taubin

Despite the hype from Sundance about this or that “Obama moment movie,” nothing at Park City sounded as if it fit the bill as nicely as Damien Chazelle’s debut feature, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (rumored to be premiering at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival). An ingenious, enchanting hybrid of an old-fashioned Hollywood-style musical and a vérité cityscape, the film was shot in 16mm black-and-white on a shoestring budget that was stretched to accommodate the orchestral arrangements of Justin Hurwitz’s lilting tunes and swingy score. It’s the latest in a series of brainy, innovative fiction films displaying a bent for urban ethnography nurtured in Harvard’s undergraduate film program. Among the others: Gordon Eriksen and John O’Brien’s The Big Dis (89) and Andrew Bujalski’s Funny Ha Ha (02).

Set within Boston’s famed but far from economically thriving jazz community, Guy and Madeline is a desultory variant of the classic romantic meet-cute/break-up/reunite narrative. Here it’s boy meets girl, boy dumps girl, boy realizes he was an asshole and returns to girl, girl may or may not want him back. The “Guy” of the title is a jazz trumpeter (Jason Palmer), who begins and terminates his vaguely promising romantic connection to Madeline (Desiree Garcia) within the movie’s first 10 minutes on the park bench that is the title’s third term.

Madeline carries a torch for Guy for the rest of the movie, which doesn’t prevent her from briefly moving in with a New York–based French crooner (Bernard Chazelle, the filmmaker’s father). Guy, who is far more devoted to his trumpet than to any of the women in his life, is immediately distracted from Madeline by Elena (Sandha Khin), with whom he connects in the most erotic subway scene since Richard Widmark lifted Jean Peters’s wallet in Pickup on South Street. More wary than Madeline, Elena cocks an eyebrow when Guy tells her to cook up some pasta for his band, and turns off totally when he leaves for a couple of days to entertain his family, up from North Carolina for a visit.

Unlike the chatterboxes in Bujalski films, Chazelle’s characters barely communicate—except when they’re talking about or making music. Thus we are left to speculate whether, for example, Elena is pissed off because she doesn’t believe Guy’s story about his family or if she’s mad because he doesn’t offer to introduce her to them, and whether Guy doesn’t want her to meet them because he’s not that into her or because he thinks they’d be upset because she’s not black. Again, pure speculation. Where Barry Jenkins’s romantic talkathon Medicine for Melancholy puts the issue of African-American identity front and center, Guy and Madeline suggests a “post-race” Bohemia, at least as far as relationships are concerned. Art is another matter: Guy’s idols are Clifford Brown and Grandmaster Flash. Indeed, one of the ways to look at the movie is as a sequel to John Cassavetes’ Shadows; 50 years later, that film’s blow-out sequence about racial difference and passing as white is barely conceivable, and definitely not cool within this milieu. I’m a bit embarrassed that it even crossed my mind.

Chazelle has a light touch with his references—in addition to Shadows, Guy and Madeline footnotes Fred and Ginger musicals, Akerman’s Window Shopping, Godard’s A Woman Is a Woman, Rohmer’s Summer (aka The Green Ray), Rouch and Morin’s Chronicle of a Summer, and, closer to home, Bujalski’s Funny Ha Ha. And that’s just for starters. What keeps the film from becoming mere pastiche is the handheld shooting style, which resembles Ricky Leacock’s with a bit more panache. In addition to directing and writing the script and the lyrics, Chazelle is the film’s uncredited cinematographer and editor. The camera moves smoothly from lingering close-ups to wide shots, and it’s every bit as interested in chance happenings at the real-life locations as in the fictional narrative. One of the best musical sequences involves a jazz performance in what looks like an apartment converted to a club by dint of a single illuminated exit sign. Stuck in a hall next to the minuscule main space, the camera covers the action by panning back and forth between two narrow doorways, the repetitive movement defining the music rhythmically and spatially. Chazelle is an exceptionally talented filmmaker. Let’s hope the independent film world has enough life left in it to do him justice.

Courtesy of Seattle Arts & Lectures:

Isabella Rossellini
7:30pm, November 18, 2009, Benaroya Hall

Isabella Rossellini, daughter of Italian neorealist film pioneer Roberto Rossellini and legendary Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman, was born to be creative. As a child living in Rome, she eschewed the daily siesta to daydream of the “full and interesting life I promised myself.” Known as the face of Lancôme cosmetics and as a film and TV actress (Blue Velvet, Fearless, Alias, 30 Rock), Rossellini is also the creator/writer/director of Green Porno (Sundance Channel). Not your typical Nat Geo nature feature, these short films about the fascinating reproductive habits of insects and marine animals star Rossellini garbed in fantastic creature costumes of her own design. Ms. Rossellini will talk about her life and career and show clips from her latest work. More info at www.lectures.org <http://www.lectures.org/>

Richard Price
7:30pm, December 1, 2009, Benaroya Hall
Richard Price’s latest novel, Lush Life, reads like the best Law & Order episode you’ve ever seen, drawn out over the length of a novel and deepened by the time, space, and thoughtfulness of the form. Lauded for his impeccable dialogue, seamless storytelling, and crackerjack wit, Price works like a detective: watching, listening, and recording carefully, at a distance, the stories of a city. His novel Clockers was adapted into the 1995 movie directed by Spike Lee, on which HBO’s The Wire was later based. In addition to those TV screenplays, Price also wrote the films The Color of Money and Sea of Love. Mr. Price will discuss his life and work in literature and film. More info at www.lectures.org <http://www.lectures.org/>

Special Discount for NWFF
NWFF members receive a 15% discount on all ticket levels, except Student/U25, for both Rossellini and Price talks. Discounted prices range from $21.25 to $63.75; patron-level tickets include post-lecture receptions with the author. Phone orders only: call 206-621-2230, up until the day before the performance.

At Flickr.