New on Kamera: Paris Mon Amour

Paris, Paris, Paris. Were it not enough to have to read about Paris Hilton everywhere, it seems like the film world is having a little love affair with the French capital of the same name as the Hilton one. We caught the virus and published a review of Paris Mon Amour, another unrefutable evidence of cinematic Paris renaissance, not to mention the resurrection of French female icons like Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose and the recently confirmed, yet untitled biopic of Coco Chanel, to be played by Audrey Tatou.

Zoe Cassavetes' (the daughter of John) directorial debut, Broken English, which opened in the U.S. last week, sees a love-seeking Parker Posey go to Paris à la Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City with a French boyfriend (Melvil Poupaud) only to find that she was all right by herself in the first place (sounds familiar and, well, very clichèd). You can watch the trailer here.

Julie Delpy's debut, which did well at Cannes in terms of distribution and is slated to open in the UK on 31 August, is called 2 Days in Paris. You can watch an interview with Delpy talking about her film here.

Bon weekend.

Film Mobile: meeting in London

For those looking for a networking opportunity, this may be worth checking out.

FILMOBILE, a project which aims to create a dialogue between the industry, filmmakers and artists working with mobile devices through a variety of on and off line events, is organising a networking event in the Centre for Excellence at the University of Westminster on the 29th June (Friday). The programme includes presentations by leading industry practioners, artist,
photographers and filmmakers. The talk is followed by an open discussion and wine reception.

Alfie Dennen - mobloguk
Daniel Florêncio - filmmaker
Davide Scalenghe - Current TV
Dennis Morrison - Zzizzl films
Romain Forquy - photographer
Max Schleser - FILMOBILE

FILMOBILE NETWORKING EVENT

Date:
29th June 2007, 5pm - 7pm.
Venue:
CEPLW (Centre for Excellence)
University of Westminster
35 Marylebone Road
London NW1 5LS

RSVP:
info@filmobile.net

Fresh Moves launch at the ICA

Tank TV is launching on Thursday, 28/6, at the ICA in London, its compilation DVD of artist's films called Fresh Moves. So what is it about? I'll let Tank TV do the talking:

"Showcasing new moving image work since 2003, tank.tv presents its first DVD anthology. This collection contains 24 film and video pieces by 24 UK based artists, each around three minutes long, and reflects the creativity, innovation and wide variety of subject matter for which www.tank.tv has become known and respected. It also includes five new, specially commissioned interviews pieces between feted curators and artists.

Fresh Moves was compiled by a panel that included Hans Ulrich Obrist, director of the Serpentine Gallery, and Stuart Comer, curator of film and video at Tate Modern. Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller and infamous philosopher Slavoj Žižek both make an appearance in the series of interviews.

The DVD features recent work from some of the most important artists working in moving images today, such as Cerith Wyn Evans, Daria Martin, Runa Islam, Spartacus Chetwynd and Andrew Kötting, as well as emerging artists like Torsten Lauschmann, Anja M. Kirschner and David Blandy. Rather than a comprehensive overview, Fresh Moves aims to provide an anthology encompassing animation, fictional narrative, digital film, montage and installation-based film work. The works explore a wide variety of subjects - from politics to identity and aesthetic practices, all tempered with a healthy measure of humour - and so celebrate not just the artists featured, but the art of moving images as a whole."

New on Kamera: interview with Anthea Kennedy and Ian Wiblin

Check out the interview with Anthea Kennedy and Ian Wiblin about their film Stella Polare, which is the subject of our first screening on 05 July.

News from Shortfilm.de

Our friends who publish the website Shortfilm.de have written to say the site has recently been updated. There's an article about Lightcone's 25th anniversary, Leuven's short films DVD, and Hidden Treasures. Check them out.

New on Kamera: review of Mike Figgis' Digital Filmmaking book

Mike Figgis has written a book with advice to digital filmmakers. And Kamera has reviewed it.

Ousmane Sembene, Senegalese filmmaker, dies at 84

It just came to our attention at Kamera that Ousmane Sembene, the Senegalese filmmaker and pivotal figure of African post-colonial cinema, died at his home in Dakar, Senegal, on 9 June. He was 84 and one of the finest directors in the world.

Sembene was born in 1923 in the Casamance region of southern Senegal. At 14 he moved to Dakar and then to France. His experience as a docker in Marseilles furnished him with the material for one of his books, the acclaimed The Black Docker (1956). His film career stretched back to the 1960s as an expansion of a literary career. He turned to film because he saw in the medium a potential to reach more people.

"Black Girl" (1965), his debut feature, is seen by many as the first African film. It combines realism and traditional African narrative to tell the story of Diouana, a young woman who commits suicide after traveling to Europe with her French employers. This is a theme he pursued in his films: the tension between tradition and modernity and women's role in society. He exposed colonial damage with tenderness and a profound respect for African culture.

His last film, Molade (2004), dealth with the subject of female circumcision, a heavy subject by any account but which Sembene managed to handle with typical warmth and humour.

Watch: John Cassavetes

There’s no such thing as a “good actor.” What it is, you know, is an extension of life. How you’re capable of performing in your life, that’s how you’re capable of performing on the screen.

John Cassavetes

To celebrate the re-release of Cassavetes's Opening Night (1977) on 15 June at the NFT, we did a bit of trawling around YouTube for Cassavetes clips and we found there is quite a lot there. The film tells the story of a famous actress (played by his wife Gena Rowlands) who, after viewing the accidental death of a devoted fan, re-examines her professional and personal relationships.

Rowlands speaks:





London hotel scene in Husbands (1970)

New on Kamera: interview with Elliott H. King

Fresh content alert: an interview with Elliott H. King, the author of the second release on the Kamera Books imprint, Dali, Surrealism and Cinema, which is out now.

New on Kamera: festival news

There's fresh news on Kamera about submission calls from Seoul, the UK and Iran.

Kamera screenings: Stella Polare

We're very pleased to announce our first screening in London which will take place on 05 July at the Fleapit on Columbia Rd in London's E2 (the Sunday flower market road). Our first programme is dedicated to the feature film Stella Polare (DV, 76', 2006) by London-based directors Anthea Kennedy and Ian Wiblin. We have set up a page with all the information so please take a look. It will be great to see you there. Entry is free.

Miranda July in London

Performance artist and writer, director and star of the quirky film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, which won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Camera d'Or at Cannes in 2005, Miranda July (pictured), will be in London tomorrow (4 June) being interviewed live at the Serpentine Gallery in connection with her short stories book, No one belongs here more than you. July will also be reading from her book. At 8:30pm, free.

Serpentine Gallery+

No one belong here more than you +