JonathanGlazer Tagged Articles at Cinematical

There was a time, long ago, when a single, solitary television channel was dedicated to the world of music. On said channel, before the citizenswent wild for "reality" and killed all that was right in the world, short films showcased every song that was played. Some were simply grainy concert footage or quick studio performances, while others stretched the boundaries of moviemaking, showcasing whole narrative stories for a simple, short collection of notes.

Unsurprisingly, these same directors then set their sights on the big screen, itching to stretch their talents from short, three-minute intervals to hours of material. They've given us everything, from men who like to destroy pretty things, to the warped creativity of the mind, to a woman who finds her late husband inside a little boy. They've offered mainstream hits, critical successes, and cult films we all love, and they symbolize that time when music meant videos, and the two went hand in hand.

Things have changed so much that we probably won't see a continuing influx of this sort of talent, but we can savor what the '80s and '90s brought us, and how some small screen vision led to big screen success.

Plenty of music video directors have gone on to make great films. But what if they were to make a great film based on one of their videos? That's kinda the concept behind a list over at JoBlo.com titled "Music Videos That Should Have Been Movies." Many of my favorites are on there, such as Jamie Thraves' video for Radiohead's "Just," Jonathan Glazer's video for UNKLE's "Rabbit in Your Headlights," and Garth Jennings' video for Blur's "Coffee & TV" (pictured above and watchable after the jump). The last of these is said to be one for the kids, but I'd probably be first in line for a feature-length movie about a milk carton on a mission.

Most of the videos included are quite enigmatic, and JoBlo's Mike Sampson admits that for some he simply wants answers, which could be revealed in the longer format of a narrative feature. Haven't we all wondered what the heck is going on in Mark Romanek's video for Nine Inch Nails' "Closer"? And why's that guy in the "Just" video just lying there? Then there's the more easily adaptable videos, such as Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher". I think they've already somewhat made that movie, titled My Tutor, and there's even a remake on the way, but I'd still be interested in Hot For Teacher: The Movie, directed by Judd Apatow, at Sampson's suggestion.

It should be a green-tie affair at the opening night gala of this year's Tribeca Film Festival. The event, happening April 25, will be hosted by Al Gore and is set to feature some entertainment that will focus on the global warming issue. This entertainment is part of a partnership with the SOS (Save Our Selves) Campaign, which raises climate crisis awareness and will include live performances from some of the artists participating in SOS' Live Earth concert series happening on July 7. The acts set for the gala weren't revealed, but some of those involved with the Live Earth shows include Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Mayer, John Legend, Black Eyed Peas, Korn and Melissa Etheridge, who recently won an Oscar for the song she wrote for the Gore-featured documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

Also, the night will include the premiere of seven short films, each of which deals with the problems and the solutions of the crisis and each of which is shorter than ten minutes. The directors and titles of these shorts were not yet revealed either, because the seven showcased films have not been chosen yet. They will be selected by the festival's planners from the 60 shorts that were commissioned by SOS. Some of the filmmakers who participated include Jonathan Glazer, Kevin Macdonald, Abel Ferrara, Amy Berg, Ari Sandel, the doc duo Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady and someone from Aardman Animation (Peter Lord? Nick Park?). It isn't completely made clear, but it seems that all 60 of the commissioned films will be shown during the Live Earth event. So, if you can't make it to New York City for the world premiere of the seven shorts, you can see at least those if not all of them at one of the concerts (so far the only locations announced are Shanghai, Sydney, London and Johannesburg, while the cities in the U.S., Brazil, Japan and Antarctica are TBA). I probably won't be able to attend the gala or one of the concerts, so hopefully there will be another place for me to see the films. After all, this is the best news for shorts fans since Cannes' announced its own opening night compilation.