zeitgeist films Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Watch: 'Are We Still Married?' by The Quay Brothers
Filed under: Fandom », Trailers and Clips »
The eccentric stop-motion geniuses (and identical twins) the Quay Brothers, aka Stephen and Timothy Quay and/or the Brothers Quay, create mesmerizing and wonderfully creepy stop-motion films since their first films in the '70s. With a wild assortment of esoteric influences from Polish animators, Kafka and Bruno Schulz (whose book The Street of Crocodiles inspired their short film by the same name), and an assortment of Eastern European composers and puppeteers, the Quay Brothers could be (and have been) studied in great detail by film scholars -- or just enjoyed by viewers who love their dark and uncanny worlds of broken dolls, over-loved stuffed animals, and clockwork creatures.One of my favorite short films of theirs is a video they did for the song "Are We Still Married?" by the haunting Michigan group His Name is Alive. The two groups of artists mesh perfectly, and in fact did collaborate on another video as well, for the song "Can't Go Wrong Without You." The brothers have also done videos for other artists like Peter Gabriel and Sparklehorse, but HNIA just seems like the most perfectly delicious collaborators with their mercurial music -- soft with sudden outbursts, with just a hint of ominous anger lurking beyond the surface.
You can watch the video for "Are We Still Married?" after the jump, but if you want to see a high quality version of it, go to the official 4AD site, bite the bullet, and install RealPlayer just long enough to enjoy the beauty. The video is also available on the two-disc collection of their short film work from Zeitgeist Films.
'Trouble the Water' Finally Gets U.S. Distributor
Filed under: Documentary », Sundance », Distribution », Cinematical Indie »
On Sunday, I got really, really excited about going to see the documentary Trouble the Water, which was playing in Brooklyn as part of the Sundance @ BAM series. But when I went to buy my tickets on Moviefone, the single showtime was sold out. "Oh well," I thought. "I'll just see it when it's officially released to theaters." Then I discovered that, despite winning the non-fiction Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival and despite garnering tons of great reviews, including one from New York Times critic Manohla Dargis calling it "one of the best documentaries in recent memory," the film had no domestic distributor. Two days later, I'm finally relieved. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Hurricane Katrina doc has been picked up by Zeitgeist Films for a platform release beginning August 22. Fans of the film (including our own Kim Voynar, who picked it as her favorite at Sundance -- read her review here) should be happy that it will at least receive Oscar-qualifying runs in NYC and LA, because everyone who's seen it seems to agree that it will definitely get a nomination. Those of us who haven't seen it should also be happy that it's likely to be given a proper expansion, at least to the major U.S. cities.
Trouble the Water was directed by longtime doc producers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin (Fahrenheit 9/11) and depicts the tragic events of Hurricane Katrina mostly through the eyes and camcorder of Kimberly Roberts and Scott Roberts, who shot footage before, during and after the storm and its subsequent effects.
AFI Dallas Review: Buddha's Lost Children
Filed under: Documentary », Foreign Language », Independent », Theatrical Reviews », Cinematical Indie », AFI Dallas »
The best-looking film I saw at AFI Dallas this year was the gorgeously photographed documentary Buddha's Lost Children. Fortunately, the subject matter is equally as absorbing as the imagery. The film is about the Golden Horse Monastery and the monk who runs it, Khru Bah. He travels throughout the Golden Triangle region of Thailand, bringing villagers food and supplies donated through the monastery, and often returning with boys whose best hope of a successful life is through joining the monastery as novices. The Golden Triangle villagers are often poor and many suffer from problems related to drug addiction. He is assisted by Khun Eud, a nun who believes strongly in Khru Bah's causes.
Khru Bah's monastery also takes care of horses, many of which are rescued from slaughterhouses. The novices and monks all have horses to care for and ride, and the boys learn how to take care of themselves as well as the animals. Many of Khru Bah's ideas on raising and educating children are reflected in his treatment of horses. The novices also all learn how to box, since Khru Bah was a championship boxer in Thailand until he joined the monastic order in 1990.
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