March 2004


Last updated on March 4, 2004. Please check back later for additions.

Contents

Cinema Lounge
And the Winner Is.... JUST ADDED!
The Environmental Film Festival
An Interview with the director of The Story of the Weeping Camel
Do You Speak Ozu?
An Interview with the director of Zatoichi
We Need to Hear From You
Calendar of Events



Next Cinema Lounge

The Cinema Lounge meets Monday, March 8 at 7:00pm, to discuss religion in the movies. Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ has finally hit the big screen amid raging controversy of anti-Semitism. Join us as we discuss the way positive and negative ways Hollywood portrays religion in film. Suggested viewing: Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950), The Ten Commandments (Cecile B. DeMille, 1956), The Rapture (Michael Tolkin, 1991), Kundun (Martin Scorsese, 1997), The Omega Code (Robert Marcarelli, 1999), and The Passion of Christ (Mel Gibson, 2004).

Cinema Lounge, a film discussion group, takes place the second Monday of every month at 7:00pm at Borders Books, 600 14th St., NW in Washington, DC (near the Metro Center Metro stop).



A Great Party on Oscar Night!

And the Winner Is ...

By Cheryl Dixon

The Washington, D.C. Film Society celebrated the 76th Annual Academy Awards broadcast live on the big screen at the Arlington Cinema ‘N’ Drafthouse on Sunday evening, February 29 with And the Winner Is... Co-hosted by the ever-popular film critics Joe Barber and Bill Henry, the 12th Annual Party featured a our biggest silent auction, abundant movie trivia prizes, a “Predict the Winners” contest and lots of movie promotional items from posters to hats. And the results of the D.C. Film Society's own Best of 2003 were also announced throughout the evening. The films, actors and directors picked by Film Society members eerily mirrored the results of the Academy with only one exception.

And the Winner Is... was our most successful event ever, with over 170 attendees and record-setting silent auction--all to support the Film Society and our parent organization, Filmfest DC, for which we are a major sponsor annually. The Film Society extends its thanks our hosts Joe Barber and Bill Henry, our many silent auction donors and members of the coordinating committee for all of the work put in to this party. Special thanks to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Allied Advertising, Allison Silberberg, FilmBiz Happy Hour, Tony Fisher and the Arlington Cinema ‘N’ Drafthouse staff, Entertainment Weekly and Video Warehouse for their part in making the evening fun and successful.

Festivities began with the broadcast of the red-carpet arrivals and interviews, while Film Society members and their guests mingled in the art-deco atmosphere of the theatre to view the many varied selections of the Silent Auction. The choices ranged from framed posters (The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, the Official 2004 Academy Awards poster); autographed movie items (21 Grams, Bubba Ho-Tep, The Last Samurai and Dirty Pretty Things), show tickets (Woolly Mammoth, the Folger, Warner Theatre, WPAS, Shakespeare Theatre, the Improv, Gay Mens Chorus, and more); movie passes (Landmark, Loews, the Avalon, Visions, Loews Wisconsin 6), dinners (Zola, Maggiano’s, Rosa Mexicano, Red Sage, Louisiana Express, Daily Grill, and more), museum memberships (Hillwood, Corcoran, Phillips, National Building Museum), hotel weekends (the Churchill, River Inn, Radison Barcelo), PLUS a Panasonic 5-disc DVD/CD player, a gift packet from The Sundance Channel, Blockbuster Coupons and more!

Attendees also cast their ballots in the “Guess the Winners” contest. One ballot was chosen from the many that correctly guessed most of the actual Oscar winners in seven categories won a special prize bag filled with movie passes and DVDs.

With the start of the actual Awards ceremony, attendees hunkered down with refreshments and drinks in the casual comfort of the theatre to welcome the return of host Billy Crystal and his always thrilling opening sequence, “The Return of the Host,” appropriately borrowed from The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. While Billy did not disappoint, the Awards ceremony itself was somewhat “laid-back,” “low-key,” and “understated.” I think you get the picture…. In an otherwise somewhat entertaining show with tributes to Katharine Hepburn and Blake Edwards, it was surprising to see Jack Black and Will Ferrell perform a number that could make the show seem more funny and exciting than it actually was. Adrien Brody’s breath-spraying was another hilarious moment. It was a GREAT night, as you know, for all of the folks in New Zealand, as The Lord of the Rings and director Peter Jackson rightfully were in the spotlight for the entire ceremony. Attendees remarked on the lack of inspiring acceptance award speeches, and lack of political commentary, except for Errol Morris’ remarks upon winning for Best Documentary for The Fog of War. Perhaps it was the predictability of the evening; there were very few, if any, surprises.

And so, while the Oscars ceremony at times dragged, Film Society members and guests could entertain themselves by rushing back to the Silent Auction tables to check on the status of their bids throughout the evening. Or catching up on Oscar news in the complimentary Entertainment Weekly magazines. And of course, they could choose to answer the many trivia questions posed by Joe and Bill, e.g., do you know the name of the only Oscar-winning female Director? Our hosts urged the audience to name the movies that were not nominated for best picture but should have been. Bill disagreed with my choice of House of Sand and Fog. But it does not matter--we agree to disagree. As Sean Connery mentioned at the beginning of the Academy Awards Ceremony, “movies bind us together.” So, let us continue to celebrate the magic of going to the movies: see you at Filmfest DC (April 21 through May 2, 2004) and at next year’s And the Winner Is... party.

Special Thanks to our Silent Auction Donors
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, AFI Silver Theatre, Allied Advertising, Avalon Theatre, Blockbuster Video, Booeymonger’s, Churchill Hotel, Corcoran Gallery, Daily Grill Euphoria Talent Inc., Filmfest DC, Folger Theatre, Ford’s Theatre, Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, Hillwood Museum & Gardens, Improv DC, Bonnie Joranko, Landmark Theatres & Matt Cowal, Loews Theatres, Loews Wisconsin 6, Louisiana Express, Maggiano’s Restaurant, National Building Museum, James Parker, Jr., Phillips Collection, Potomac Peddlers Bicycle Touring Club, Radison Barcelo Hotel, Red Sage, River Inn, Rosa Mexicano, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, Signature Theatre, Judy Simmons, State Plaza-Garden Café, The Sundance Channel, Visions Cinema/Bistro/Lounge, Warner Theatre, Washington Jewish Film Festival, Washington Performing Arts Society, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Zola Restaurant.



Tasmania, Dolphins, Tibet, and David Attenborough: Environmental Film Festival Spans the Globe

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- From David Attenborough to David Brower, from Africa’s threatened cheetah to the Asiatic Black Bear, and from global warming to community tree planting, the 90 films presented by the 12th annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital, March 18 through 28, offer fresh perspectives on environmental issues affecting our planet. Cinematic work from 30 countries and 51 Washington, D.C., United States, and world premieres will be featured among the 2004 Festival’s broad mix of documentary, animated, feature, archival, and children’s films. Twenty-two filmmakers will discuss their work along with 36 scientists, educators, and cultural figures who add depth to film topics.

Highlighting the Festival will be the appearance of distinguished British naturalist and filmmaker David Attenborough, who will present an illustrated reflection on his 50 years of producing ground-breaking wildlife documentaries for the BBC. He will receive the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution for his lifetime of achievement in natural history filmmaking. In addition, Roger Gould, creative director of Pixar Animation’s Shorts Group, will reveal how the animated blockbuster, Finding Nemo, was made. Nationally known animator, cartoonist, and illustrator Bill Plympton, creator of MTV’s “Microtoons,” will screen and discuss his work at the AFI Silver Theater.

Festival premieres include the giant screen film, Dolphins, at the Smithsonian’s Johnson IMAX Theater; three episodes of the National Film Board of Canada’s major series, “Arctic Mission,” exploring the far-reaching effects of global warming; Kelly Duane’s, Monumental: David Brower’s Fight to Protect Wild America, about the legendary founder of the Sierra Club; and The Anacostia--Restoring the People’s River documenting the on-going effort to clean up a D.C. waterway.

Themes of this year’s Festival include the battle to preserve Earth’s wild places, from Tasmania to Yellowstone National Park; the environment’s effect on the lives of children around the world; sustainable approaches to fishing, growing cocoa beans and daily living; and environmental dimensions of art, architecture and photography.

Film topics encompass the devastating effects of AIDS in Kenya; solar cooking; the impact of the U.S. Navy's sonar systems on marine mammals; the story of America's deadliest storm; and the struggle for religious freedom in Tibet.

Marking a dozen years in Washington, D.C., the Environmental Film Festival has become the leading showcase for environmental films in the United States. The eleven-day Festival features some of the finest in contemporary filmmaking, bringing winning selections from national and international film festivals to the nation’s capital. Selections from Germany’s Okomedia International Environmental Film Festival, the 2003 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, the United Nations Association Film Festival, and shorts from the Media That Matters Film Festival are among this year’s highlights.

Presented in collaboration with nearly 60 local, national and international partners, the Environmental Film Festival has become one of the largest cooperative cultural events in Washington, D.C. Screenings take place at a wide range of venues throughout the city, including museums, embassies, libraries, universities, international organizations, and local theaters. Most screenings are free to the public.

For a complete film schedule, visit
the Festival website or call 202-342-2564 for a film brochure.



An Interview with Luigi Falorni, Director of The Story of the Weeping Camel

By James McCaskill

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands. I am exceedingly grateful to the International Film Festival Rotterdam Press Office for the considerable amount of time and effort they put in to arrange this interview with Luigi Falorni, co-director, The Story of the Weeping Camel (Falorni and Byambasuren Davaa, Mongolia/Germany, 2003).

Deterek Elley, writing in Variety, says, "If Oscar ever invents a category for Best Performance by an animal, Ingen Temee and baby Botok should be its first recipients." This has to be the first film where two camels get screen credits and well deserved they are. Ingen Temee, the mother camel, and Botok will melt your heart in this intriguing film by two Munich (Germany) Academy of Television and Film students. They have reinvented the documentary that, while focusing on the birth and acceptance of a camel calf, unveils the dilemma of nomadic life in modern Mongolia. This is not your typical Discovery Channel documentary. Falorni has called it a "narrative documentary." He said, "It implies the use of feature film elements and drama techniques, still placing the film within the boundaries of the documentary family. Our protagonists are real nomads from the Gobi that played before the camera the same roles they have in real life. Most of the actions in the main storyline--the delivery, the rejection, the ritual--actually took place as they are shown in the film. On the other hand some of the side stories and connections between scenes were re-enacted for the camera, in order to complement the main storyline and to sustain the film flow." This has been done before in Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North and Man of Aran with non-actor characters in carefully planned scenes to show Eskimo life and the struggle for survival on Irish Aran islands. "His most quoted metaphor to describe his ambition as a filmmaker is: 'You must show how a rose smells.' I hope our film honors this legacy."

The story is a deceptively simple one: Springtime in the Gobi Desert of South Mongolia where a nomadic family assist the births of their camel herd. One of the camels has an excruciatingly difficult delivery but, with help from the family, births a white camel. Despite the family's efforts, the mother rejects the newborn, coldly refusing it her milk and motherly love. When any hope for the little one seems to have vanished, the nomads send their two young boys on a journey through the desert in search of a musician. This is a traditional ritual where the sound of a horse-head violin along with the melodic singing of one of the women will cause the mother to break into tears and allow the infant to nurse.

What would have happened if the ritual had failed or not taken place? Co-director Byambasuren Davaa, who is from Mongolia, said, "The camel baby would not stop crying. even if someone would have fed it with a bottle. It is a heart-breaking cry; no one can bear it. The nomads would never let this happen. Also the camel would not develop. It probably would die from sorrow. Camels really have a hard time getting over the mother-child separation. They have to overcome the trauma and the music and the singing helps that. I spoke to a lot of nomads about this, but I never heard that it didn't work. In our case it took one day." "The music ritual that is being used doesn't have lyrics, just four letters: HOOS. It is an ongoing repetition of this word. The word has no meaning, just an effect."

The film shows the conflict of traditional life and the desire for a modern life. The number of nomads has plummeted in recent years as more and more people move to the city. Ten years ago about 25% of Mongolia live in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Today it is almost 50%. This shift has brought unemployment and alcoholism, two problems that did not exist before. The young people want what they see as the modern life: Coca Cola and Gameboys. In their traditional world, the nomads produce all they need for life. Their assets are the animals themselves. When asked about the radios in their tents, Falorni said, "They all want radios and television but these are battery operated and they don't have the batteries."

Falorni and Davaa share directing and writing credits. "Byambaa and I worked closely together through the production," Falorni said. "In spite of our very different personalities, we share a similar taste and most decisions were taken unanimously. We are complementary to each other in that I believe Byambasuren has the gift to give warmth to each single scene, whereas my strength lies in fitting the different bits and pieces to a consistent story. During the shooting Byambasuren mainly took care of the communication with the nomads and of their direction. Besides camera work, I concentrated on planning the next day's shoot on the base of what we had already filmed. We had a fairly detailed treatment as a guideline, but documentary work requires a lot fo improvisation and adaptability to the unforeseen. The scary thing about this project was that, as camel deliveries all take place within one month each springtime, we only had a few weeks to shoot the whole film . If anything had gone wrong we wouldn't have had any possibility of fly back to Mongolia and do some re-shooting."

Shooting in the desert brought unique challenges, he continued. "The Gobi Desert is a magical and wonderful place to visit as a tourist, I guess. Not quite the same if you are there to work. Storm winds of up to 150 km an hour, temperature drops of over 30 degree Centigrade (over 80 degrees Fahrenheit), unusual food and living conditions. It was never boring. Each one of the six member team got sick at some point or another, some of the film equipment broke down and we often had to stop shooting because the wind was making sound recording impossible."

"The nomads were just wonderful. They accepted us right away and participated with great enthusiasm and patience in the shooting. At first they found it quite funny when we had to ask them to repeat an action or a dialogue for the camera. But later on they got so used to the shooting procedures that little Unga, the infant child, once even anticipated us at the beginning of a take by saying in German, 'Ton, ab." ("Sound, roll."). One thing I still regret is that because of our tight schedule we didn't have the time to be with the family off camera. Only when the shooting was finally over and our equipment packed was it possible for me to relax and enjoy one last memorable night in the company of the nomads. One night we spent drinking Mongolian brandy and singing a delirious mixture of Mongolian and Italian songs until dawn."

The film was recently shown to the family. "The family," Davaa wrote, "was touched to tears and they laughed a lot. The great-grandmother died a few weeks earlier and I felt guilty that I didn't finished the film so she could have seen it. The screening was very emotional. When Unga saw her on the screen, he became very quiet. And her husband was so sad about the death of his wife that he said he did not want to live anymore. It was very emotional."

When I asked him how this has changed his life, Falorni said, "It has opened up possibilities, new options. Things I had never thought of are now possible. I had made documentaries before but only shown on TV. This film opens cinematic world to me." In fact, this film, a student project of the Munich Academy of Television and Film, was planned to be a 60 minute TV documentary but has ended up as a full length picture that had a January 2004 release in Germany. "Some distributors," he continued, "are becoming aware of the commercial potential." "So after The Story of the Weeping Camel my dream for the future is to be able to make films for the big screen again, that magic surface that makes it possible to show how a rose smells." "It is like going from a Fiat to a Ferrari." He currently has two new projects in progress that are also documentaries.

Davaa has retuned to Munich where she is in the final year. Other graduates of this unique school are Nico Humbert, Wim Wenders, and Oscar winner Caroline Link. Besides Mongolia and Italy, currently students from the U.S., Georgia, Syria and most European countries are enrolled.

The Story of the Weeping Camel is scheduled for a June release in the U.S. but before that it will be shown at numerous film festivals: Goteborg, New Directors in New York, Palm Springs, Miami, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Thessoloniki, Greece and Buenos Aires. I highly recommend your looking for this ground breaking documentary.



Yasujiro Ozu, the Complete Retrospective

"Do you speak Ozu?" (Overheard at an Ozu film many decades ago). The 2003 Ozu 100th Anniversary Project, spearheaded by Shochiku Motion Picture Company where Ozu made most of his films, is finally arriving in our town (albeit it post-2003) after touring film festivals in Berlin, Hong Kong and New York plus other cities in the U.S. and Canada. All 33 of Ozu's extant films plus two fragments will be shown in three venues: the National Gallery of Art, the Freer Gallery of Art and the American Film Institute during March and April. The only film missing is Ozu's short 1935 documentary on the Kabuki. Although we have had scattered showings of Ozu films at the Biograph, the AFI and at the Gallery in the past, we are extremely fortunate to have this unique opportunity to see and study all of the great humanist's films. You, too, will "speak Ozu" fluently after this retrospective.

Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) had a unique approach to filmmaking that is often compared to Robert Bresson and Carl Theodore Dreyer. A film buff as a child--he was infatuated with Pearl White--he skipped school to watch movies, mostly American and other foreign films, and claimed that he had only seen three Japanese films by the time he got a job at Shochiku studio as an assistant cameraman. A real slacker in his early years, Ozu was kicked out of dormitory for drinking and claimed that he was watching Rex Ingram's Prisoner of Zenda instead of taking his entrance examinations. He also had a contrarian streak--to thumb his nose at Cinemascope ("which I wanted nothing to do with"), when long shots and long scenes were in vogue, Ozu shot shorter scenes and more closeups, even though he didn't like those features. While working in his first job in movies as an assistant cameraman, a manual-labor job that entailed hauling the heavy camera from one spot to another, he claimed that he would rather spend his nights drinking rather than be a director and staying up all night working on continuity.

Ozu's style evolved over the years, becoming more and more spare and minimalist. (True confession: the first time I ever fell asleep during a movie, it was an Ozu film). His films all deal with the same topic: the Japanese family and conflicts between its members. He wasn't interested in plot of action, only in the relevation of character and the exploration of emotion. Many of his films seem similar: they have similar title names (although the Japanese translations are different), use the same actors and were made by the same crew. He was famous for saying "no"--no to sound (he didn't make a sound film until 1936); no to color (he made his first color film in 1958); no to camera techniques in common use such as fades and dissolves ("a dissolve hasn't been used successfully since Chaplin's A Woman of Paris"); no to widescreen ("it reminds me of toilet paper"); no to camera movement; no to his actors. However, because of his great popularity, Shochiku trusted him and allowed him to work in his own way. He carefully worked out the film in his head before shooting, often taking nine months to write a script. After shooting his great masterpiece Tokyo Story, he wrote in his diary, "103 days and 43 bottles of sake." In fact, he reportedly got drunk every night and the phrase "drunk last night" was the second-most common entry in his diary.

Wim Wenders claimed that Ozu was the only director that he learned anything from and it is worth a side trip to the Goethe Institute to see Wenders' Tokyo-GA, in which Wenders goes to Tokyo 20 years after Ozu's death to compare present day Tokyo to Ozu's films.

Ozu was the first film director elected to the Japanese National Academy of Art and he received 6 Kinema Jumpo awards for best film of the year. He is considered the "most Japanese" of all of Japan's directors and for this reason his films were not exported or even sent to international film festivals until an enterprising entrepreneur brought Tokyo Story to the London Film Festival in 1958. Conversely, after Western critics and audiences took enthusiastically to his films, the Japanese then felt--if Westerners could relate to them--that he wasn't Japanese enough.

Shochiku has released the films on DVD without subtitles ("Our people don't want that"), but fortunately Criterion has bought the rights to the titles and will be releasing them, with subtitles, over time.



An Interview with Takeshi Kitano, Director of Zatoichi

By James McCaskill

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands. Takeshi Kitano's creative juices continue to gush. The man has an amazing array of talent: film director, actor, highly respected television entertainer, accomplished cartoonist and painter, as well as writer of novels, collections of short stories, essays and poetry. His 1997 film, Hanna Bl, picked up Venice's Golden Lion and was named Best Non-European Film by the European Film Academy. His acting talents were seen in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Nagisa Oshima, Japan, 1983) and the cult film Battle Royal (Kinji Fukasaku, Japan, 2001). He currently stars in Battle Royal II (Kenta and Kinji Fukasaku, Japan, 2003).

With Zatoichi, his first period film, Kitano traded his trademark yakuza guns in for a cane sword of lighting fast speed. For this, his eleventh film, he has reinvigorated the cult action anti-hero, Zatoichi, which is one of Japan's most popular hero in period drama. Usually period films restrict a director as it imposes costumes, locations and language upon a director. "I thought Zatoichi was going to be a tough film to make because making a period piece is commonly considered to be more painstaking. It actually turned out to be quite a fun film to make. I had to fabricate everything. This allowed me to do preposterous things and explore new areas I had not before.

Zatoichi is the story of a blind master swordsman and dice-gambling genius who travels disguised as a masseur. Kitano wanted to make his version not only more entertaining but distinctive from the 1962-1989 film-television series that stared Shintaro Katsu. While the original "had dark hair, dressed in a plain colored kimono and carried a brown cane sword my Zatoichi is actually a pretty eccentric person," Kitano revealed. "He has platinum blond hair and a blood red cane sword. Mr. Katsu's Zatoichi was more about an almost warm-hearted relationship he had with the good and meek townspeople. Mine doesn't mingle with the good guys. He just keeps slaying bad guys."

"In terms of sword fighting," he continued, "I did not want this film to be like other samurai films with actors clanking their swords over and over. I did not want to rely on computer graphics and visual effects for the action scenes. I wanted to do my own swordplay stunts as much as possible because I loved doing them." Being blind made the fight scenes complex. "It was even more difficult to perform the sword movements with my eyes closed when the camera was facing me. Sometimes I didn't know where I was swinging my sword. It was very disorienting to have to do everything with my eyes closed. Even just walking straight was hard. Even with ground marks. I had my share of stumbles and falls. I couldn't tell what was the space between me and my co-stars. I couldn't see their expressions or actions when acting with them."

In many ways the film is a tribute to the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa's daughter, Kazuko, was the costume designer on this film. "Kurosawa usually did numerous takes of a well-planned out sword fight," Kitano said. "Zatoichi's rain sequence is my homage to Kurosara's Seven Samurai. Incidentally while shooting that scene, not only was it cold, but the smell of the rain changed at some point. Apparently water from a carp pond was used because there was not enough tank water. It really stank. It felt like we had carp pouring down on us."

The film's off-beat sense of humor seems to have been contagious as "the cast seemed to be enjoying themselves." "During one of the sword fighting sequences I told Kazuko that this was a tribute to her illustrious father. 'No way,' she said. 'You've got to be kidding.' Once in a long day of shooting, I started to doze off when I felt Katzuko tap me on the shoulder. 'Stay awake,' she said and then told me her father use to fall asleep during shooting as well."

"It seems that in Kurosawa's films the more accidents there were on the set the better the film did at the box office. I asked Katzuko if she would sacrifice her life for this one to be a hit."

The film has a fantastic ending and readers who want to be surprised may want to skip this paragraph, although nothing major is given away. "I use to make fun of Japanese period dramas, which all had identical endings. For example, when the hero leaves town and walks on a road along a rice field, the farmers plowing the fields suddenly started singing and dancing while they worked. When it came time for me to direct my first period piece, I thought, 'Why not do my own rendition of a typical happy ending in a period drama.' I felt it would be boring to reproduce traditional Japanese folk dancing with a bunch of amateurs, which isn't exciting visually and sonically. Then it struck me,'Why not let them tap dance?' I figured the basic premise of the Zatoichi--a blind masseur cum master swordsman who can draw his secret sword cane at the speed of lighting--was in itself preposterous enough for me to set out to make an all-out entertainment movie. So I did my modernized rendition of typical festival dancing scenes. I let Japan's top tap dancers, appearing as farmers and carpenters, dressed in traditional kimonos, wooden clogs and straw sandals, do the latest style of tap dancing backed by hip-hop rhythms. I had become acquainted with the Japanese tap dancing team called "The Stripes." I saw their show and was completely fascinated by their dancing which is modeled on Gregory Hines' dance moves. That is how I came to use the "The Stripes" in Zatoichi.

Credits: Written, directed and edited by Takeshi Kitano. Based on a short story by Kan Shimozawa. Music by Keiichi Siuzuki. Produced by Chieko Saito. Tap Dance Choreography by The Stripes. Cinematography by Katsumi Yanagishima.

Takeshi Kitano was born in Tokyo in 1947 and entered show business in 1972 as 'Beat' Takeshi, the stage name he continues to use today as a performer. As part of the comic duo Two Beats, Kitano was one of the leading figures in the manzai (stand-up comedy) boom in the late 1970s. With his distinctive art of speech and his idiosyncratic perspective, Kitano became one of the most popular entertainers in the country during the 1980s. As an actor he has appeared in Johnny Mnemonic (Robert Longo, US, 1995) and Tokyo Eyes (Jean-Pierre Limosin, France, 1998).




We Need to Hear From YOU

We are always looking for film-related material for the Storyboard. Members have written about their trips to the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival and others. Have you gone to an interesting film festival? Have a favorite place to see movies that we aren't covering in the Calendar of Events? Seen a movie that blew you away? Read a film-related book? Gone to a film seminar? Interviewed a director? Read an article about something that didn't make our local news media? Send your contributions to Storyboard and share your stories with the membership.



Calendar of Events

FILMS

American Film Institute Silver Theater
The AFI takes part in the Yasujiro Ozu Retrospective with Late Spring (1949), Tokyo Story (1953), I Was Born But... (1932), An Autumn Afternoon (1962), and That Night's Wife (1930) shown with Woman of Tokyo (1933). The week-long runs of Jacques Tati's Playtime (1967), Abbas Kiarostami's ABC Africa (2003), and Eyes Without a Face (Georges Franju, 1960) conclude on March 4.

Freer Gallery of Art
One of three venues taking part in the Ozu retrospective, the Freer begins on March 5 at 7:00pm with Good Morning (1958). On March 7 at 1:00pm is An Inn in Tokyo (1935) shown with What Did the Lady Forget (1937) at 2:45pm. On March 14 at 2:00pm is The Lady and the Beard (1931) preceded by a fragment from A Straightforward Boy (1929). On March 19 at 7:00pm is The Munekata Sisters (1950). On March 21 at 2:00pm is A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) which is also part of the Environmental Film Festival. On March 26 at 7:00pm is Dragnet Girl (1933). On March 28 at 2:00pm is Walk Cheerfully (1930). More continue in April.

National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery is one of three venues taking part in the Ozu retrospective. On March 6 at 2:30 is Days of Youth (1929); on March 6 at 4:30pm is A Mother Should Be Loved (1934); on March 7 at 4:30pm is The Only Son (1936); on March 13 at 2:30pm is Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? (1932); on March 13 at 4:30pm is Tokyo Chorus (1931); on March 14 at 4:30pm is Early Spring (1956); on March 20 at 1:00pm is Passing Fancy (1933); on March 21 at 4:30pm is Early Summer (1951); on March 27 at 3:00pm is There Was a Father (1942) shown with The Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947); and on March 28 at 4:30pm is Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941). More follow in April.

On March 20 at 3:00pm is Los Angeles Plays Itself (Thom Anderson, 2003) about Los Angeles has been represented in the movies; and on March 24, 25 and 26 at 12:30pm is Final Marks--The Art of the Carved Letter (Frank Muhly and Peter O'Neill, 1979).

Also in March, as part of the Environmental Film Festival, the Gallery shows Gabriel Orozco (Juan Carlos Martin, 2002) about the Mexican artist.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
On March 4 and 5 at 8:00pm is A Thousand Months (Faouzi Bensaidi, 2003) from Morocco; on March 11 at 8:00pm is Noi Albinoi (Kari Dagur) from Iceland; and on March 18 and 19 at 8:00pm is Hush! (Victor Kossakovsky, 2003) shown with Lift (Marc Isaacs, 2001), both short documentaries. As part of the Environmental Film Festival, the Hirshhorn shows Totem (Gil Cardinal, 2003), about the return of a pole from a Swedish museum to British Columbia on March 25 at 8:00pm. Also part of the Environmental Film Festival is a program of short films: Voices of the Sierra Tarahumara (Felix Gehm and Robert Brewster, 2002), Song of the Earth (2002) about Tzotzil music, and Reclaiming Justice: Guerrero's Indigenous Community (2002) on March 26 at 8:00pm.

National Museum of African Art
On March 4 at 7:00pm and March 7 at 2:00pm is Sisters of the Screen (Beti Ellerson, 2003), a video documentary about African women creating cinema with the director present for discussion. Two films are in collaboration with the Environmental Film Festival: Waiting for Happiness (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2002), winner of the International Critics Award at the Cannes Film Festival, on March 18 at 7:00pm and March 21 at 2:00pm; and Born Slave (2003), shot secretly by Swedish filmmakers disguised as tourists, which documents slavery in contemporary Mauritania on March 25 at 7:00pm and March 28 at 2:00pm.

Museum of American History
On March 21 at 1:30pm is Monumental: David Brower's Fight to Protect Wild America (Kelly Duane, 2003), about the former head of the Sierra Club in the 1950s and 60s. On March 21 at 3:30pm is Save Our History--Yellowstone (David Vassar), about issues facing the national park. On March 27 at 2:00pm is another documentary, American's Deadliest Storm: Galveston Island, 1900 (Ken Mandel, 2003). All three documentaries are part of the Environmental Film Festival; all will have discussions following the screening with the directors.

National Museum of Women in the Arts
As part of the Environmental Film Festival, the Women's Museum shows Monika Treut's documentary Warrior of Light (2001) about the work of Yvonne Bezerra de Mello who worked with street children in the slums of Rio de Janeiro.

Films on the Hill
Films on the Hill's contribution to the Environment Film Festival is a pair of films with commercial fishing as part of the plot. On March 19 at 7:00pm is Captains Courageous (Victor Fleming, 1937) starring Spencer Tracy in his first Oscar-winning performance; and on March 24 at 7:00pm is Spawn of the North (Henry Hathaway, 1938) which stars Henry Fonda and George Raft as salmon fishermen in Alaska, winner of a special Oscar for special effects before that category existed. Also in March is Buster Keaton in The Saphead (Herbert Blache, 1920) preceded by Buster in The Playhouse (1921), one of Buster's most imaginative short films.

DC Jewish Community Center
On March 9 at 7:00pm is the re-scheduled show of Tikkun (Taliya Finkel, 2002), a video about a female Rabbi, followed by a discussion with Dr. Maxine Grossman, Professor of Jewish Studies at the Universitys of Maryland, on the topic of "Public Roles of Womenin Orthodox Life." on March 10 at 1:00pm is Unstrung Heroes (Diane Keaton, 1995) starring Andie MacDowell and John Turturro. As part of the Environmental Film Festival, the DCJCC shows Rutenberg (Eli Cohen, 2002), based on the true story of Russian Jewish émigré to Palestine, Pinchas Rutenberg whose newly built power station is flooded before it could be opened.

Goethe Institute
Two films by Wim Wenders are shown in March. On March 15 at 6:30pm is Notebook on Cities and Clothes (1989) and on March 29 at 6:30pm is Tokyo-GA (1985) in which Wenders wanders through Tokyo comparing the city to what he remembers from Ozu's films. See the Ozu Retrospective above.

On March 1 and March 8 at 6:30pm are two separate programs of German video art, including 21 short videos made between 2000-2002. On March 22 at 6:45pm is a screening of Jew Boy Levi (Didi Danquart, 1998) preceded by a lecture on "Heimat, Heritage and the Histories of German Cinema" by Johannes van Moltke at 5:30pm.

The Goethe Institute takes part in the Environmental Film Festival on March 23 at 7:00pm with program of prize-winning videos from Germany's Okomedia, including Save Nature (Edgar Wilkening, 2003); Hederse (Ramtin Lavafipour, 2003); 100% Cotton--Made in India (Inge Altemeier, 2003); and Blue Gold in the Garden of Eden (Leslie Franke, 2003).

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
A film series in conjunction with the exhibit "Life in Shadows" begins in March with As If It Were Yesterday (Myriam Abramanowicz and Esther Hoffenberg, 1980) on March 5 at 1:00pm, On March 12 at 1:00pm is Diamonds in the Snow (Mira Reym Binford, 1994); on March 18 at 1:00pm is The Hidden Child (Yehuda Yaniv, 2001); and on March 26 at 1:00pm is Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During World War II (Aviva Slesin, 2002). The series continues in April.

National Geographic Society
On March 2-6 at 7:00pm is the annual Banff Mountain Film Festival; and on March 23 at 7:00pm is the Lords of the Arctic, winner of the Earthwatch Film Award, with the filmmaker Caroline Underwood in attendance.

French Embassy
The Butterfly (Philippe Muyl, 2002) is the French Embassy's contribution to the Environmental Film Festival, shown on March 18 at 7:00pm. Reservations are required. Call 202-944-6091.

National Museum of Natural History
A video documentary Ancient Peoples of Colorado follows research on prehistoric hunter-gatherers at the end of the Ice Age is on March 5 at noon. As part of the Environmental Film Festival, on March 19 at noon is Memories of Earth (2002) about the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia; on March 26 at noon is Coiba: Savage Paradise (Rick Rosenthal, 2003) about the largest island in Central America, followed by a discussion with the director; on March 27 at 3:00pm is The Great Adventure (Jean Lemire, 2003) which investigates climate change on the Arctic with the director present for discussion; on March 28 from 11:30am to 5:30pm is a series of winning films from the 2003 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival including those about bears, snake killing badgers, apes, tigers, and more.

The Corcoran
On March 18 at 7:00pm is a screening of Photos To Send (Dierdre Lynch, 2002) traces Dorothea Lang's trip to Ireland forty-three years earlier. The filmmaker will be present to answer questions following the film.

Smithsonian Associates
A four-part series "At the Movies With Desson Thomson" which began in February continues on March 13 and March 27, from 11:00am to 2:00pm. Watch a surprise movie with Desson Thomson and talk about it afterwards.

A lecture with film clips about the making of Finding Nemo takes place with Roger Gould, creative director of PIXAR Animation Studios on March 21 at 1:00pm.

The Oscar-nominated film Dolphins (2000) discusses how dolphins communicate, on March 23 at 7:00pm; part of the Environmental Film Festival.

A "Francophonie" series of French-language films begins on March 2 at 7:00pm with Shopping (2002) from Belgium; A Loving Father (2002) from Switzerland, on March 16 at 7:00pm; and Raja (2003) from Morocco on March 23 at 7:00pm.



FILM LECTURES

Smithsonian Associates
"Fess Parker, Celebrating an American Icon" celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Davy Crockett show. Actor Fess Parker portrayed both Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone on television, causing kids all over the country to wear coonskin hats. Mr. Parker will speak about his experiences in both movies and television.



SPECIAL EVENTS

Irish Arts Festival
Film is an art too, and the Irish Arts Festival includes films as part of its festival. Shown at Visions on March 14 at 7:30pm is Song for a Raggy Boy (Aisling Walsh, 2003), based on a novel by Patrick Galvin about a teacher in 1939 Ireland, played by Aidan Quinn. Also at Visions on March 14 at 9:30pm is Headrush (Shimmy Marcus, 2004), a comedy-gangster film.

In addition to the two above, two Samuel Beckett videos, Krapp's Last Tape in which an old man reviews his life and Film about a character is is "in search of non-being," will show at the Warehouse Theater, 1017 7th Street, NW on March 2 at 8:00pm.




FILM FESTIVALS

The D.C. Independent Film Festival
The D.C. Independent Film Festival takes place March 4-11 with videos, seminars, and a tradeshow. Features, student films, shorts, documentaries and animation are featured.

African Film Festival
A series of African films will be shown at Visions Cinema from March 4-11. Films include Rotating Square from Egypt, Almodou from Senegal, Betting on Love from Senegal, Maangamizi--The Ancient One from Tanzania and lots more.




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