Less interesting subjects than Olympia Dukakis have been profiled in more compelling documentaries than Harry Mavromichalis’ “Olympia,” a fervently admiring but scattered and sometimes scatty portrait of a woman who is anything but. Although peppered with tantalizingly salty-mouthed anecdotes and wry observations on aging, sexuality, outsider status and the art of performance, the film is hampered by its overly fannish tone, too dazzled by the self-described “octogenarian motherf—er” to be able to meet her own forthright, iconoclastic, penetrating gaze without looking quickly away again.
A striking, blue-tinged extreme-shallow-focus closeup on Dukakis’ fantastic face, that brings out both the age lines and the luminosity of her skin, teases a much more intimate and impressionistic approach than is taken. Soon John Ryan Johnson and Federico Cesca’s photography settles into a more familiar and anonymous handheld vérité style, as we follow Dukakis from home to hotel room to car, from the...
A striking, blue-tinged extreme-shallow-focus closeup on Dukakis’ fantastic face, that brings out both the age lines and the luminosity of her skin, teases a much more intimate and impressionistic approach than is taken. Soon John Ryan Johnson and Federico Cesca’s photography settles into a more familiar and anonymous handheld vérité style, as we follow Dukakis from home to hotel room to car, from the...
- 7/10/2020
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
The San Francisco Film Society has announced the 11 finalists for their 2014 Sffs Documentary Film Fund awards, which total more than $75,000 and support feature-length documentaries in post-production. The fund was created to support nonfiction film work marked by compelling stories, intriguing characters and innovative visual approach. Previous winners include "Cutie and the Boxer," which the Sundance Audience Award for Directing and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary, "American Promise," which won Sundance's 2013 Special Jury Prize in the documentary category, and the acclaimed "Narco Cultura." The Sffs also recently awarded funds to "Love Is Strange," "Hellion," and "Little Accidents." The winners will be announced in March. The finalists, which were selected from more than 200 applications, are listed below. Anatomy of an American Dream -- John Ryan Johnson, director Antoine Hood is a charismatic 28-year-old former college basketball star and...
- 2/6/2014
- by Max O'Connell
- Indiewire
The San Francisco Film Society revealed today their 11 finalists for the 2014 Documentary Film Fund awards totaling over $75,000. The fund supports feature-length documentaries currently in post-production, and finalists were culled from over 200 applications. Previous Film Fund winners, including Oscar-nominee Zachary Heinzerling ("Cutie and the Boxer") and Shaul Schwarz ("Narco Cultura"), have gone far with their projects. This year's winners will be announced in late March. The 2014 finalists are: Anatomy of an American Dream -- John Ryan Johnson, director Antoine Hood is a charismatic 28-year-old former college basketball star and captain in the U.S. Air Force. He is a regional sales manager for Michelin and lives in a beautiful suburban house with his wife and son. For most, this is the American dream, but not for Hood, who could lose all of the above trying to play in the NBA ... and he just might. The Bolivian Case -- Violeta Ayala, director Trying to fly out of.
- 2/6/2014
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
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