Sandra Reaves-Phillips, the actress and singer who appeared in the films ’Round Midnight and Lean on Me and portrayed six legendary divas in a one-woman, tour de force stage show, has died. She was 79.
Reaves-Phillips died Friday at her home in Queens, family spokesperson Sandra Lanman told The Hollywood Reporter. She had been in failing health since falling off a stage during a performance of Raisin in St. Louis in 2004 and enduring serious auto accidents in 2014 and ’15 in New York.
The South Carolina native worked opposite Maurice Hines in his 2006 Broadway musical Hot Feet, and she portrayed Mama Younger and Bertha Mae Little, respectively, in Raisin on Broadway and national and European tours and in a 1999 off-Broadway production of Rollin’ on the T.O.B.A.
Reaves-Phillips was featured with saxophonist Dexter Gordon in Bertrand Tavernier’s ’Round Midnight (1986) in the role of Buttercup, and in the Morgan Freeman-starring...
Reaves-Phillips died Friday at her home in Queens, family spokesperson Sandra Lanman told The Hollywood Reporter. She had been in failing health since falling off a stage during a performance of Raisin in St. Louis in 2004 and enduring serious auto accidents in 2014 and ’15 in New York.
The South Carolina native worked opposite Maurice Hines in his 2006 Broadway musical Hot Feet, and she portrayed Mama Younger and Bertha Mae Little, respectively, in Raisin on Broadway and national and European tours and in a 1999 off-Broadway production of Rollin’ on the T.O.B.A.
Reaves-Phillips was featured with saxophonist Dexter Gordon in Bertrand Tavernier’s ’Round Midnight (1986) in the role of Buttercup, and in the Morgan Freeman-starring...
- 12/31/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
After making “American Promise,” Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster were looking to create a very different type of documentary. The married co-directors had spent over a decade documenting their son and his best friend’s journey through Dalton, one of the most prestigious private schools in the country.
“That was 13 years of intense verité filmmaking,” said Stephenson, when she and Brewster were on IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast. “And I think as artists, we wanted to explore the medium and figure out what other kind of storytelling can we try.”
The filmmaking partners knew they were looking for a new project that would allow them to use archival footage to focus on an artist but push beyond a normal biography profile. Brewster, in particular, was focused on making a film about a musician. “Music is an entry to your soul,” said Brewster. “And so we thought that would be emotionally resonant...
“That was 13 years of intense verité filmmaking,” said Stephenson, when she and Brewster were on IndieWire’s Toolkit podcast. “And I think as artists, we wanted to explore the medium and figure out what other kind of storytelling can we try.”
The filmmaking partners knew they were looking for a new project that would allow them to use archival footage to focus on an artist but push beyond a normal biography profile. Brewster, in particular, was focused on making a film about a musician. “Music is an entry to your soul,” said Brewster. “And so we thought that would be emotionally resonant...
- 12/12/2023
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Adam Blackstone, who won a 2022 Emmy Award for his music direction of the memorable hip-hop Super Bowl Lvi Halftime Show featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and others, has joined the creative team of the Broadway-bound musical revival of The Wiz.
Blackstone has signed on as Dance Music Arranger, a position that reunites him with frequent collaborator JaQuel Knight, the show’s choreographer. (Blackstone joins the production with his associate Terence Vaughn.)
In a statement, Blackstone said the new collaboration with Knight will allow the two to “explore our own interpretation for a revival of this masterpiece.”
The announcement was made by producers Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, Ambassador Theatre Group, Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker. The Wiz will launch a national tour on September 23 in Baltimore before heading to Broadway, with Wayne Brady in the title role, for a limited engagement later in spring 2024.
“Joining The...
Blackstone has signed on as Dance Music Arranger, a position that reunites him with frequent collaborator JaQuel Knight, the show’s choreographer. (Blackstone joins the production with his associate Terence Vaughn.)
In a statement, Blackstone said the new collaboration with Knight will allow the two to “explore our own interpretation for a revival of this masterpiece.”
The announcement was made by producers Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Brian Anthony Moreland, Ambassador Theatre Group, Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker. The Wiz will launch a national tour on September 23 in Baltimore before heading to Broadway, with Wayne Brady in the title role, for a limited engagement later in spring 2024.
“Joining The...
- 9/20/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s 2003 and Jay-Z is planning a farewell concert at Madison Square Garden to celebrate his retirement from music.
But his bass player is unavailable. Adam Blackstone, a jack-of-all-trades who plays bass, drums, piano, organ, tuba and sousaphone — and is also a songwriter, producer, composer and everything else under the musical sun — is more than ready to step in.
Twenty years later, Blackstone, now 40, is still working closely with Jay-Z; both are Emmy winners for last year’s hip-hop-heavy Super Bowl halftime show. And the musician who has helped everyone from Rihanna to Justin Timberlake shine is stepping into his own limelight.
Rihanna performed during the Super Bowl Lvii halftime show in February.
After winning an Emmy in 2022 for music direction, Blackstone is nominated again. This time, however, he’s a double nominee. Not only is he competing for his work on Rihanna’s explosive Super Bowl performance (a nom...
But his bass player is unavailable. Adam Blackstone, a jack-of-all-trades who plays bass, drums, piano, organ, tuba and sousaphone — and is also a songwriter, producer, composer and everything else under the musical sun — is more than ready to step in.
Twenty years later, Blackstone, now 40, is still working closely with Jay-Z; both are Emmy winners for last year’s hip-hop-heavy Super Bowl halftime show. And the musician who has helped everyone from Rihanna to Justin Timberlake shine is stepping into his own limelight.
Rihanna performed during the Super Bowl Lvii halftime show in February.
After winning an Emmy in 2022 for music direction, Blackstone is nominated again. This time, however, he’s a double nominee. Not only is he competing for his work on Rihanna’s explosive Super Bowl performance (a nom...
- 8/21/2023
- by Mesfin Fekadu
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The ’80s was a decade of movies that you can hear at a roar even on mute. A screenshot of Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay aboard the train in “Risky Business” has a sound to it. The same goes for a still image of Kaneda riding towards Neo-Tokyo in “Akira,” or Jack Nicholson’s car snaking its way up the mountains towards the Overlook Hotel during the opening titles of “The Shining.”
It was a decade of synths and sad jazz; a decade of legends reaching the height of their powers (e.g. John Williams and Ennio Morricone), and of newcomers from other disciplines becoming cinematic virtuosos in their own right (e.g. Ryuichi Sakamoto and Philip Glass). The movies had never sounded that way before, but the best film scores of the ’80s — our picks are listed below — continue to echo in our minds as if they’ve always been there.
It was a decade of synths and sad jazz; a decade of legends reaching the height of their powers (e.g. John Williams and Ennio Morricone), and of newcomers from other disciplines becoming cinematic virtuosos in their own right (e.g. Ryuichi Sakamoto and Philip Glass). The movies had never sounded that way before, but the best film scores of the ’80s — our picks are listed below — continue to echo in our minds as if they’ve always been there.
- 8/15/2023
- by David Ehrlich and Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
The 2023 Grammy winners were announced on Sunday, February 5, during two different ceremonies in dozens of categories honoring the best music of the year across a wide range of genres. Most of the awards went out during the Premiere Ceremony that streamed online starting at 3:30pm Eastern/12:30pm Pacific, while the rest were handed out at the prime time telecast hosted for the third year in a row by Trevor Noah. Scroll down for our live updating list of winners in all categories.
SEEBillboard Hot 100: Every #1 song of 2022
These awards honor the best musical achievements from the eligibility period of October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022. In most categories there are five nomination slots, but in the big four general field races – Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist – there are 10 nominees, a change made just last year and a reflection of...
SEEBillboard Hot 100: Every #1 song of 2022
These awards honor the best musical achievements from the eligibility period of October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022. In most categories there are five nomination slots, but in the big four general field races – Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist – there are 10 nominees, a change made just last year and a reflection of...
- 2/5/2023
- by Daniel Montgomery and Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
Before capturing her first pair of Grammys last year, R&b star Jazmine Sullivan was the female artist with the most nominations without winning, tied with Björk.
So, a year later at a pre-Grammy event, Sullivan joked with the audience as she sang songs from her critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning project, Heaux Tales.
“I think I won last year for best R&b…,” she said coyly with her mouth open. “I won? Did I win a…? I think I won…,” she continued, laughing as the crowd cheered her on.
Sullivan won best R&b album for Heaux Tales, her daring and bold album that explores feminism, sexuality, classism and body shaming. She also tied Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open” to win best R&b performance for “Pick Up Your Feelings,” which she performed to close her four-song set at the Grey Goose x GRAMMYs: Sound Sessions Brunch.
As the song started,...
So, a year later at a pre-Grammy event, Sullivan joked with the audience as she sang songs from her critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning project, Heaux Tales.
“I think I won last year for best R&b…,” she said coyly with her mouth open. “I won? Did I win a…? I think I won…,” she continued, laughing as the crowd cheered her on.
Sullivan won best R&b album for Heaux Tales, her daring and bold album that explores feminism, sexuality, classism and body shaming. She also tied Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open” to win best R&b performance for “Pick Up Your Feelings,” which she performed to close her four-song set at the Grey Goose x GRAMMYs: Sound Sessions Brunch.
As the song started,...
- 2/5/2023
- by Mesfin Fekadu
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Oscar-winning animation film producer Nicolas Schmerkin has revealed his Paris-based outfit Autour de Minuit has signed a pre-development agreement with Franco-German TV channel Arte for its latest project, “Fucking Cat”, which is being pitched at this week’s Cartoon Forum in Toulouse.
An adaptation of Belgian author Stéphane Lapuss’ “Putain de Chat” comic book series, “Fucking Cat” tells the story of Moustique, the talking cat, who, like all cats, hates humans and would like to get rid of his master but faces the dilemna of how to become master of the world without giving up his cat food. Both Lapuss and co-author Lionel Bonnal will assist in penning the adaptation.
“The concept is that the cat talks but the human doesn’t, he just hears the ‘miaow’: it’s both situation comedy and dialogue comedy – the audience hears what the cat says to his master, and it’s not very nice,...
An adaptation of Belgian author Stéphane Lapuss’ “Putain de Chat” comic book series, “Fucking Cat” tells the story of Moustique, the talking cat, who, like all cats, hates humans and would like to get rid of his master but faces the dilemna of how to become master of the world without giving up his cat food. Both Lapuss and co-author Lionel Bonnal will assist in penning the adaptation.
“The concept is that the cat talks but the human doesn’t, he just hears the ‘miaow’: it’s both situation comedy and dialogue comedy – the audience hears what the cat says to his master, and it’s not very nice,...
- 9/21/2022
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
George Gershwin surmised “Life is a lot like jazz, it’s best when you improvise.” In keeping with the spirit of this given, Bertrand Tavernier’s ‘Round Midnight succeeds as a composite of jazz and its tormented originators thanks to the inspired casting and improvisational skills of real-life bebop musician Dexter Gordon, who was nominated for an Academy Award as Dale Turner, an amalgamation of Black expats and jazz legends who fled to Europe during the mid twentieth century.
A smoothly attenuated film which plays like elevated fan fiction from an outsider’s perspective, it’s a de-romanticized portrait of the jazz musician, artists whose contributions to their craft were exploited, but their well-beings disregarded during their professional tenure and eventual legacies erased or tarnished.…...
A smoothly attenuated film which plays like elevated fan fiction from an outsider’s perspective, it’s a de-romanticized portrait of the jazz musician, artists whose contributions to their craft were exploited, but their well-beings disregarded during their professional tenure and eventual legacies erased or tarnished.…...
- 7/27/2022
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Sometimes it’s like they read your mind—or just notice upcoming releases as you do. Whatever the case, I’m thrilled that the release of Terence Davies’ Benediction played (I assume!) some part in a full retro on the Criterion Channel this June, sad as I know that package will make me and anybody else who comes within ten feet of it. It’s among a handful of career retrospectives: they’ve also set a 12-film Judy Garland series populated by Berkeley and Minnelli, ten from Ulrike Ottinger, and four by Billy Wilder. But maybe their most adventurous idea in some time is a huge microbudget collection ranging from Ulmer’s Detour to Joel Potrykus’ Buzzard, fellow success stories—Nolan, Linklater, Jarmusch, Jia Zhangke—spread about.
Criterion Editions continue with Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight, Double Indemnity, and Seconds, while Chameleon Street, Karen Dalton: In My Own Time,...
Criterion Editions continue with Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight, Double Indemnity, and Seconds, while Chameleon Street, Karen Dalton: In My Own Time,...
- 5/19/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
2022 is, I guess, in something like swing, and if there’s any bit of normalcy we’re glad to retain it’s the monthly Criterion announcements. On the disc side of things they’ve just unveiled April’s selection, their 4K project advancing with For All Mankind. Few movies deserve that fidelity more than Al Reinert’s documentary about the lunar landings—the experience might induce a kind of hallucinatory bliss.
The colors and curves of Frank Tashlin’s The Girl Can’t Help It will pop in HD while the sounds of Bertrand Tavernier’s ’Round Midnight practically taunt you to upgrade your sound system. I’m thrilled Alex Cox (sort of) returns from semi-reclusion for a new restoration of his acid western Walker, long a glaring blind spot for yours truly; Vittorio De Sica’s Miracle in Milan and twin sibling Arie and Chuko Esiri’s recent...
The colors and curves of Frank Tashlin’s The Girl Can’t Help It will pop in HD while the sounds of Bertrand Tavernier’s ’Round Midnight practically taunt you to upgrade your sound system. I’m thrilled Alex Cox (sort of) returns from semi-reclusion for a new restoration of his acid western Walker, long a glaring blind spot for yours truly; Vittorio De Sica’s Miracle in Milan and twin sibling Arie and Chuko Esiri’s recent...
- 1/18/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Rémi Chayé’s “Fleur,” Claude Barras’ “You’re Not the One I Expected” and Alberto Vázquez’s “Unicorn Wars” are some of the multiple potential standouts at the 24th edition of Cartoon Movie, Europe’s leading animated movie co-production event.
Scheduled to take place in Bordeaux, France, over March 8-10, the 2022 Cartoon Movie lineup features 57 projects, 15 hail from France, which is seven fewer than last year as animation grows in the rest of Europe but still marks its predominance in Europe as a producer of arthouse and crossover animated movies.
For the third year running, Spain has the second largest presence at Cartoon Movie with eight titles, a sign of its build as a significant animation producer and host of animation events such as Cartoon Springboard, confirmed last week, Cartoon Business and the Quirino Awards.
“You’re Not the One I Expected” marks the new project from Switzerland’s Claude Barras,...
Scheduled to take place in Bordeaux, France, over March 8-10, the 2022 Cartoon Movie lineup features 57 projects, 15 hail from France, which is seven fewer than last year as animation grows in the rest of Europe but still marks its predominance in Europe as a producer of arthouse and crossover animated movies.
For the third year running, Spain has the second largest presence at Cartoon Movie with eight titles, a sign of its build as a significant animation producer and host of animation events such as Cartoon Springboard, confirmed last week, Cartoon Business and the Quirino Awards.
“You’re Not the One I Expected” marks the new project from Switzerland’s Claude Barras,...
- 12/21/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Sure, there were some happy shock waves when Jon Batiste, the much-admired musical multi-hyphenate, unexpectedly picked up the most nominations by far — 11 — when the final candidates were announced in November for the 64th annual Grammy Awards. Despite this achievement, the instrumentalist, composer and “Late Show With Stephen Colbert” bandleader speaks in selflessly communal terms about his seeming designation as the Grammys’ flagship artist heading toward the Jan. 31 telecast.
“These nominations are a real affirmation of my belief that music is bigger than genre,” says Batiste from his “Late Show” dressing room at Manhattan’s Ed Sullivan Theater, the very room where he started the recording process for the genre-jumping 2021 album “We Are,” which landed the lion’s share of his Grammy recognition. The recognition is also for “Soul,” his Oscar-winning score for Disney/Pixar’s animated love letter to jazz, shared with co-composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
“These nominations are an affirmation,...
“These nominations are a real affirmation of my belief that music is bigger than genre,” says Batiste from his “Late Show” dressing room at Manhattan’s Ed Sullivan Theater, the very room where he started the recording process for the genre-jumping 2021 album “We Are,” which landed the lion’s share of his Grammy recognition. The recognition is also for “Soul,” his Oscar-winning score for Disney/Pixar’s animated love letter to jazz, shared with co-composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
“These nominations are an affirmation,...
- 12/15/2021
- by A.D. Amorosi
- Variety Film + TV
Going through the list of previous Album of the Year Grammy winners, you’ll see some familiar faces. Taylor Swift and Adele pop up a couple times, you’ll see critically beloved records like Kacey Musgraves’s “Golden Hour” and Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs,” some veterans like Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, as well as some big blockbusters like Santana’s “Supernatural.” But among those somewhat predictable picks over the last couple of decades, one sticks out immediately: Herbie Hancock for “River: The Joni Letters.” Now, if you’re on the younger side you might have no idea who Hancock even is, but if you were watching the 2008 Grammys then you were probably shocked by Hancock’s seemingly out-of-nowhere victory. Let’s take a look back.
SEE2021 CMA Awards nominations list: 55th Annual Country Music Association nominees led by Chris Stapleton, Eric Church
Hancock is a jazz musician who...
SEE2021 CMA Awards nominations list: 55th Annual Country Music Association nominees led by Chris Stapleton, Eric Church
Hancock is a jazz musician who...
- 10/16/2021
- by Jaime Rodriguez
- Gold Derby
Bertrand Tavernier’s 1986 musical drama is based on the life of the saxophonist Lester Young, played by the great bebop artist Dexter Gordon as a struggling band man named Dale Turner. Turner’s highs and lows are reflected in the wonderful music on the soundtrack including Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. Gordon is joined by other real life jazz musicians in a diverse cast including Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. Martin Scorsese has a small but scintillating part as a crooked club manager.
The post Round Midnight appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Round Midnight appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 9/6/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
“Mister Crocodile,” “Corgi, A Royal Family” and “Piggy Builders” are among 84 TV series animated projects set to unspool at the 2021 Cartoon Forum which takes place in Toulouse, southern France, over Sept. 20-23 in an entirely in-person format.
21 countries from Europe will introduce animated projects at pitching sessions and industry networking, the backbone of Cartoon Forum’s activities. The 84 projects were selected from 141 submissions.
Targeting children and produced by France’s The Magical Society, “Mister Crocodile” is penned by Simon Nicholson and Joann Sfar and based on Sfar’s graphic novel. The series depicts the friendship between a girl and a crocodile, who asks to be her pet.
One of the most anticipated titles at the Forum, “Corgi, A Royal Family” is produced by France’s Studio Redfrog and Belgium’s nWave Studios, the company behind Ben Stassen’s “A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures,” “The House of Magic,” “Fly Me to the Moon...
21 countries from Europe will introduce animated projects at pitching sessions and industry networking, the backbone of Cartoon Forum’s activities. The 84 projects were selected from 141 submissions.
Targeting children and produced by France’s The Magical Society, “Mister Crocodile” is penned by Simon Nicholson and Joann Sfar and based on Sfar’s graphic novel. The series depicts the friendship between a girl and a crocodile, who asks to be her pet.
One of the most anticipated titles at the Forum, “Corgi, A Royal Family” is produced by France’s Studio Redfrog and Belgium’s nWave Studios, the company behind Ben Stassen’s “A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures,” “The House of Magic,” “Fly Me to the Moon...
- 9/6/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Yasiin Bey was announced as the star of a Thelonious Monk biopic on Wednesday, but as of Thursday, he appeared to be backing out the project in the wake of complaints coming from the late jazz great’s estate about the planned film.
“If the Monk Estate is not happy with it, if Mr. Monk III is not happy with it, then neither am I,” said Bey, the actor and musician formerly known as Mos Def, on Instagram Thursday morning. “To be clear, I was given every indication by the production company that the family was on board. It was one of my primary questions. … I took them at their word and clearly that wasn’t the case.”
Added Bey, “I can’t lie — I’m super excited, still, if there’s an opportunity to tell this type of story, but in the right way and only with the estate...
“If the Monk Estate is not happy with it, if Mr. Monk III is not happy with it, then neither am I,” said Bey, the actor and musician formerly known as Mos Def, on Instagram Thursday morning. “To be clear, I was given every indication by the production company that the family was on board. It was one of my primary questions. … I took them at their word and clearly that wasn’t the case.”
Added Bey, “I can’t lie — I’m super excited, still, if there’s an opportunity to tell this type of story, but in the right way and only with the estate...
- 7/22/2021
- by A.D. Amorosi
- Variety Film + TV
Yasiin Bey, the musician formerly known as Mos Def, will portray jazz piano legend Thelonious Monk in the biopic “Thelonious,” which is slated to begin production in the summer of 2022. The project is being brought to the screen by Jupiter Rising Film and its co-founders, Alberto Marzan and Peter Lord Moreland.
Moreland will also write the screenplay for the film, which “will center around [Monk’s] struggles for musical success, mental illness and the spiritual love triangle between his wife Nellie and one of the world’s richest women, Nica Rothschild,” according to a statement.
“This role is one that requires great depth and a unique understanding of who and what Thelonious Monk was and how his lasting impact can still be heard throughout the music world today,” said Marzan. “The moment I met Yasiin, I knew we found our Thelonious. It’s an honor to be the first to tell this...
Moreland will also write the screenplay for the film, which “will center around [Monk’s] struggles for musical success, mental illness and the spiritual love triangle between his wife Nellie and one of the world’s richest women, Nica Rothschild,” according to a statement.
“This role is one that requires great depth and a unique understanding of who and what Thelonious Monk was and how his lasting impact can still be heard throughout the music world today,” said Marzan. “The moment I met Yasiin, I knew we found our Thelonious. It’s an honor to be the first to tell this...
- 7/21/2021
- by Jonathan Cohen
- Variety Film + TV
Years ago, screenwriter-producer Peter Lord Moreland watched Straight No Chaser, the landmark 1988 documentary on bebop pianist-composer Thelonious Monk. Thus began a near-obsessive fascination with the jazz legend that “was already triggered by one of my favorite jazz ballads of all time: ‘Round Midnight.’”
As his career progressed, Lord Moreland began researching the musician and started on a working script to document his life and career. “My entire life, I have been an artist, a person, and a thinker who seems to have an alternative view of creating, hearing, and seeing the world,...
As his career progressed, Lord Moreland began researching the musician and started on a working script to document his life and career. “My entire life, I have been an artist, a person, and a thinker who seems to have an alternative view of creating, hearing, and seeing the world,...
- 7/21/2021
- by Jason Newman
- Rollingstone.com
by Cláudio Alves
After two Cannes Best Actress winners who failed to nab an Oscar nomination, the Almost There series arrives at one of the French festival's male acting champions. In 1988, Forest Whitaker starred as legendary bebop innovator and jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker in a Clint Eastwood-helmed. At Cannes, he won the big prize, and, on paper, the movie does seem like an obvious awards contender. It's from an acclaimed auteur, a traditional epically long biopic, and it came just two years after critics and the Academy had embraced the similarly-themed 'Round Midnight. However, Bird was only nominated for -and ended up winning- the Best Sound Oscar, leaving its leading man unheralded…...
After two Cannes Best Actress winners who failed to nab an Oscar nomination, the Almost There series arrives at one of the French festival's male acting champions. In 1988, Forest Whitaker starred as legendary bebop innovator and jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker in a Clint Eastwood-helmed. At Cannes, he won the big prize, and, on paper, the movie does seem like an obvious awards contender. It's from an acclaimed auteur, a traditional epically long biopic, and it came just two years after critics and the Academy had embraced the similarly-themed 'Round Midnight. However, Bird was only nominated for -and ended up winning- the Best Sound Oscar, leaving its leading man unheralded…...
- 6/29/2021
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
UFO Distribution has taken French rights on the Charades-sold “Unicorn Wars,” an Alberto Vázquez apocalyptic fantasy tale that got a Work in Progress session on Thursday at the Annecy Animation Festival.
UFO was tempted to pick up the rights for “Birdboy: The Forgotten Children” years ago, Stéphane Auclaire at UFO Distribution told Variety, adding: “The universe developed in ‘Unicorn Wars’ is less black, more colorful, ‘funnier,’ and fits perfectly to code transgressions – here, the childhood teddy bears which go to war– regularly addressed in the films we release, as was the case with Christopher Morris’ ‘4 Lions’ or the films by Quentin Dupieux or Bertrand Mandico.”
At the panel, judging by the images and explanations, it was clear that the free-spirited mix of acid humor, social scrutiny, and deep artistic DNA of the feature endorsed its author Vázquez as one the most established and personal voices in European adult animation.
And now,...
UFO was tempted to pick up the rights for “Birdboy: The Forgotten Children” years ago, Stéphane Auclaire at UFO Distribution told Variety, adding: “The universe developed in ‘Unicorn Wars’ is less black, more colorful, ‘funnier,’ and fits perfectly to code transgressions – here, the childhood teddy bears which go to war– regularly addressed in the films we release, as was the case with Christopher Morris’ ‘4 Lions’ or the films by Quentin Dupieux or Bertrand Mandico.”
At the panel, judging by the images and explanations, it was clear that the free-spirited mix of acid humor, social scrutiny, and deep artistic DNA of the feature endorsed its author Vázquez as one the most established and personal voices in European adult animation.
And now,...
- 6/18/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Writer-director Eugene Ashe was a successful musician before he started making films, a background evident in every exquisite frame of Sylvie’s Love. Not just because male lead Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha) is a saxophonist and the movie features the best jazz soundtrack since ’Round Midnight, and not just because female lead Sylvie (Tessa Thompson) begins the film working in her dad’s record store and has an encyclopedic knowledge of music and knows how to tailor recommendations to each customer. The musical influence goes beyond these considerations to inform every texture and detail of Ashe’s late ’50s-early ’60s set drama, a gloriously […]
The post “We Have to Get a 65-Piece Orchestra with Strings”: Eugene Ashe on Sylvie’s Love first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “We Have to Get a 65-Piece Orchestra with Strings”: Eugene Ashe on Sylvie’s Love first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/18/2021
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Writer-director Eugene Ashe was a successful musician before he started making films, a background evident in every exquisite frame of Sylvie’s Love. Not just because male lead Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha) is a saxophonist and the movie features the best jazz soundtrack since ’Round Midnight, and not just because female lead Sylvie (Tessa Thompson) begins the film working in her dad’s record store and has an encyclopedic knowledge of music and knows how to tailor recommendations to each customer. The musical influence goes beyond these considerations to inform every texture and detail of Ashe’s late ’50s-early ’60s set drama, a gloriously […]
The post “We Have to Get a 65-Piece Orchestra with Strings”: Eugene Ashe on Sylvie’s Love first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “We Have to Get a 65-Piece Orchestra with Strings”: Eugene Ashe on Sylvie’s Love first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/18/2021
- by Jim Hemphill
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
There were high hopes for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS)’ 93rd Academy Awards ceremony. For the first time in history, nearly half of the nominees in acting categories were people of color, and 70 women were nominated across all 23 categories. These were unprecedented numbers for an awards show that has existed for nearly a century. While some of this change resulted from AMPAS’ Academy Aperture 2020 Diversity Initiative (A2020) and the Tarana Burke-founded #MeToo Movement, the events of 2020 also shook Hollywood to its core.
As the world shuttered in early 2020 amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, we found new ways to connect through cinema. Stories like Sophia Nahli Allison’s “A Love Song for Latasha” and Garrett Bradley’s “Time” became easily accessible to audiences worldwide. There was also a racial reckoning in the final months of a tumultuous presidential administration, giving rise to a second Civil Rights Movement.
As the world shuttered in early 2020 amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, we found new ways to connect through cinema. Stories like Sophia Nahli Allison’s “A Love Song for Latasha” and Garrett Bradley’s “Time” became easily accessible to audiences worldwide. There was also a racial reckoning in the final months of a tumultuous presidential administration, giving rise to a second Civil Rights Movement.
- 4/26/2021
- by Aramide A Tinubu
- Indiewire
Netflix wrapped up the longest Oscar season in history by dominating the craft awards Sunday night, splitting four prizes between “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, starring Oscar nominee Viola Davis as the trailblazing, ’20s blues singer, and David Fincher’s monochromatic “Mank,” (cinematography and production design), the biopic about Herman J. Mankiewicz’ frenzied scripting of “Citizen Kane.” Overlooked, though, was Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
The two Oscars for “Ma Rainey’s” were expected for the bold and gritty verisimilitude demanded by Davis and supplied by 89-year-old costume designer Ann Roth (a two-time winner), makeup stylist Sergio Lopez Rivera, and hair stylists Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson (who made Oscar history as the first Black female winners from their category). They made her sexy and subversive with a flashy wardrobe, gold teeth, charcoal-like makeup, and a wig made of horsehair.
However, “Mank” cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt pulled his second...
The two Oscars for “Ma Rainey’s” were expected for the bold and gritty verisimilitude demanded by Davis and supplied by 89-year-old costume designer Ann Roth (a two-time winner), makeup stylist Sergio Lopez Rivera, and hair stylists Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson (who made Oscar history as the first Black female winners from their category). They made her sexy and subversive with a flashy wardrobe, gold teeth, charcoal-like makeup, and a wig made of horsehair.
However, “Mank” cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt pulled his second...
- 4/26/2021
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Soul picked up its second Oscar win of the night for Original Score and Jon Batiste called out Duke Ellington, Bach and Nina Simone in a stirring celebration speech.
Batiste scored the Pixar feature along with Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
“You know what’s deep is God gave us 12 notes, it’s the same 12 notes that Duke Ellington had, that Bach had, Nina Simone,” he said. “I want to point out that every gift is special. Every contribution with music that comes from the divine into the instruments into the film, into the minds, hearts and souls of every person who hears it, the stories that happen when you listen to it and watch it and the stories you share, the moments you make, the memories you create, man, it’s just so incredibly special. It’s just so incredibly special… we’re incredibly humbled and thankful.
Batiste scored the Pixar feature along with Nine Inch Nails founder Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
“You know what’s deep is God gave us 12 notes, it’s the same 12 notes that Duke Ellington had, that Bach had, Nina Simone,” he said. “I want to point out that every gift is special. Every contribution with music that comes from the divine into the instruments into the film, into the minds, hearts and souls of every person who hears it, the stories that happen when you listen to it and watch it and the stories you share, the moments you make, the memories you create, man, it’s just so incredibly special. It’s just so incredibly special… we’re incredibly humbled and thankful.
- 4/26/2021
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross won this year’s Oscar for Best Original Score for their work on Disney-Pixar’s “Soul.” (See the winners list.) The trio’s competition included Terence Blanchard for “Da 5 Bloods,” Emile Mosseri for “Minari,” James Newton Howard for “News of the World” and Reznor and Ross themselves for “Mank.” “Soul” is only the second film to win Best Original Score without a corresponding Best Picture nomination since the latter category’s expansion in 2009, joining “The Hateful Eight” (2015).
See Molly Sanden (‘Husavik’) voted best pre-show performance by 64% of Oscars viewers: Watch it right here
“Soul” also becomes the 10th Disney film to win here, and the first since Michael Giacchino‘s victory for “Up” (2009). Disney first picked up a win in Best Original Score for “Pinocchio” (1940), followed by “Dumbo” the following year.
The first and only live-action Disney film to win was “Mary Poppins...
See Molly Sanden (‘Husavik’) voted best pre-show performance by 64% of Oscars viewers: Watch it right here
“Soul” also becomes the 10th Disney film to win here, and the first since Michael Giacchino‘s victory for “Up” (2009). Disney first picked up a win in Best Original Score for “Pinocchio” (1940), followed by “Dumbo” the following year.
The first and only live-action Disney film to win was “Mary Poppins...
- 4/26/2021
- by Kevin Jacobsen
- Gold Derby
The trio of composers behind Disney-Pixar’s “Soul” won the Oscar for best original score Sunday night. It was the first Academy Award for jazz artist Jon Batiste and the second for Nine Inch Nail rock writers-turned-film composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch.
Batiste becomes only the second Black composer to clinch the original score award in the 86-year history of the category.
“God gave us 12 notes,” Batiste said at the podium. “It’s the same 12 notes Duke Ellington had, Bach had, Nina Simone…. Every gift is special. Every contribution with music that comes from the divine, into the instruments, into the film, into the minds and hearts and souls of every person who hears it. The stories that happen when you listen to it, the stories you share, the moments you create, the memories you make, man, it’s just so incredibly special.”
Best known as the music director...
Batiste becomes only the second Black composer to clinch the original score award in the 86-year history of the category.
“God gave us 12 notes,” Batiste said at the podium. “It’s the same 12 notes Duke Ellington had, Bach had, Nina Simone…. Every gift is special. Every contribution with music that comes from the divine, into the instruments, into the film, into the minds and hearts and souls of every person who hears it. The stories that happen when you listen to it, the stories you share, the moments you create, the memories you make, man, it’s just so incredibly special.”
Best known as the music director...
- 4/26/2021
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
The films in the running for the 2021 Best Original Score Oscar are “Da 5 Bloods,” “Mank,” “Minari,” “News of the World,” and “Soul.” Our current odds indicate that “Soul” (31/10) will take the prize, followed in order by “Mank,” “Minari,” “News of the World,” and “Da 5 Bloods.”
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are nominated together for their work in both “Mank” and “Soul.” “Mank” is the second David Fincher film for which they have been recognized after “The Social Network,” which won them an Oscar a decade ago. Eleven of the 27 people who have triumphed in this category more than once have done so through multiple collaborations with the same director.
James Newton Howard’s bid for “News of the World” is his seventh in this category, making him one of the five most-nominated composers without a win alongside Roy Webb and behind Alex North (14), Thomas Newman (14), and Randy Newman...
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are nominated together for their work in both “Mank” and “Soul.” “Mank” is the second David Fincher film for which they have been recognized after “The Social Network,” which won them an Oscar a decade ago. Eleven of the 27 people who have triumphed in this category more than once have done so through multiple collaborations with the same director.
James Newton Howard’s bid for “News of the World” is his seventh in this category, making him one of the five most-nominated composers without a win alongside Roy Webb and behind Alex North (14), Thomas Newman (14), and Randy Newman...
- 4/22/2021
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
There’s a two-in-five chance that an African American will walk away with the Academy Award for original score on April 25, and if so, it will be only the second time a Black composer has won in that category.
That’s because two films with Black composers were nominated this year: Terence Blanchard for “Da 5 Bloods,” and Jon Batiste, one of three composers nominated for “Soul” (along with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). That in itself is a first: before this year, only six films featuring Black composers were even nominated.
Herbie Hancock is the only African-American composer to win in the original score category, for 1986’s “Round Midnight.” Quincy Jones has seven Oscar nominations (six of them for music) without a win, although he was honored with the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995.
No one will argue that the Oscar odds have been against African Americans from the beginning,...
That’s because two films with Black composers were nominated this year: Terence Blanchard for “Da 5 Bloods,” and Jon Batiste, one of three composers nominated for “Soul” (along with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross). That in itself is a first: before this year, only six films featuring Black composers were even nominated.
Herbie Hancock is the only African-American composer to win in the original score category, for 1986’s “Round Midnight.” Quincy Jones has seven Oscar nominations (six of them for music) without a win, although he was honored with the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995.
No one will argue that the Oscar odds have been against African Americans from the beginning,...
- 4/9/2021
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Martin Scorsese and Bertrand Tavernier on the set of Round Midnight (1986) by Etienne George. French filmmaker and American cinema aficionado Bertrand Tavernier has died at 79. Read Martin Scorsese's moving Instagram tribute to Tavernier, in which he recalls how "he was so passionate that he could exhaust you."The 20th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival, set to take place in June, will have in-person screenings, making it the first North American fest to do so since the start of Covid-19.Recommended VIEWINGA24 has released the official trailer for Janicza Bravo's long-awaited Zola, based on the viral #TheStory by A’Ziah “Zola” King. Mubi's official UK trailer for Limbo, Ben Sharrock's wry and poignant debut feature about a group of new arrivals awaiting the results of their asylum claims. Le Cinéma...
- 3/31/2021
- MUBI
As a critic committed to maintaining a certain professional distance with those whose work I might review, I don’t often play the fan in the presence of filmmakers. But with French director Bertrand Tavernier — who passed away at the age of 79 on Thursday — I made an exception.
Knowing that Tavernier would be attending the Cannes Film Festival, as always, I once stuffed my suitcase with his “50 Years of American Cinema” — a two-volume, 1,247-page encyclopedia of classic film history — then lugged it to his hotel so that this éminence grise might sign it. The book, like Tavernier’s even heavier but more personable “Amis Américains”, serves as proof that, apart from Martin Scorsese perhaps, the great authority on American cinema is in fact a Frenchman.
Like Scorsese, Tavernier’s “day job” was as a director. He worked for decades, but the best among them are arguably “Coup de Torchon” (1981), about...
Knowing that Tavernier would be attending the Cannes Film Festival, as always, I once stuffed my suitcase with his “50 Years of American Cinema” — a two-volume, 1,247-page encyclopedia of classic film history — then lugged it to his hotel so that this éminence grise might sign it. The book, like Tavernier’s even heavier but more personable “Amis Américains”, serves as proof that, apart from Martin Scorsese perhaps, the great authority on American cinema is in fact a Frenchman.
Like Scorsese, Tavernier’s “day job” was as a director. He worked for decades, but the best among them are arguably “Coup de Torchon” (1981), about...
- 3/28/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Director whose films ranged across genres from period drama to science fiction, and included the acclaimed evocation of the jazz world Round Midnight
The film-maker Bertrand Tavernier, who has died aged 79, invested his movies with a scrupulous and humane curiosity, no matter what the theme, genre or setting. He was catholic in his enthusiasms, moving easily from period drama to policier, swashbuckler to science-fiction, wide-ranging documentary to intimate musical elegy. The Observer critic Philip French said in 2002 that the director “combines a powerful intellect with a strong social conscience and has a greater knowledge of, and feeling for, the history of cinema than any moviemaker alive”.
Tavernier enjoyed international success with A Sunday in the Country (1984), his portrait of an ageing artist and his family at the dawn of the 20th century; it won him the best director prize at the Cannes film festival. Round Midnight (1986) starred the saxophonist Dexter Gordon,...
The film-maker Bertrand Tavernier, who has died aged 79, invested his movies with a scrupulous and humane curiosity, no matter what the theme, genre or setting. He was catholic in his enthusiasms, moving easily from period drama to policier, swashbuckler to science-fiction, wide-ranging documentary to intimate musical elegy. The Observer critic Philip French said in 2002 that the director “combines a powerful intellect with a strong social conscience and has a greater knowledge of, and feeling for, the history of cinema than any moviemaker alive”.
Tavernier enjoyed international success with A Sunday in the Country (1984), his portrait of an ageing artist and his family at the dawn of the 20th century; it won him the best director prize at the Cannes film festival. Round Midnight (1986) starred the saxophonist Dexter Gordon,...
- 3/28/2021
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
The prolific French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier passed away earlier this week. The director was heralded as the leader of the generation after the French New Wave, with a prolific career that spanned nearly 50 years.
Read More: Watch: Martin Scorsese’s Cameo In Bertrand Tavernier’s ‘Round Midnight’
Martin Scorsese paid tribute to Tavernier in a lovely Instagram post, praising the filmmaker’s deep knowledge and love of cinema after the two met in the ’70s.
Continue reading Martin Scorsese Remembers Bertrand Tavernier, “He Was So Passionate That He Could Exhaust You” at The Playlist.
Read More: Watch: Martin Scorsese’s Cameo In Bertrand Tavernier’s ‘Round Midnight’
Martin Scorsese paid tribute to Tavernier in a lovely Instagram post, praising the filmmaker’s deep knowledge and love of cinema after the two met in the ’70s.
Continue reading Martin Scorsese Remembers Bertrand Tavernier, “He Was So Passionate That He Could Exhaust You” at The Playlist.
- 3/27/2021
- by Rafael Motamayor
- The Playlist
The news of beloved and revered French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier’s death has struck a chord in France and around the world with a flurry of cinephiles, filmmakers, critics, industry figures and talents remembering him on social media on Thursday.
Aside from his prolific career as filmmaker, Tavernier, was also a driving force behind the Institut Lumiere and its annual heritage film festival in Lyon which he ran alongside Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux. Tavernier brought tremendous support to film preservation and livened up the cultural life of Lyon, his hometown, through his dedicated work at the Institut Lumiere.
“We would have soon celebrated our 40 years of friendship and common work, since he reached out a helping hand when I was a student,” Fremaux told Variety. “And we had many adventures together, including the Lumiere festival and his last documentary [‘Journey Through French Cinema’]. He was a great cinephile, and a great human being,...
Aside from his prolific career as filmmaker, Tavernier, was also a driving force behind the Institut Lumiere and its annual heritage film festival in Lyon which he ran alongside Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux. Tavernier brought tremendous support to film preservation and livened up the cultural life of Lyon, his hometown, through his dedicated work at the Institut Lumiere.
“We would have soon celebrated our 40 years of friendship and common work, since he reached out a helping hand when I was a student,” Fremaux told Variety. “And we had many adventures together, including the Lumiere festival and his last documentary [‘Journey Through French Cinema’]. He was a great cinephile, and a great human being,...
- 3/25/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The director was a prolific and legendary figure, making films in a dizzying range of genres from crime to sci-fi, satire to jazz
If any film-maker was a living, breathing, flesh-and-blood icon of French cinema, it was Bertrand Tavernier, the legendary, prolific director and a proud son of Lyon – which was itself arguably the historical epicentre of cinema, as the city where Auguste and Louis Lumière set up business. In 2017, I went to the Lumière festival in that city, and was briefly introduced to him there. Tavernier’s presence was indispensable: I have a photograph of a raucous dinner hosted by Thierry Frémaux with Benicio del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón, and Tavernier is an impish, grinning figure to be glimpsed in the mirror, loved by everyone there, a sprightly tutelary deity.
Related: Bertrand Tavernier, veteran French director of Round Midnight, dies aged 79...
If any film-maker was a living, breathing, flesh-and-blood icon of French cinema, it was Bertrand Tavernier, the legendary, prolific director and a proud son of Lyon – which was itself arguably the historical epicentre of cinema, as the city where Auguste and Louis Lumière set up business. In 2017, I went to the Lumière festival in that city, and was briefly introduced to him there. Tavernier’s presence was indispensable: I have a photograph of a raucous dinner hosted by Thierry Frémaux with Benicio del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón, and Tavernier is an impish, grinning figure to be glimpsed in the mirror, loved by everyone there, a sprightly tutelary deity.
Related: Bertrand Tavernier, veteran French director of Round Midnight, dies aged 79...
- 3/25/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The French director’s films include Golden Bear-winner Fresh Bait, Bafta-winner Life And Nothing But and Round Midnight.
French director, screenwriter and producer Bertrand Tavernier has died aged 79, the Institute Lumière has announced.
Tavernier was president of the Lyon-based museum and cinematheque devoted to the legacy of local cinema pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumiere, working alongside its director and Cannes Film Festival delegate general Thierry Frémaux.
Born in Lyon, the son of a writer and resistance fighter, Tavernier studied law before deciding to pursue his dream of making films.
For a time, he combined his filmmaking with working as a...
French director, screenwriter and producer Bertrand Tavernier has died aged 79, the Institute Lumière has announced.
Tavernier was president of the Lyon-based museum and cinematheque devoted to the legacy of local cinema pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumiere, working alongside its director and Cannes Film Festival delegate general Thierry Frémaux.
Born in Lyon, the son of a writer and resistance fighter, Tavernier studied law before deciding to pursue his dream of making films.
For a time, he combined his filmmaking with working as a...
- 3/25/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Bertrand Tavernier, a French director, screenwriter and film critic known for his films “The Clockmaker of St. Paul,” “‘Round Midnight” and “A Sunday in the Country,” has died. He was 79.
Tavernier came up in the wake of the French New Wave in the ’60s and was a BAFTA Award Winner for the film “Life and Nothing But.”
His relatives told the French publication La Croix that he died in Sainte-Maxime in the Var region of southeastern France.
Inspired by filmmakers like Jean Vigo, Jean Renoir and John Ford, Tavernier started his career in the ’60s in France in the height of the French New Wave, writing for the Pen club and aspiring to become a filmmaker, like many of his French New Wave peers. He did early work alongside director Jean-Pierre Melville and then went on to win the Silver Bear from the Berlin Film Festival for “The Clockmaker of St. Paul...
Tavernier came up in the wake of the French New Wave in the ’60s and was a BAFTA Award Winner for the film “Life and Nothing But.”
His relatives told the French publication La Croix that he died in Sainte-Maxime in the Var region of southeastern France.
Inspired by filmmakers like Jean Vigo, Jean Renoir and John Ford, Tavernier started his career in the ’60s in France in the height of the French New Wave, writing for the Pen club and aspiring to become a filmmaker, like many of his French New Wave peers. He did early work alongside director Jean-Pierre Melville and then went on to win the Silver Bear from the Berlin Film Festival for “The Clockmaker of St. Paul...
- 3/25/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Bertrand Tavernier, the prolific French filmmaker noted for films such as “Coup de Torchon” (1981), “A Sunday in the Country” (1984) and “Round Midnight” (1986), has died. He was 79.
The director’s death was confirmed on Thursday by the Institut Lumière in France and Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux. Tavernier had struggled with a pancreatic infection for some time, but it’s believed his death was abrupt.
Roger Ebert called Tavernier “one of the most gifted and skilled of French directors, the leader of the generation after the New Wave” and asserted that the director’s work represented a quiet repudiation of “the auteur theory that he once supported, since Tavernier never forces himself or a style” upon the viewer.
“If there is a common element in his work, it is his instant sympathy for his fellow humans, his enthusiasm for their triumphs, his sharing of their disappointments,” said Ebert. “To see the...
The director’s death was confirmed on Thursday by the Institut Lumière in France and Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux. Tavernier had struggled with a pancreatic infection for some time, but it’s believed his death was abrupt.
Roger Ebert called Tavernier “one of the most gifted and skilled of French directors, the leader of the generation after the New Wave” and asserted that the director’s work represented a quiet repudiation of “the auteur theory that he once supported, since Tavernier never forces himself or a style” upon the viewer.
“If there is a common element in his work, it is his instant sympathy for his fellow humans, his enthusiasm for their triumphs, his sharing of their disappointments,” said Ebert. “To see the...
- 3/25/2021
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Iconic French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, known for such award winning works as A Sunday In The Country, Round Midnight, Capitaine Conan, It All Starts Today and Life And Nothing But, has died at the age of 79. The news was confirmed by France’s Lumière Institute in Lyon of which Tavernier was president.
The organization tweeted: “With his wife Sarah, his children Nils and Tiffany and his grandchildren, the Lumière Institute and Thierry Frémaux are saddened and pained to inform you of the disappearance, today, of Bertrand Tavernier.”
Avec son épouse Sarah, ses enfants Nils et Tiffany et ses petits-enfants, l'Institut Lumière et Thierry Frémaux ont la tristesse et la douleur de vous faire part de la disparition, ce jour, de Bertrand Tavernier. pic.twitter.com/apVuXzYgmS
— Institut Lumière (@InstitutLumiere) March 25, 2021
A cause of death has not yet been confirmed, although Tavernier’s friend and fellow filmmaker Claude Lelouch told France...
The organization tweeted: “With his wife Sarah, his children Nils and Tiffany and his grandchildren, the Lumière Institute and Thierry Frémaux are saddened and pained to inform you of the disappearance, today, of Bertrand Tavernier.”
Avec son épouse Sarah, ses enfants Nils et Tiffany et ses petits-enfants, l'Institut Lumière et Thierry Frémaux ont la tristesse et la douleur de vous faire part de la disparition, ce jour, de Bertrand Tavernier. pic.twitter.com/apVuXzYgmS
— Institut Lumière (@InstitutLumiere) March 25, 2021
A cause of death has not yet been confirmed, although Tavernier’s friend and fellow filmmaker Claude Lelouch told France...
- 3/25/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
In June of 1965, two young saxophonists, Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, gathered at New Jersey’s famed Van Gelder Studio as part of an 11-piece band convened by John Coltrane. At the time, Coltrane was leading his so-called classic quartet, one of the most celebrated bands in jazz, but he was looking toward a wilder, more expansive sound. And he’d enlisted a crew of hungry up-and-comers to help him get there. Joining fellow new faces like Marion Brown and John Tchicai on the date — the results of which came...
- 3/24/2021
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
The Duke was top! The legendary jazz composer/musician/orchestra leader Duke Ellington made Oscar history 49 years ago when he became the first Black nominee for composing. He contended for Best Score (Musical) for the 1961 romantic drama, “Paris Blues.” It was just Ellington’s second scoring gig. Two years before, producer/director Otto Preminger hired him to do the music for his controversial courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Murder.” The Duke also did a cameo in that picture.
The newest addition to the roster of Black composers who reaped Oscar bids is Jon Batiste, who shares his nomination for “Soul” with Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross. Also cited this year is Terence Blanchard (“Da 5 Bloods”). He was nominated two years ago for his work on another Spike Lee film, “BlacKKKlansman.”
These nominees owe a tip of the hat to Ellington and several other trailblazers: Calvin Jackson, who contended as part...
The newest addition to the roster of Black composers who reaped Oscar bids is Jon Batiste, who shares his nomination for “Soul” with Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross. Also cited this year is Terence Blanchard (“Da 5 Bloods”). He was nominated two years ago for his work on another Spike Lee film, “BlacKKKlansman.”
These nominees owe a tip of the hat to Ellington and several other trailblazers: Calvin Jackson, who contended as part...
- 3/20/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
The Academy music branch made Oscar history yesterday by nominating two films with Black composers for best original score: “Soul” and “Da 5 Bloods.”
Previously, only six films featuring Black composers were even nominated in the entire 86-year history of the category: “In Cold Blood,” “Shaft,” “The Color Purple,” “Round Midnight,” “Cry Freedom” and “BlacKkKlansman.”
Herbie Hancock remains the only African-American composer to win in this category, for his jazz-filled “Round Midnight” score in 1986. Terence Blanchard (pictured at left), composer of “Da 5 Bloods,” becomes only the second Black composer to be nominated twice.
The late soul genius Isaac Hayes was the first to be nominated, for his groundbreaking “Shaft” score in 1971; he lost the score award that year but won song honors for his now-iconic title theme. South African jazz musician Jonas Gwangwa was nominated (along with composer George Fenton) for the anti-apartheid drama “Cry Freedom” in 1987.
Three composers...
Previously, only six films featuring Black composers were even nominated in the entire 86-year history of the category: “In Cold Blood,” “Shaft,” “The Color Purple,” “Round Midnight,” “Cry Freedom” and “BlacKkKlansman.”
Herbie Hancock remains the only African-American composer to win in this category, for his jazz-filled “Round Midnight” score in 1986. Terence Blanchard (pictured at left), composer of “Da 5 Bloods,” becomes only the second Black composer to be nominated twice.
The late soul genius Isaac Hayes was the first to be nominated, for his groundbreaking “Shaft” score in 1971; he lost the score award that year but won song honors for his now-iconic title theme. South African jazz musician Jonas Gwangwa was nominated (along with composer George Fenton) for the anti-apartheid drama “Cry Freedom” in 1987.
Three composers...
- 3/16/2021
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
“Shadows,” “Winnipeg,” and “Sheba” feature among 10 nominated in the running for a Eurimages Award at this year’s Cartoon Movie, one of Europe’s principal animated movies forums.
The Eurimages Co-production Development Award will be the only prize granted at 2021’s Cartoon Movie online edition, which will not feature traditional tributes nor a territory spotlight.
Nadia Micault’s first-feature, “Shadows” is based on the same-titled French fantasy graphic novel by Vincent Zabus & Vincent Tavier. One of many projects at Cartoon Movie this year addressing migration, in “Shadows” two children flee a region devastated by blood-thirsty horsemen in order to seek a better life in the Other World. France’s Autour de Minuit and Schmuby produce in co-production with Belgium’s Panique.
Co-produced by Spain’s La Ballesta, Chile’s El Otro Film and France’s Marmitafilms, “Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope” tells the story of the ship that poet and former...
The Eurimages Co-production Development Award will be the only prize granted at 2021’s Cartoon Movie online edition, which will not feature traditional tributes nor a territory spotlight.
Nadia Micault’s first-feature, “Shadows” is based on the same-titled French fantasy graphic novel by Vincent Zabus & Vincent Tavier. One of many projects at Cartoon Movie this year addressing migration, in “Shadows” two children flee a region devastated by blood-thirsty horsemen in order to seek a better life in the Other World. France’s Autour de Minuit and Schmuby produce in co-production with Belgium’s Panique.
Co-produced by Spain’s La Ballesta, Chile’s El Otro Film and France’s Marmitafilms, “Winnipeg, Seeds of Hope” tells the story of the ship that poet and former...
- 3/3/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
The 61st Thessaloniki International Film Festival Goes Online. Here the Asian Films in the Programme
Cinema no matter what, festival no matter what. The 61st Thessaloniki International Film Festival is back in online business, from 5 to 15 November 2020, with indie cinema from all over the world, the best movies of the recent Greek film production, breathtaking tributes, and subversive films that will carry us to the four corners of the horizon, amidst these unforeseeable and unprecedented days we’re living in.
Welcome at www.filmfestival.gr, where 177 movies are in store for you to watch. We have picked all the Asian Titles in the programme for you:
International Competition
Main programme
Ghosts – Azra Deniz Okyay, Turkey-France-Qatar, 2020 (Pictured)
Prophecies From Another World: Ski-fi And Cli-fi (1950-1990)
King Kong Vs. Godzilla – Ishiro HŌNDA, Japan, 1962
Yongari, Monster From The Deep – Kim Kee-duk, South Korea, 1967
Meet The Neighbors
Main programme
200 Meters – Ameen Nayfeh, Palestine-Jordan-Qatar-Italy-Sweden, 2020
The Death Of Cinema And My Father Too – Dani Rosenberg, Israel, 2020
Out of Competition
Asia – Ruthy Pribar,...
Welcome at www.filmfestival.gr, where 177 movies are in store for you to watch. We have picked all the Asian Titles in the programme for you:
International Competition
Main programme
Ghosts – Azra Deniz Okyay, Turkey-France-Qatar, 2020 (Pictured)
Prophecies From Another World: Ski-fi And Cli-fi (1950-1990)
King Kong Vs. Godzilla – Ishiro HŌNDA, Japan, 1962
Yongari, Monster From The Deep – Kim Kee-duk, South Korea, 1967
Meet The Neighbors
Main programme
200 Meters – Ameen Nayfeh, Palestine-Jordan-Qatar-Italy-Sweden, 2020
The Death Of Cinema And My Father Too – Dani Rosenberg, Israel, 2020
Out of Competition
Asia – Ruthy Pribar,...
- 11/4/2020
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Four members of B.B. King’s band will portray themselves in The Thrill Is Gone, an upcoming film that stars The Wire’s Wendell Pierce as the legendary bluesman.
The Thrill Is Gone — which King’s estate has specified is not an authorized biopic — tells the story of King’s friendship with drummer Michael Zanetis, also a producer on the film, from 1980 to 1990.
Four of King’s band members from that era — Walter Riley King, James “Boogaloo” Bolden, Michael Doster, and Tony Coleman — will co-star as themselves alongside Pierce’s King in the “docudrama,...
The Thrill Is Gone — which King’s estate has specified is not an authorized biopic — tells the story of King’s friendship with drummer Michael Zanetis, also a producer on the film, from 1980 to 1990.
Four of King’s band members from that era — Walter Riley King, James “Boogaloo” Bolden, Michael Doster, and Tony Coleman — will co-star as themselves alongside Pierce’s King in the “docudrama,...
- 10/29/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
The late, legendary blues guitarist B.B. King was so influential, it’s going to take two biopics to tell the story. King’s estate is preparing a project separate from The Thrill Is On, which is set to star Wendell Pierce, according to Variety.
“We want to be crystal clear that the film announced by Pierce is not a biopic, as there are several major players involved in the new B.B. King biopic and the estate does not want there to be any confusion as to the nature of each separate project,” Vassal Benford, chairman of King’s estate, told Variety. “One is a docudrama, and the other is the official B.B. King biopic approved by corporate management of the B.B. King estate and trust as a part of B.B. King’s legacy initiative.”
The Thrill Is On will tell the story about King’s friendship with his drummer Michael Zanetis.
“We want to be crystal clear that the film announced by Pierce is not a biopic, as there are several major players involved in the new B.B. King biopic and the estate does not want there to be any confusion as to the nature of each separate project,” Vassal Benford, chairman of King’s estate, told Variety. “One is a docudrama, and the other is the official B.B. King biopic approved by corporate management of the B.B. King estate and trust as a part of B.B. King’s legacy initiative.”
The Thrill Is On will tell the story about King’s friendship with his drummer Michael Zanetis.
- 10/26/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
An official biopic of iconic blues musician B.B. King is going into pre-production in 2021, Vassal Benford, chairman of King’s estate, tells Variety. This is a separate project from “The Thrill Is On,” which is a drama about King’s friendship with drummer Michael Zanetis starring Wendell Pierce as King.
Confusion first arose when “The Wire” and “Selma” actor Pierce announced that he would play King via Twitter on Oct. 19. “We are official. Preparation has begun on a film where I will be honored to play the great B.B. King,” Pierce wrote. This led many to assume he would be playing King in a biopic retelling the late singer-guitarist’s life story.
Pierce expanded on the situation on Oct. 22, writing: “The Estate of B.B. King has requested I clarify the film ‘The Thrill Is On’ is not a biopic in the traditional sense. It is a dramatized version...
Confusion first arose when “The Wire” and “Selma” actor Pierce announced that he would play King via Twitter on Oct. 19. “We are official. Preparation has begun on a film where I will be honored to play the great B.B. King,” Pierce wrote. This led many to assume he would be playing King in a biopic retelling the late singer-guitarist’s life story.
Pierce expanded on the situation on Oct. 22, writing: “The Estate of B.B. King has requested I clarify the film ‘The Thrill Is On’ is not a biopic in the traditional sense. It is a dramatized version...
- 10/25/2020
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
Amy Winehouse’s greatest hits will be released on a 7-inch singles box set on November 20th.
Taking from the singer’s albums — Frank, Back to Black, and Lioness: Hidden Treasures — some of the singles featured on 12×7: The Singles Collection box set will include “Stronger Than Me,” “Rehab,” “Love Is a Losing Game,” “You Know I’m No Good,” “Tears Dry on Their Own,” “Valerie” and many more. The set also includes the Grammy Award-winning “Body and Soul,” Winehouse’s duet with Tony Bennett.
Each single will be featured with its original B-side,...
Taking from the singer’s albums — Frank, Back to Black, and Lioness: Hidden Treasures — some of the singles featured on 12×7: The Singles Collection box set will include “Stronger Than Me,” “Rehab,” “Love Is a Losing Game,” “You Know I’m No Good,” “Tears Dry on Their Own,” “Valerie” and many more. The set also includes the Grammy Award-winning “Body and Soul,” Winehouse’s duet with Tony Bennett.
Each single will be featured with its original B-side,...
- 10/1/2020
- by Claire Shaffer
- Rollingstone.com
Oscar winner Ennio Morricone, composer of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and “The Mission” and among the most prolific and admired composers in film history, has died. He was 91.
Morricone died early Monday in a Rome clinic, where he was taken shortly after suffering a fall that caused a hip fracture, his lawyer Giorgio Asumma told Italian news agency Ansa.
Shortly after Morricone’s death was confirmed, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeted: “We will always remember, with infinite gratitude, the artistic genius of the Maestro #EnnioMorricone. It made us dream, feel excited, reflect, writing memorable notes that will remain indelible in the history of music and cinema.”
The Italian maestro’s estimated 500 scores for films and television, composed over more than 50 years, are believed to constitute a record in Western cinema for sheer quantity of music.
At least a dozen of them became film-score classics, from the...
Morricone died early Monday in a Rome clinic, where he was taken shortly after suffering a fall that caused a hip fracture, his lawyer Giorgio Asumma told Italian news agency Ansa.
Shortly after Morricone’s death was confirmed, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tweeted: “We will always remember, with infinite gratitude, the artistic genius of the Maestro #EnnioMorricone. It made us dream, feel excited, reflect, writing memorable notes that will remain indelible in the history of music and cinema.”
The Italian maestro’s estimated 500 scores for films and television, composed over more than 50 years, are believed to constitute a record in Western cinema for sheer quantity of music.
At least a dozen of them became film-score classics, from the...
- 7/6/2020
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
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