We salute our dear friends of many years Oleg and Joan on Oleg's birthday. He is one of the major figures in world cinema and is involved now in an exciting documentary on Tarkovsky, the great Russian director.
Oleg Vidov, known as the Russian Robert Redford, celebrated his 70th birthday last week in Moscow during a primetime TV special on Russia's First Channel, hosted by Andrei Malakhov. He has appeared in 50 films since 1961, some of them the most popular Soviet films ever made. They are still regularly broadcast on Russian television today. His U.S. credits include "Red Heat," "Wild Orchid," and "Thirteen Days."
Oleg now lives in Malibu with Joan Borsten, his wife of 28 years. They met in Rome in 1985, when he defected, the first major Soviet actor ever to leave the Ussr for the United States. At that time Joan was writing for the La Times entertainment section. They were introduced by Richard Harrison, an American actor living and working in Rome (with over 120 film credits to his name) who personally took Oleg to the Us Embassy to apply for political asylum. 28 years later, Richard and Francesca, now Malibu residents, hosted Oleg's U.S. birthday celebration.
Even at 70, there is no rest for Oleg as his current film is being the voice of the revered Russian Director Andrei Tarkovsky in a documentary called Time Within Time, based on Tarkovsky's diary, and directed by Pj Letofsky. Tarkovsky (1932-1986) is one of the top 10 Directors of all time (IMDb.com), and #1 in Russia.
Tarkovsky was the first person Oleg called when he himself arrived in Rome in 1985. Tarkovsky had defected 2 years earlier and was living in Italy. Pj approached Oleg early on to be the 'voice' for the project, but didn't know the extent of Oleg's relationship with Tarkovsky. Although they had different roles in the Soviet film world, they knew each other, and Oleg was mentioned in the diary.
Pj said, 'When we started recording the narration, it was immediately obvious that this was very personal for Oleg. He knew all the people in the diary, and all the struggles working in that system. We would take breaks during the recording and you could see Oleg going back in his mind, telling me stories how he planned his escape from the Soviet Union'...
Time Within Time is a very compelling story of its day- of international film, art, politics with a real life cast of characters including Michaelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Andrei Konchalovsky, Ingmar Bergman, to name a few.
'By using Tarkovsky's diary, his words, it's almost like he wrote the script for me' says Letofsky.
Tarkovsky- Time Within Time is in the finishing stages. For more information visit www.newcastleproductions.com or contact Pj Letofsky at pjletofsky[a]gmail.com...
Oleg Vidov, known as the Russian Robert Redford, celebrated his 70th birthday last week in Moscow during a primetime TV special on Russia's First Channel, hosted by Andrei Malakhov. He has appeared in 50 films since 1961, some of them the most popular Soviet films ever made. They are still regularly broadcast on Russian television today. His U.S. credits include "Red Heat," "Wild Orchid," and "Thirteen Days."
Oleg now lives in Malibu with Joan Borsten, his wife of 28 years. They met in Rome in 1985, when he defected, the first major Soviet actor ever to leave the Ussr for the United States. At that time Joan was writing for the La Times entertainment section. They were introduced by Richard Harrison, an American actor living and working in Rome (with over 120 film credits to his name) who personally took Oleg to the Us Embassy to apply for political asylum. 28 years later, Richard and Francesca, now Malibu residents, hosted Oleg's U.S. birthday celebration.
Even at 70, there is no rest for Oleg as his current film is being the voice of the revered Russian Director Andrei Tarkovsky in a documentary called Time Within Time, based on Tarkovsky's diary, and directed by Pj Letofsky. Tarkovsky (1932-1986) is one of the top 10 Directors of all time (IMDb.com), and #1 in Russia.
Tarkovsky was the first person Oleg called when he himself arrived in Rome in 1985. Tarkovsky had defected 2 years earlier and was living in Italy. Pj approached Oleg early on to be the 'voice' for the project, but didn't know the extent of Oleg's relationship with Tarkovsky. Although they had different roles in the Soviet film world, they knew each other, and Oleg was mentioned in the diary.
Pj said, 'When we started recording the narration, it was immediately obvious that this was very personal for Oleg. He knew all the people in the diary, and all the struggles working in that system. We would take breaks during the recording and you could see Oleg going back in his mind, telling me stories how he planned his escape from the Soviet Union'...
Time Within Time is a very compelling story of its day- of international film, art, politics with a real life cast of characters including Michaelangelo Antonioni, Tonino Guerra, Andrei Konchalovsky, Ingmar Bergman, to name a few.
'By using Tarkovsky's diary, his words, it's almost like he wrote the script for me' says Letofsky.
Tarkovsky- Time Within Time is in the finishing stages. For more information visit www.newcastleproductions.com or contact Pj Letofsky at pjletofsky[a]gmail.com...
- 6/27/2013
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
An interesting Us - Russia documentary co-production on one of our best and least known international filmmakers - Tarkovsky - is underway and raising funds. U.S. documentarian Pj Letovsky has teamed with, among others, Russian superstar Oleg Vidov to produce this long needed work via Kickstarter.
Kickstarter has been become a go to fundraising tool for indie filmmakers that has recently gained attention for their multi million dollar campaigns for Robert Thomas’ ‘Veronica Mars Movie Project’ $5.7 million, and Zach Braff’s ‘Wish I Was Here’ campaign that netted $3.1 million. 10% of the films at Sundance are Kickstarter funded, and 2 movies have been nominated for an Oscar; 63 Kickstarter funded films opened on in theaters and Kickstarter has 80 Million unique views each month.
Since it’s inception in 2009, Kickstarter has launched 26,759 Film and Video projects, with 10,354 being successful (40% rate) and collecting $120 million for their projects (they also have categories for Music, Games, Art, Photography, etc).
Pj Letofsky is directing/ producing a film on the Russian auteur director Andrei Tarkovsky called Time Within Time, that is based his diary. He has some pretty prestigious names associated with the project- Oleg Vidov (the Russian Robert Redford), Director Andrei Konchalovsky, Tonino Guerra (Fellini, Antonioni, and Tarkovsky’s screenwriter), Katinka Farago (Bergman’s Production mananger for 30 years). Letofsky tried the traditional methods of trying to find co-production partners in the Us, Italy, France, UK, and Russia, and after limited success (and having decided to go into production) he is now trying a Kickstarter campaign- going directly to Tarkovsky fans around the world- to raise the final 20% of the budget to finish his film.
‘Tarkovsky is relatively unknown in the West, but he is such an important, and influential filmmaker in world cinema, that I have to do everything I can to complete this film’ says Letofsky. ‘We are using Kickstarter, and its reach thru social media- Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Blogs- to connect to our niche audience. I’m also looking at it as a ‘pre-marketing campaign’ to build relationships with people who can help when the film is finished. I’ve been getting pledges from Tarkovsky fans from all over the world- Paris, Stockholm, Budapest, Melbourne, London, Mumbai, NY, La, Portland, Austin- it is international financing on a modest scale, but I am looking to build on it for my career. It’s also one part of strategy for funding, and marketing- building awareness’.
Pj teamed up with his friend Patrick Calderon who knows the social network media strategies to target Tarkovsky fans thru Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and Bloggers and get them to the Kickstarter site. ‘Tarkovsky- Time Within Time’ is in the middle of their campaign. Take a look, make a pledge, and tell everyone you helped Produce a movie!
Contact Pj Letofsky at pjletofsky[a]gmail.com...
Kickstarter has been become a go to fundraising tool for indie filmmakers that has recently gained attention for their multi million dollar campaigns for Robert Thomas’ ‘Veronica Mars Movie Project’ $5.7 million, and Zach Braff’s ‘Wish I Was Here’ campaign that netted $3.1 million. 10% of the films at Sundance are Kickstarter funded, and 2 movies have been nominated for an Oscar; 63 Kickstarter funded films opened on in theaters and Kickstarter has 80 Million unique views each month.
Since it’s inception in 2009, Kickstarter has launched 26,759 Film and Video projects, with 10,354 being successful (40% rate) and collecting $120 million for their projects (they also have categories for Music, Games, Art, Photography, etc).
Pj Letofsky is directing/ producing a film on the Russian auteur director Andrei Tarkovsky called Time Within Time, that is based his diary. He has some pretty prestigious names associated with the project- Oleg Vidov (the Russian Robert Redford), Director Andrei Konchalovsky, Tonino Guerra (Fellini, Antonioni, and Tarkovsky’s screenwriter), Katinka Farago (Bergman’s Production mananger for 30 years). Letofsky tried the traditional methods of trying to find co-production partners in the Us, Italy, France, UK, and Russia, and after limited success (and having decided to go into production) he is now trying a Kickstarter campaign- going directly to Tarkovsky fans around the world- to raise the final 20% of the budget to finish his film.
‘Tarkovsky is relatively unknown in the West, but he is such an important, and influential filmmaker in world cinema, that I have to do everything I can to complete this film’ says Letofsky. ‘We are using Kickstarter, and its reach thru social media- Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Blogs- to connect to our niche audience. I’m also looking at it as a ‘pre-marketing campaign’ to build relationships with people who can help when the film is finished. I’ve been getting pledges from Tarkovsky fans from all over the world- Paris, Stockholm, Budapest, Melbourne, London, Mumbai, NY, La, Portland, Austin- it is international financing on a modest scale, but I am looking to build on it for my career. It’s also one part of strategy for funding, and marketing- building awareness’.
Pj teamed up with his friend Patrick Calderon who knows the social network media strategies to target Tarkovsky fans thru Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and Bloggers and get them to the Kickstarter site. ‘Tarkovsky- Time Within Time’ is in the middle of their campaign. Take a look, make a pledge, and tell everyone you helped Produce a movie!
Contact Pj Letofsky at pjletofsky[a]gmail.com...
- 6/21/2013
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
Andrei Tarkovsky, who would have been 80 today — he died too young, 54, at the end of 1986 — has been brought back to many minds lately. One prompt would be the passing just last month of screenwriter Tonino Guerra, with whom Tarkovsky wrote Nostalghia (1983). The two documented the long gestation of Tarkovsky's first film made outside of the Soviet Union in Voyage in Time (shot in 1979 but only officially released in 1983). In this entry, you'll find not only a clip from Voyage but also an excerpt from Pj Letofsky's forthcoming documentary Tarkovsky: His God, His Devil in which Guerra, filmed in 2009, looks back on his collaboration with Tarkovsky.
For a few months now, Geoff Dyer has been sparking conversations about Tarkovsky with Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room, which, as Ethan Nosowsky puts it in the Believer, "Dyer dons a metaphorical head-lamp to mine the ore" of...
For a few months now, Geoff Dyer has been sparking conversations about Tarkovsky with Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room, which, as Ethan Nosowsky puts it in the Believer, "Dyer dons a metaphorical head-lamp to mine the ore" of...
- 4/5/2012
- MUBI
"Tonino Guerra, the poet and screenwriter from Emilia-Romagna who has worked with so many directors, died this morning," reports Camillo de Marco at Cineuropa. "He had turned 92 on March 16."
Even the honed-down list at Wikipedia of directors for whom Guerra wrote is rather astounding: "Michelangelo Antonioni with L'avventura, La notte, L'eclisse, Red Desert, Blow-Up, Zabriskie Point and Identification of a Woman, Federico Fellini with Amarcord, Theo Angelopoulos with Landscape in the Mist, Eternity and a Day and The Weeping Meadow, Andrei Tarkovsky with Nostalghia and Francesco Rosi with the militant politics of The Mattei Affair, Lucky Luciano and Illustrious Corpses."
All in all, he wrote more than 100 screenplays, was nominated for an Oscar three times (for Casanova '70, Blow-Up and Amarcord), won Best Screenplay at Cannes (for Angelopoulos's Voyage to Cythera) and the Pietro Bianchi Award at Venice, among many other prizes.
The Golden Apricot Film Festival Board has issued...
Even the honed-down list at Wikipedia of directors for whom Guerra wrote is rather astounding: "Michelangelo Antonioni with L'avventura, La notte, L'eclisse, Red Desert, Blow-Up, Zabriskie Point and Identification of a Woman, Federico Fellini with Amarcord, Theo Angelopoulos with Landscape in the Mist, Eternity and a Day and The Weeping Meadow, Andrei Tarkovsky with Nostalghia and Francesco Rosi with the militant politics of The Mattei Affair, Lucky Luciano and Illustrious Corpses."
All in all, he wrote more than 100 screenplays, was nominated for an Oscar three times (for Casanova '70, Blow-Up and Amarcord), won Best Screenplay at Cannes (for Angelopoulos's Voyage to Cythera) and the Pietro Bianchi Award at Venice, among many other prizes.
The Golden Apricot Film Festival Board has issued...
- 3/23/2012
- MUBI
Italian screenwriter Tonino Guerra, the man behind Michelangelo Antonioni's "Blow-Up" and Federico Fellini's "Amarcord," has died at 92. The three-time Oscar nominee had been battling illness for several months in Rimini in central Italy, the Afp reported. Born in 1920, Guerra began writing while imprisoned in a German concentration camp during World War II. Since penning his first script for Giuseppe De Santis' "Men and Wolves" (1956), Guerra has gone on to write for some of the top Italian filmmakers of all time, including Vittorio De Sica ("Marriage Italian Style"), Mario Monicelli ("Caro Michele") and Francesco Rosi ("Lucky Luciano"). He also collaborated with Greek auteur Theo Angelopoulos on the dreamlike "Voyage to Cythera," and with Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky on "Nostalgia." All in all, he's responsible for more than 100 screenplays over the course of...
- 3/22/2012
- by Nigel M Smith
- Indiewire
The legendary Italian scriptwriter and novelist, who died yesterday, worked with a host of Europe's greatest auteurs. Here we pick the highlights of his extraordinary oeuvre
It was Tonino Guerra's fate to become the scriptwriter of choice for a string of master directors whose status as auteurs – "authors" of their films – tended to diminish the status of the writers involved. Nevertheless, Guerra established himself as a major figure in Italian cinema during its golden period in the 1960s and early 70s, as well as venturing further afield to collaborate with the likes of Tarkovsky and Angelopoulos.
But it is the amazing string of films he made with Michelangelo Antonioni for which he will primarily be remembered. After spending time as a schoolteacher in his 20s, he broke into the film industry in his 30s, receiving his first credit aged 37 for Man and Wolves, by Bitter Rice director Giuseppe de Santis.
It was Tonino Guerra's fate to become the scriptwriter of choice for a string of master directors whose status as auteurs – "authors" of their films – tended to diminish the status of the writers involved. Nevertheless, Guerra established himself as a major figure in Italian cinema during its golden period in the 1960s and early 70s, as well as venturing further afield to collaborate with the likes of Tarkovsky and Angelopoulos.
But it is the amazing string of films he made with Michelangelo Antonioni for which he will primarily be remembered. After spending time as a schoolteacher in his 20s, he broke into the film industry in his 30s, receiving his first credit aged 37 for Man and Wolves, by Bitter Rice director Giuseppe de Santis.
- 3/22/2012
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Screenwriter and poet who co-scripted films with Fellini, Antonioni and Tarkovsky
The Italian poet, novelist and screenwriter Tonino Guerra, who has died aged 92, brought something of his own poetic world to the outstanding films he co-scripted with, among others, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Francesco Rosi, but also many non-Italian directors including Theo Angelopoulos and Andrei Tarkovsky. Perhaps his most creative contribution was to Fellini's colourful account of life in a small coastal town in the 1930s, Amarcord (1973), of which he was truly co-author, because the film reflected their common experiences growing up in Romagna.
The two were born in the region a couple of months apart – Fellini in Rimini and Guerra in Santarcangelo, in the hills above the Adriatic resort, the son of a street vendor father.
Guerra's own "amarcord" ("I remember" in dialect) is scattered over many books of poetry and short stories. He first started writing...
The Italian poet, novelist and screenwriter Tonino Guerra, who has died aged 92, brought something of his own poetic world to the outstanding films he co-scripted with, among others, Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Francesco Rosi, but also many non-Italian directors including Theo Angelopoulos and Andrei Tarkovsky. Perhaps his most creative contribution was to Fellini's colourful account of life in a small coastal town in the 1930s, Amarcord (1973), of which he was truly co-author, because the film reflected their common experiences growing up in Romagna.
The two were born in the region a couple of months apart – Fellini in Rimini and Guerra in Santarcangelo, in the hills above the Adriatic resort, the son of a street vendor father.
Guerra's own "amarcord" ("I remember" in dialect) is scattered over many books of poetry and short stories. He first started writing...
- 3/22/2012
- by John Francis Lane
- The Guardian - Film News
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