Directors with large bodies of work often develop distinctive styles. Once you these signatures for the first time, their earlier films become exciting treasure hunts for glimpses of their trademarks yet to develop. You might get a glimpse of the Coen brothers yet to emerge, for example, when watching Blood Simple. If you enjoy playing […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: Directors
Science confirms that Paul Thomas Anderson is the master of your eyes
The intersection of science and art has always yielded fascinating insights. As much as filmmaking is an art that requires a carefully trained eye and excellent talent to pull off, scientific studies often find surprising and actionable evidence of how we process and respond to images. That might take some of the artistry out of […]
Continue readingKiller cars? Flying fish? Notable directors with unusual starts
The most recent batch of Academy Award contenders to come out – 12 Years a Slave, The Contender, Gravity, etc. – all come from renowned or at least established directors. Except for perhaps Neil Blomkamp and Benh Zeitlin, few directors can claim that their first films received Oscar nods. Where, then, did these acclaimed directors […]
Continue readingSee famed director Arturo Ripstein on campus TODAY!
American University is proud and excited to host famed Spanish film director Arturo Ripstein on campus today at 5:30pm in the Letts Formal Lounge. Ripstein has been active in the Spanish film industry for years, starting as an assistant to director Luis Buñuel and eventually directing his own feature films in 1965. If you’ve taken […]
Continue readingMiyazaki retires! Celebrate the legendary director’s work
A luminary of the film industry is throwing in the towel. With the release of The Wind Rises, his eleventh feature film, Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki has announced his retirement from filmmaking. The sudden announcement was perhaps inevitable given Miyazaki’s age, but his absence from the world of animation will be felt immediately. Miyazaki’s production […]
Continue readingEarly Orson Welles film uncovered!
Everyone knows Orson Welles best for his directorial debut, Citizen Kane. Though Welles had dabbled in some film work and shorts before Kane‘s debut, few of those early works have seen the light of the day. Perhaps Welles’s most famous lost work is Too Much Johnson, a series of vignettes originally designed to screen alongside […]
Continue readingSpielberg joins Soderbergh in warning of film industry “implosion”
Pessimism loves company. Roughly a month after now-retired director Steven Soderbergh engaged in an epic-length verbal takedown of the movie industry, Steven Spielberg has followed suit; Hollywood Reporter quotes a foreboding Spielberg warning of the industry’s imminent restructuring. The director predicts a number of changes, such as higher ticket prices for pricier blockbusters and the […]
Continue readingWatch Steven Soderbergh’s extra-long speech about the state of film
It looks like filmmaker Steven Soderbergh wasn’t kidding when he said he was retiring. A few day ago, Soderbergh gave a keynote speech at the San Francisco Film Festival. It was exactly as upbeat as you might expect from an auteur who left Hollywood in disillusionment. For nearly 40 minutes, Soderbergh delivered a rambling assault […]
Continue readingHear Oliver Stone on JFK’s legacy TONIGHT!
Here’s last-minute announcement: Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone will be on campus this evening with friend-of-Media-Services Prof. Peter Kuznick to screen an episode of their Showtime documentary series, The Untold History of the United States. The event is part of AU’s commemoration of John F. Kennedy’s landmark commencement address at AU in which he heralded […]
Continue readingSoderbergh calls it a day
Steven Soderbergh’s next film, Side Effects hits theaters tomorrow. But if the director can be believed, it will also be his last film. In recent interviews, Soderbergh has made clear his distaste for the Hollywood system and its treatment of directors. Although Soderbergh still has a film in the can waiting to be released (an […]
Continue reading