The festival runs March 16-26 with venues all around the city including American University, MLK Jr. Memorial Library, National Museum of Natural History, and many other locations. Over 100 films will be screened including recent releases and documentary classics. Among the many titles that caught my eye are The Boys of Baraka, Darwin’s Nightmare, The […]
Continue readingHow to Film Sharks and Bears and Live to Tell About It
On Tuesday evening, March 21, AU professor and wildlife filmmaker Chris Palmer will be on campus discussing highlights from his career. The program, part of the 2006 Environmental Film Festival, will be held at 7pm in the Butler Board Room, Mary Graydon Center. Mr. Palmer’s enthusiasm and good humor guarantee an evening of entertainment. They […]
Continue readingBlogwatch: Reality Film
The author of the Reality Film site, who I deduce is a film studies professor at Penn State, has been posting since December 2005. His goals for the site are to have a place to discuss teaching, film and television viewing in a more or less organized manner. His tastes are somewhat mainstream but it’s […]
Continue readingFull Frame Documentary Film Festival, April 6-9
If you can find the time, plan on going to Durham, NC for perhaps the most important documentary festival in the US.Featured this year: Sydney Pollack’s Sketches of Frank Gehry will open the festival. D.A. Pennebaker and Ross McElwee will help honor documentary legend Richard Leacock when he is awarded the 2006 Career Award. There […]
Continue readingCold War Classic – Duck and Cover (1951) on Google Video
This 9 minute film was made by the U.S. Federal Civil Defense Administration to instruct children on how to react when an atomic bomb was detonated nearby. The film was used extensively in Kevin Rafferty’s Atomic Cafe (1982, DVD 536), a documentary surveying the U.S. government’s propaganda promoting the atomic bomb. link
Continue readingMax Schreck is just a click away
Yes, given that F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) is now in the public domain, Google video is hosting a digital copy. For those who may not know about this film, it is the first popular telling of the Dracula story on film. Though a silent film, its haunting gothic imagery and the other-worldly creepiness of […]
Continue reading2006 Sundance Shorts – 47 titles available online
The online collection though extensive represents just a sample of the entries and includes just a couple of the prize-winners. The Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking ended in a tie between BUGCRUSH, directed by Carter Smith and THE WRAITH OF COBBLE HILL (video unavailable online), directed by Adam Parrish King. The Jury Prize in International […]
Continue readingObit: Garrett Scott, Documentarian, 37
Garrett Scott’s most recent film Occupation: Dreamland is about the lives of army personnel fighting in Fallujah, Iraq. It is slated to air on the Sundance Channel next month.In 2002, his first film, Cul de Sac: A Suburban War Story (VHS 7270), was released. This unusual film starts with the news story of Shawn Nelson, […]
Continue readingCIA Films at the National Archives
The CIA, like many other government agencies, declassifies documents (including films) occassionally and relocates them to the National Archives. Freedom-of-Information-Act sleuth Michael Ravnitsky was able to obtain the list of CIA films currently in the Archives. It contains many, many titles with historical import such as Brainwashing, How Free Should the Press be?, Psychology of […]
Continue readingDC Independent Film Festival currently underway, March 2-12
“The DC Independent Film Festival showcases world premieres, award winning features, shorts, animation and documentaries by local, national and international filmmakers. “Founded in 1999, the DC Independent Film Festival showcases each year up to 100 features, shorts, animations, and documentaries that represent the best in independent film. These films include ones that have won awards […]
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