Goltzius and the Pelican Company

70 year old iconoclastic film maker Peter Greenaway has built an utterly unique oeuvre of visually compelling and morally questionable films. His newest film, Goltzius and the Pelican Company spins a tale of vivid eroticism and religious hypocrisy. The hero is 16th-century Dutch engraver Hendrik Goltzius, who convinces a wealthy patron to fund a revolutionary new printing press by having his employees enact lusty scenes from the Old Testament. An unrelenting provocateur, Greenaway doesn't miss an opportunity to enact those Biblical chapters that feature threesomes, voyeurism, masturbation and incest. The religious establishment is by turns seduced, scandalized, and up in arms.

There are many ways to fault Greenaway as a storyteller: His compositions are over-meticulous; his targets are well battered; he seems to lack basic human warmth. Still it can't be denied that his movies provide rich food for thought and a feast for the senses. In the end, they're glorious. This film looks to carry on his singular reputation.

Peter Greenaway will be in Seattle this Sunday, May 19, to present Goltzius and the Pelican Company, as part of the Seattle International Film Festival. If tickets aren't sold out yet, they are available here.

Charles Burnett's Wedding

The 2007 theatrical release of Charles Burnett's 1977 drama Killer of Sheep was a landmark cinema event. The poetic and raggedly beautiful portrait of a Watts slaughterhouse worker was rescued from obscurity, and the director was catapulted into a long overdue fame.

Now, Burnett's lost second feature My Brother's Wedding, from 1983, has been released and is being shown as part of the Northwest Film Forum's L.A. Rebellion retrospective of African-American indie cinema. Set and shot in South Central L.A. with a largely nonprofessional cast, the film offers a world of complex family dynamics and social relations, shot before a complicated background of a loving neighborhood riddled with violence. The film remained unfinished until 2007, when Milestone Films - who also rescued Killer of Sheep - acquired the rights from its German financiers.

Charles Burnett will attend the screening at NWFF on Friday night, and on Saturday he will be at the screening of Bless Their Hearts which he shot for director Billy Woodberry in 1984. Saturday's screening is preceded by a free talk between Burnett and UW Professor of Social and Behavior Sciences Clarence Spigner. A bargain at $10, and tickets are available here.

Films for the Kiddies

A great weekend of film coming up for the younger set and the adults who love them.

 On Thursday night, the Children’s Film Festival opens at the Northwest Film Forum on Capitol Hill. Over the past 8 years, this has become the largest and most respected film festival on the West Coast dedicated to children and their families. Over the next week, the NWFF will screen more than 120 films from 35 countries, all geared toward young people. The festival opens with the local premiere of Zarafa, a gorgeous film from French animators Rémi Bezançon and "Triplets of Belleville" supervising animator Jean-Christophe Lie about an escaped slave boy and the baby giraffe he befriends. Saturday morning brings a special screening of live action and animated short films proceeded by an all-you-can-eat pancake and bacon breakfast. A wonderful annual event, not to be missed.

On Sunday night, and completely unrelated to the film festival, the Seattle musical duo Miles & Karina come to the Royal Room in Columbia City with a rare live performance of their original score to the oldest existing, full-length animated film, "The Adventures of Prince Achmed," made by film pioneer Lotte Reiniger. Taken from The Arabian Nights, the film tells the story of a wicked sorcerer who tricks Prince Achmed into mounting a magical flying horse and sends the rider off on a flight to his death. Miles and Karina have traveled the world with this film, and are bringing it back to Seattle for one night only. Sunday at 7:30, and open to all ages.

Films of Nicholas Ray

In 1971, Hollywood director Nicholas Ray was broke and took a teaching job at the State University of New York at Binghamton. His last film, 55 Days at Peking, had been a multimillion-dollar production that nearly killed him, and he didn't attempt to make another film for more than 8 years. Ray's class filled up with ambitious film students thinking they were going to take a directing class from a master, and who instead found themselves enmeshed in a no-budget, high-energy, and extremely confusing wild goose chase titled "We Can't Go Home Again."

Ray's vision for the film involved using multiple images simultaneously as a way of telling complex stories. He called it a “journalistic film... that shares the anthropologist’s aim of recording the history, progress, manners, morals and mores of everyday life.” The film was never completed and never released - until now. The incomplete but fascinating film "We Can't Go Home Again" opens today at the Northwest Film Forum, along with a documentary about the making of the film, "Don't Expect Too Much" by Ray's widow Susan Ray. The documentary goes even deeper into the director's vision, and includes interviews with Ray's students at the time, including Jim Jarmusch.

Ray died in 1979. "We Can't Go Home Again" and "Don't Expect Too Much" screen all this week, Feb 10–16, at Northwest Film Forum. More info and tickets here.

Flicks for the Kids

Winter's dragging on, but the snow holiday is long over. Perfect timing for the annual Children's Film Festival Seattle, starting tonight and running through February 5 at the Northwest Film Forum.

This year's festival boasts as strong a line-up as ever, opening with the Seattle premiere of famed French animator Michel Ocelot's new film "Tales of the Night." The festival also features a music and movie pajama party for ages 3 and older this Friday night, a retrospective of animation from Russia's famed SHAR Studio and Animation School, founded in 1993 by a group of top Russian animators, and of course the awesome Pancake Breakfast this Saturday morning, with short films from around the world. I don't know who's more excited - me or my 3-year old. Full info on the Children's Film Fest right here.

I have no idea if this film, by Argentine illustrator and animator Santiago Grasso, will be in the festival. But it's winning all kinds of awards at recent festivals, I like it, and my kid does too. What else you want? A pancake? Enjoy.

Symmetry

Just a pretty little film to share on a Friday afternoon, created by the filmmakers at Everynone to accompany a recent episode of the public radio show Radiolab. A simple and well-made split-screen take on our need for balance. More films from Everynone here.

The Taqwacores

In an unusual blast of historical synchronicity, the documentary The Taqwacores opens tonight at the Northwest Film Forum. The film, which documents the rising political and creative force of young Muslims, follows the unlikely birth of Muslim Punk Rock around the world.

The film took its inspiration from the influential novel of the same name by the Rochester, NY-born Islamic convert Michael Muhammad Knight. The riotous and revolutionary book invents a fictional Muslim punk scene in Rochester, and the story unexpectedly catalyzed the creation of a full fledged hardcore movement among the Muslim faithful in Islamic communities around the world. The film, which took more than 3 years to make, follows a band of Muslim misfits across three continents from the United States to Pakistan to track the uncompromisingly brave actions and attitudes of these rebellious musicians, and their impact on the young people who come to see them.

The film opens tonight, February 11, the day that a surprisingly strong youth movement forced Hosni Mubarak from power, and runs through the 17th.

Shigeru Ban

The Japanese architect Shigeru Ban is noted for his use of inexpensive construction materials such as paperboard, cardboard tubes, beer cases and plastic sheeting. While his designs for DIY prefab housing have been adopted by the UN High Commission for Refugees to house earthquake victims in Turkey and Rwanda, Ban has also used these lightweight but sturdy and relatively inexpensive materials to create breathtakingly beautiful homes, pavilions and churches. A documentary film on Shigeru Ban, called An Architect for Emergencies screens as part of the 47 Degrees North Film Series at the University of Washington. On Monday January 31 at 6 pm.

Children's Film Fest

The Northwest Film Forum opens their annual Children's Film Festival this Friday in Seattle. This year's 10-day extravaganza brings more than 125 films from 29 countries, a magical blend that includes animation, features, shorts, historical films and hands-on workshops. Highlights include a live performance from Casper Babypants; an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast; a program spotlighting Chinese animation as curated by the acclaimed animator Joe Chang; and screenings of the rarely seen Mary Pickford silent film, A Little Princess, with a new live score.

The festival opens this Friday, January 28 - not coincidentally a day when the Seattle Schools are closed - and runs until February 6.

Get tickets here.

Ornette Coleman

The Earshot Jazz Fest brings the classic film Ornette: Made in America to the NW Film Forum for 4 screenings this Friday and Saturday. 'Ornette' is a hazy but inviting glimpse of the great modern jazz musician and his world. The film maker Shirley Clarke was one of the key figures of the American independent film movement, and for her final film Clarke created a highly unusual music documentary featuring the legendary Ornette Coleman, a toweringly innovative yet humble figure.

The film follows Mr. Coleman rather randomly through time and space, jumping from Morocco in 1973 to Berkeley in 1969, then back to Italy in 1980. Coleman's music weaves through a series of interviews with personalities as varied as Buckminster Fuller, William Burroughs, and Coleman's son Denardo. Meanwhile, all manner images occasionally flash on and off the screen, and a small boy impersonates the lonely young Ornette outside the house where he spent his childhood. It's a bizarre film, but an truly entertaining one, and Coleman is a figure well worth spending more time with in whatever form. Four showings only, at 7 and 9 pm on October 29 & 30.

Animated Art

For one night only, the Northwest Film Forum presents a program of short films by local artists, designers and animators. It's a rare opportunity to see a wide range of Seattle talent, with dozens of different perspectives, presented together on a big screen.

The very impressive list of artists and animators - every one of whom has a Seattle connection - includes Jon Behrens, Cathy McClure, Martha Colburn, Webster Crowell, Stefan Gruber, Salise Hughes, Britta Johnson, Sarah Jane Lapp, Tess Martin, Jeffry Mitchell, Amanda Moore, Clyde Peterson, Friese Undine (shown here), Drew Christie and Brent Watanabe.

This Thursday, Jan 7, at 7 PM. Get tickets here.

Film Starts Here

New media outlets like Facebook and Youtube have created unprecedented opportunities for young artists, storytellers and moviemakers to get their work seen by wide audiences. Plenty of high schools and even elementary schools now offer classes in movie and video production, and national organizations like Human Rights Watch and the South by Southwest Festival sponsor competitions for teenage filmmakers.

The Seattle-based National Film Festival for Talented Youth (or "NFFTY") is the largest film festival and support organization for filmmakers age 22 and under. NFFTY's third annual festival takes place this spring in venues around Seattle, and includes more than 100 film screenings, filmmaking panels, and creative opportunities for filmmakers as young as 7 years old. Young filmmakers from around the world come to town with feature-length and short films in narrative, documentary, animation, music video, experimental, and international categories.



Simply browsing through the list of titles and subjects is jawdropping. Some highlights include “Lifestories: The Lost Boys Of Sudan” a story of eight Sudanese refugee children by 14-year old Jared Martin, and the hand-drawn cartoon “Odysseus And The Cyclops” by seven-year-old Emily Salva.

April 24-26 at various cinemas in downtown Seattle. Check here for full schedules.

Zou Zou & Princesse Tam Tam

As part of the ever-expanding footprint of Seattle's "Moisture Festival" vaudeville extravaganza, the SIFF Cinema is presenting a week long film program highlighting the world of cinematic varietè, circus, and burlesque. On Sunday March 22nd, SIFF is showcasing a rare Josephine Baker double bill - the 1934 film "Zou Zou", followed by "Princesse Tam Tam" from 1935.

Baker, who was born Freda Josephine McDonald in 1906, had a minor American career as a vaudeville comedian and chorus girl, but like any Black performer at that time she was seriously limited in the level of success she could attain. However, when Josephine traveled to Paris with a new venture, La Revue Nègre, she became a sensation. Everything about Josephine Baker was new and exotic - her famously bold costumes, her uninhibited dancing, and her unabashed sexuality. Her career thrived in integrated Paris society, and by 1927 she was the highest paid entertainer in Europe. She tried to return to the United States a number of times as a star performer but the ventures proved disastrous and Josephine lived the rest of her in France.

The two films being shown in Seattle, created specifically as starring vehicles for the charismatic performer, represent Baker at the height of her career.



The film series, which opens on March 20, also features the Wim Wenders film "Wings of Desire", the Jacques Tati opus "Playtime", and the film "Gypsy" which stars Natalie Wood as burlesque legend Gypsy Rose Lee.

Zero Film Festival

The Zero Film Festival is a smart and timely idea. The touring film series is exclusively dedicated to showing self financed, zero-budget short films from around the world. Even in a city like Seattle which has a fair number of outlets for independent films, this is a niche which is basically ignored.

The Zero Film Festival is currently touring the west coast, with different programs in each of 6 cities. The festival is making an all-too-brief appearance in Seattle this Saturday night with two different screenings at the Northwest Film Forum at 7 and 9 pm.

Of the five films being shown in Seattle, three were made by local film makers. Journey Green Forest was created by Seattle film maker Richard Wellington who explained that "I had one rule, accept everything." Inside Every Moment Is Another Moment was filmed by Bellingham film maker Kacey Morrow, and Cafe Cut - Undone comes from Jane Meuter of Seattle. Alpha Maybe comes by way of New York and Chi Si Ferma E Perduto, filmed in Italy and Bolivia, tells the story of a Bolivian shoe-shiner searching for his missing foot.

I haven't seen any of 'em, but these all seem to be genuinely independent and idiosyncratic films by filmmakers who are taking artistic and personal risks in order to see their visions realized.