In 1926, Polish-born immigrant Lillian Alling decided either that she was done with New York City or it was done with her, and set out to take the long way home. Traveling on foot, she crossed into Canada at Niagara Falls, headed for Alaska, and continued her epic solo trek along the Bering Strait toward Russia. She was never heard from again. Alling’s story is a grimly remarkable one that has inspired multiple novels, historical studies and even an opera; by now, it ought to have made for a remarkable film. “Lillian,” the first narrative feature by celebrated Austrian docmaker Andreas Horvath, isn’t quite it, but neither does it tell quite that story. Reimagining Alling’s journey as a present-day trans-American odyssey, it retains the sad, aloof mystique of its true-life inspiration, but despite the topical resonance of an immigrant escape narrative set in Trump’s hostile America, Horvath...
- 5/30/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Diagonale: Festival of Austrian Film has taken place annually since 1998 in Graz (pron. "Grats," pop. 325,000), Austria's second city, capital of the wealthy Styria province, and best known internationally as the home town of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Over its six days (this year March 13-18) the event provides a handy snapshot of current Austrian film production, with a couple of retrospective strands included for context—rendered tantalizingly inaccessible to most international visitors by the lack of English subtitles.The newer films are divided into fiction, documentary, short fiction, short documentary and what the festival labels "Innovative Kino" (Ik). A sidebar dedicated to experimental and animated work would in most festivals of this type be a decidedly marginal affair—but, given the remarkable history of Austrian avant-garde cinema over the last half-century (and more; see Adrian Martin's essay "I Dream Of Austria"), at Graz it's a big deal indeed. The standard is...
- 3/25/2018
- MUBI
Versatile Austrian writer-director-editor Michael Palm ruminates on the problematic evolution of his chosen art form in Cinema Futures, a likeably wide-ranging documentary that will be catnip for celluloid-centric cinephiles. Marginally wider audiences may be attracted by the presence of Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Tacita Dean among the slew of talking-head contributors, although such luminaries' contributions are tantalizingly brief, especially in light of the doc's generous two-hour-plus running-time.
Having premiered in at Venice in September, the picture — commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Vienna's Austrian Filmmuseum in 2014 — will...
Having premiered in at Venice in September, the picture — commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Vienna's Austrian Filmmuseum in 2014 — will...
- 12/5/2016
- by Neil Young
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The selection for the 2016 Venice Film Festival has been announced, with new films by Terrence Malick, Pablo Larraín, Lav Diaz, Wang Bing, Amat Escalante, Tom Ford, and more.COMPETITIONVoyage of TimeThe Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour)Une vie i (Stéphane Brizé)La La Land (Damien Chazelle)The Light Between Oceans (Derek Cianfrance)El ciudadano ilustre (Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat)Spira Mirabilis (Massimo D'Anolfi, Martina Parenti)The Woman Who Left (Lav Diaz)La región salvaje (Amat Escalante)Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford)Piuma (Roan Johnson)Paradise (Andrei Konchalovsky)Brimstone (Martin Koolhoven)Jackie (Pablo Larraín)Voyage of Time (Terrence Malick)El Cristo Ciego (Christopher Murray)Frantz (François Ozon)Questi Giorni (Giuseppe Piccioni)Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)Les beaux jours D'Aranjuez (Wim Wenders)Out Of COMPETITIONSafariOur War (Bruno Chiaravolloti, Claudio Jampaglia, Benedetta Argentieri)I Called Him Morgan (Kasper Collin)One More Time with Feeling (Andrew Dominik)The Bleeder (Philippe Falardeau)The Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua...
- 7/28/2016
- MUBI
It’s lucky 13 for the Antimatter Film Festival in Victoria, BC. That is, their 13th annual fest is all set to run on Oct 8-16. That’s nine mind-blowing nights of experimental short films, live film performances and culture-shattering documentaries.
The fest kicks off on the 8th with a 16mm screening of Sergei Eisenstein’s classic silent film Battleship Potemkin that will be accompanied by a live soundtrack by DJ-son Bitter Herbs [Jason Flower]. The people’s revolution never sounded so funky! Then, the fest concludes on the 16th with the event “Uzos [Underwater Zombies from Outer Space]” and will feature performances by Ryan Beattie, Atomic Vaudeville, Slut Revolver, Wes Borg and more.
Smooshed between those two events will be the debut feature film by acclaimed ethnographic filmmaker Ben Russell, Let Each One Go Where They May, which documents the amazing recreation of a bold escape made by slaves. Other feature length documentaries screening are: Teen Routines,...
The fest kicks off on the 8th with a 16mm screening of Sergei Eisenstein’s classic silent film Battleship Potemkin that will be accompanied by a live soundtrack by DJ-son Bitter Herbs [Jason Flower]. The people’s revolution never sounded so funky! Then, the fest concludes on the 16th with the event “Uzos [Underwater Zombies from Outer Space]” and will feature performances by Ryan Beattie, Atomic Vaudeville, Slut Revolver, Wes Borg and more.
Smooshed between those two events will be the debut feature film by acclaimed ethnographic filmmaker Ben Russell, Let Each One Go Where They May, which documents the amazing recreation of a bold escape made by slaves. Other feature length documentaries screening are: Teen Routines,...
- 10/4/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
SAN FRANCISCO -- Edgar G. Ulmer, the prolific king of sub B-pictures, is the focus of the disappointing documentary Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen. A portrait of a nearly forgotten filmmaker as well as a long, strange trip through the murky depths of B-movies, Michael Palm's film remains earthbound despite its interesting, offbeat subject. The documentary will be of interest to film students and aficionados on its run through the festival circuit.
No footage of Ulmer was available, so Palm relied on a few still photographs, audio tapes of Peter Bogdanovich's interviews with the director and talking heads like Arianne Ulmer Cipes, Ulmer's daughter and one of this film's producers. Joe Dante, John Landis, Wim Wenders and the venerable dean of low-rent exploitation, Roger Corman, opine on aspects of the man and his career.
Ulmer, a European emigre, became a master of successful quickies. Although he relished his outsider status and disdained the Hollywood "hash machine," Ulmer longed for A-list status and recognition. He made possibly 60-70 films, some forgettable, others such classics as The Black Cat and the corrosive noir Detour. He claimed to have shot each of those in six days.
Working with no money, bare-bones sets and a heavy reliance on fog, he made the most of very little. By the 1950s, Ulmer's career fizzled. He ended up desperately seeking funding overseas for projects that fell apart. Believing that many of his films wouldn't survive, he died a deeply frustrated man.
It's unfortunate that a film designed to renew interest in Ulmer is this flat. In an effort to spice things up, Palm employs hokey gimmicks like shooting Detour star Ann Savage, now in her 70s, behind the wheel of a convertible with rear projection. It doesn't work. Landis, Dante and Wenders, whose commentaries are witty and insightful, are likewise shot while riding in a moving car. These are contrived, superfluous touches.
One wishes Palm had more faith in his raw material, though Ulmer is an elusive subject. He was a fabulist who mythologized himself and inflated his biography. Like his Man From Planet X, Ulmer remains shrouded in mystery.
No footage of Ulmer was available, so Palm relied on a few still photographs, audio tapes of Peter Bogdanovich's interviews with the director and talking heads like Arianne Ulmer Cipes, Ulmer's daughter and one of this film's producers. Joe Dante, John Landis, Wim Wenders and the venerable dean of low-rent exploitation, Roger Corman, opine on aspects of the man and his career.
Ulmer, a European emigre, became a master of successful quickies. Although he relished his outsider status and disdained the Hollywood "hash machine," Ulmer longed for A-list status and recognition. He made possibly 60-70 films, some forgettable, others such classics as The Black Cat and the corrosive noir Detour. He claimed to have shot each of those in six days.
Working with no money, bare-bones sets and a heavy reliance on fog, he made the most of very little. By the 1950s, Ulmer's career fizzled. He ended up desperately seeking funding overseas for projects that fell apart. Believing that many of his films wouldn't survive, he died a deeply frustrated man.
It's unfortunate that a film designed to renew interest in Ulmer is this flat. In an effort to spice things up, Palm employs hokey gimmicks like shooting Detour star Ann Savage, now in her 70s, behind the wheel of a convertible with rear projection. It doesn't work. Landis, Dante and Wenders, whose commentaries are witty and insightful, are likewise shot while riding in a moving car. These are contrived, superfluous touches.
One wishes Palm had more faith in his raw material, though Ulmer is an elusive subject. He was a fabulist who mythologized himself and inflated his biography. Like his Man From Planet X, Ulmer remains shrouded in mystery.
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.