'When in doubt, twirl." There was a time when that sage advice, given by the late queer genius James Broughton, was actually subversive, an exhortation to burrow deeper in one's queerness when faced with adversity. It's now the type of statement likely to be uttered by some reality TV show nitwit on a shopping spree.
Broughton, poet, filmmaker and Renaissance man, is the subject of the exhilarating documentary Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton, co-directed by Stephen Silha, Eric Slade, and Dawn Logsdon. His life was larger than fiction. It spanned a poor-little-rich-boy childhood, the making of groundbreaking experimental films influenced by Cocteau and Maya Deren, being part of a late-'40s San Francisco arts movement that planted the seeds for the Beats....
Broughton, poet, filmmaker and Renaissance man, is the subject of the exhilarating documentary Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton, co-directed by Stephen Silha, Eric Slade, and Dawn Logsdon. His life was larger than fiction. It spanned a poor-little-rich-boy childhood, the making of groundbreaking experimental films influenced by Cocteau and Maya Deren, being part of a late-'40s San Francisco arts movement that planted the seeds for the Beats....
- 6/18/2014
- Village Voice
American filmmaker and poet James Broughton recorded odes to life on Earth. On March 22 and 23, Anthology Film Archive presents programs of Broughton's film work that include reverent and ridiculous celebrations of physical love, like 1968's ebullient The Bed, as well as presentations of spirits meeting in physical form, such as 1977's Song of the Godbody, made with his soulmate, Joel Singer.
These repertory screenings celebrate the late Broughton's centennial, as does the weekend-long run of the new documentary Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton.
The film (co-directed by Stephen Silha, Eric Slade, and Dawn Logsdon) narrates Broughton's existence in chronological fashion, from his Modesto, California, birth through 85 largely California-bas...
These repertory screenings celebrate the late Broughton's centennial, as does the weekend-long run of the new documentary Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton.
The film (co-directed by Stephen Silha, Eric Slade, and Dawn Logsdon) narrates Broughton's existence in chronological fashion, from his Modesto, California, birth through 85 largely California-bas...
- 3/19/2014
- Village Voice
London Lgbt film festival reveals full programme; Sundance/Berlin winner 52 Tuesdays booked as closing film; VoD plans.Scroll down for programme highlights
The long-running London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (Llgff) is to be renamed BFI Flare: London Lgbt Film Festival in a bid to “reflect the increasing diversity of the programme”.
The British Film Institute (BFI) will also launch a BFI Flare collection on its VoD platform, BFI Player, as well as a monthly screening programme at its BFI Southbank base in London.
The announcements were made last night (Feb 19) at the launch of the 28th edition of the festival, where the full programme was also unveiled. This year’s festival runs March 20-30.
Speaking to ScreenDaily about the name change, BFI deputy head of festivals Tricia Tuttle said: “The festival had outgrown the name. Following an audience consultation last year, 70% came back saying it was time for a change.
“Options considered...
The long-running London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (Llgff) is to be renamed BFI Flare: London Lgbt Film Festival in a bid to “reflect the increasing diversity of the programme”.
The British Film Institute (BFI) will also launch a BFI Flare collection on its VoD platform, BFI Player, as well as a monthly screening programme at its BFI Southbank base in London.
The announcements were made last night (Feb 19) at the launch of the 28th edition of the festival, where the full programme was also unveiled. This year’s festival runs March 20-30.
Speaking to ScreenDaily about the name change, BFI deputy head of festivals Tricia Tuttle said: “The festival had outgrown the name. Following an audience consultation last year, 70% came back saying it was time for a change.
“Options considered...
- 2/20/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Opening with Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive the latest edition of the American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland (22-27 October 2013) has screened some of the most important American independent films of the year. Being the only festival of its class in Eastern and Central Europe the festival has become the most important venue to connect American filmmakers with European buyers and audiences through programs like U.S. in Progress Wrocław (23-25 October 2013).
This year's program taking place at the New Horizons cinema presented 80 movies out of which 42 are Polish premieres, 3 are European premieres and 1 is a World Premiere. Among them 10 documentaries and 17 feature films competed for cash prizes in the audience-vote competitions.
The first competitive section - Spectrum ($10,000 audience award for the Best Narrative Feature) included films that have been well-received here in the U.S such as A Teacher by Hannah Fidell, Blue Caprice by Alexandre Moors, Afternoon Delight by Jill Soloway, Short Term 12 by Destin Cretton, The Spectacular Now by James Ponsoldt, and Bluebird by Lance Edmands. The second competition - American Docs ($5,000 audience award for Best Documentary Feature) had a selection of films depicting varied current issues in American society including Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia by Nicholas Wrathall, The Armstrong Lie by Alex Gibney, Our Nixon by Penny Lane, Northern Light by Nick Bentgen, Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton by Eric Slade and Stephen Silha and Before You Know It by Pj Raval.
The American Film Festival also ran a retrospective of Shirley Clarke and presented Polish premieres of high-profile films such as As I Lay Dying by James Franco, Quentin Dupieux’s Wrong Cops, Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein’s Lovelace, Much Ado About Nothing by Joss Whedon, Touchy Feely by Lynn Shelton, At Any Price by Ramin Bahrani, and Maladies by Carter. The festival also screened Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Sundance hit Don Jon along several U.S. in Progress participants and festival hits like I Used to be Darker by Matt Porterfier and Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Patrick Carbone. Lastly, a special section titled 'Masterpieces of American Cinema 90 Years of Warner Bros." showed 14 digitally-remastered productions by the studio from The Jazz Singer by Alan Crosland (1927) through A Clockwork Orange ,The Exorcist and Christopher Nolan’s Inception
The festival will close on October 27th with Steven Soderbergh's Emmy Award-winning film Behind the Candelabra.
All competitions titles:
Spectrum
American Milkshake by David Andalman, Mariko Munro, USA 2012, 82'
Blue Highway by Kyle Smith, USA 2013, 70'
Coldwater by Vincent Grashaw, USA 2013, 104'
The Spectacular Now by James Ponsoldt, USA 2013, 95'
Drinking Buddies by Joe Swanberg, USA 2013, 90'
Lily by Matt Creed, USA 2013, 85'
A Teacher by Hannah Fidell, USA 2013, 75'
Blue Caprice by Alexandre Moors, USA 2013, 93'
Pearblossom Hwy by Mike Ott, USA 2012, 78'
Afternoon Delight by Jill Soloway, USA 2013, 105'
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors by Sam Fleischner, USA 2013, 102'
Short Term 12 by Destin Cretton, USA 2013, 96'
The Cold Lands by Tom Gilroy, USA 2013, 100'
In a World... by Lake Bell, USA 2013, 93'
A Song Still Inside by Gregory Collins, USA 2013, 82'
Bluebird by Lance Edmands, USA 2013, 90'
American Docs
Big Easy Express by Emmett Malloy, USA 2012
Off Label by Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher, USA 2012
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia by Nicholas Wrathall, USA, Italy 2013
Fall and Winter by Matt Anderson, USA 2013
The Armstrong Lie by Alex Gibney, USA 2013
Lenny Cooke by Ben Safdie, Joshua Safdie, USA 2012
Our Nixon by Penny Lane, USA 2013
Northern Light by Nick Bentgen, USA 2013
Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton by Eric Slade, Stephen Silha, USA 2013
Before You Know It by Pj Raval, USA 2012
U.S. Progress Projects
This year 6 projects in the final production stages were chosen to take part in the two-day workshop knows as U.S. in Progress Wroclaw (23-25 October, 2013). The event presents the American independent projects to European buyers, post-production houses and festivals in order to help them achieve completion and to foster the circulation and distribution of these films in Europe.
Selected from over 40 submission the chosen projects are the dramas Lake Los Angeles by Mike Ott (produced by Athina Rachel Tsangari), Happy Baby by Stephen Elliott (produced by Jessica Caldwell ) and Some Beasts by Cameron Nelson (produced by Ashley Maynor and Courtney Ware), crime story Wild Canaries by Lawrence Michael Levine (produced by Sophia Takal, Kim Sherman and McCabe Walsh), frontier black comedy Sun Belt Express by Evan Wolf Buxbaum (producers: Noah Lang and Iyabo Boyd) and Summer of Blood – a New York vampire comedy by director-producer Onur Tukel.
The prizes are awarded by a jury of professionals and include post-production services from European partner companies worth almost $60.000 and promotional services from other partners. Us in Progress’ partners are: Platige Image (Warsaw), Di Factory (Warsaw), Alvernia Studios (Krakow), composer Maciej Zielinski of Soundflower Studio (Warsaw), Soundplace (Warsaw), DCinex (Belgium), Vsi (Paris), Europa Distribution, Cicae and Cannes Marche du Film’s Producers Network.
U.S. in Progress Wrocław (formerly Gotham in Progress) was started in 2011 by the New Horizons Association and Black Rabbit Film. Previous films presented at the event included, among others: I Used To Be Darker by Matt Porterfield, American Milkshake by David Andalman (both shown at Sundance Ff in 2013), Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Carbone (Berlinale Generation, Tribeca), Bluebird by Lance Edmands (Tribeca, Karlovy Vary), Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin’s Now, Forager: a Film About Love and Fungi (Rotterdam, New Directors/New Films, Gotham Awards nominee), Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine (SXSW, Edinburgh Iff, Gotham Awards nominee) and Devyn Waitt’s Not Waving But Drowning (Sarasota Ff).
U.S. in Progress Wrocław is supported by the City of Wrocław, American Embassy in Warsaw and Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
For more information on the American Film Festival and the U.S. in Progress projects visit Here...
This year's program taking place at the New Horizons cinema presented 80 movies out of which 42 are Polish premieres, 3 are European premieres and 1 is a World Premiere. Among them 10 documentaries and 17 feature films competed for cash prizes in the audience-vote competitions.
The first competitive section - Spectrum ($10,000 audience award for the Best Narrative Feature) included films that have been well-received here in the U.S such as A Teacher by Hannah Fidell, Blue Caprice by Alexandre Moors, Afternoon Delight by Jill Soloway, Short Term 12 by Destin Cretton, The Spectacular Now by James Ponsoldt, and Bluebird by Lance Edmands. The second competition - American Docs ($5,000 audience award for Best Documentary Feature) had a selection of films depicting varied current issues in American society including Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia by Nicholas Wrathall, The Armstrong Lie by Alex Gibney, Our Nixon by Penny Lane, Northern Light by Nick Bentgen, Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton by Eric Slade and Stephen Silha and Before You Know It by Pj Raval.
The American Film Festival also ran a retrospective of Shirley Clarke and presented Polish premieres of high-profile films such as As I Lay Dying by James Franco, Quentin Dupieux’s Wrong Cops, Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein’s Lovelace, Much Ado About Nothing by Joss Whedon, Touchy Feely by Lynn Shelton, At Any Price by Ramin Bahrani, and Maladies by Carter. The festival also screened Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Sundance hit Don Jon along several U.S. in Progress participants and festival hits like I Used to be Darker by Matt Porterfier and Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Patrick Carbone. Lastly, a special section titled 'Masterpieces of American Cinema 90 Years of Warner Bros." showed 14 digitally-remastered productions by the studio from The Jazz Singer by Alan Crosland (1927) through A Clockwork Orange ,The Exorcist and Christopher Nolan’s Inception
The festival will close on October 27th with Steven Soderbergh's Emmy Award-winning film Behind the Candelabra.
All competitions titles:
Spectrum
American Milkshake by David Andalman, Mariko Munro, USA 2012, 82'
Blue Highway by Kyle Smith, USA 2013, 70'
Coldwater by Vincent Grashaw, USA 2013, 104'
The Spectacular Now by James Ponsoldt, USA 2013, 95'
Drinking Buddies by Joe Swanberg, USA 2013, 90'
Lily by Matt Creed, USA 2013, 85'
A Teacher by Hannah Fidell, USA 2013, 75'
Blue Caprice by Alexandre Moors, USA 2013, 93'
Pearblossom Hwy by Mike Ott, USA 2012, 78'
Afternoon Delight by Jill Soloway, USA 2013, 105'
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors by Sam Fleischner, USA 2013, 102'
Short Term 12 by Destin Cretton, USA 2013, 96'
The Cold Lands by Tom Gilroy, USA 2013, 100'
In a World... by Lake Bell, USA 2013, 93'
A Song Still Inside by Gregory Collins, USA 2013, 82'
Bluebird by Lance Edmands, USA 2013, 90'
American Docs
Big Easy Express by Emmett Malloy, USA 2012
Off Label by Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher, USA 2012
Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia by Nicholas Wrathall, USA, Italy 2013
Fall and Winter by Matt Anderson, USA 2013
The Armstrong Lie by Alex Gibney, USA 2013
Lenny Cooke by Ben Safdie, Joshua Safdie, USA 2012
Our Nixon by Penny Lane, USA 2013
Northern Light by Nick Bentgen, USA 2013
Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton by Eric Slade, Stephen Silha, USA 2013
Before You Know It by Pj Raval, USA 2012
U.S. Progress Projects
This year 6 projects in the final production stages were chosen to take part in the two-day workshop knows as U.S. in Progress Wroclaw (23-25 October, 2013). The event presents the American independent projects to European buyers, post-production houses and festivals in order to help them achieve completion and to foster the circulation and distribution of these films in Europe.
Selected from over 40 submission the chosen projects are the dramas Lake Los Angeles by Mike Ott (produced by Athina Rachel Tsangari), Happy Baby by Stephen Elliott (produced by Jessica Caldwell ) and Some Beasts by Cameron Nelson (produced by Ashley Maynor and Courtney Ware), crime story Wild Canaries by Lawrence Michael Levine (produced by Sophia Takal, Kim Sherman and McCabe Walsh), frontier black comedy Sun Belt Express by Evan Wolf Buxbaum (producers: Noah Lang and Iyabo Boyd) and Summer of Blood – a New York vampire comedy by director-producer Onur Tukel.
The prizes are awarded by a jury of professionals and include post-production services from European partner companies worth almost $60.000 and promotional services from other partners. Us in Progress’ partners are: Platige Image (Warsaw), Di Factory (Warsaw), Alvernia Studios (Krakow), composer Maciej Zielinski of Soundflower Studio (Warsaw), Soundplace (Warsaw), DCinex (Belgium), Vsi (Paris), Europa Distribution, Cicae and Cannes Marche du Film’s Producers Network.
U.S. in Progress Wrocław (formerly Gotham in Progress) was started in 2011 by the New Horizons Association and Black Rabbit Film. Previous films presented at the event included, among others: I Used To Be Darker by Matt Porterfield, American Milkshake by David Andalman (both shown at Sundance Ff in 2013), Hide Your Smiling Faces by Daniel Carbone (Berlinale Generation, Tribeca), Bluebird by Lance Edmands (Tribeca, Karlovy Vary), Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin’s Now, Forager: a Film About Love and Fungi (Rotterdam, New Directors/New Films, Gotham Awards nominee), Amy Seimetz’s Sun Don’t Shine (SXSW, Edinburgh Iff, Gotham Awards nominee) and Devyn Waitt’s Not Waving But Drowning (Sarasota Ff).
U.S. in Progress Wrocław is supported by the City of Wrocław, American Embassy in Warsaw and Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
For more information on the American Film Festival and the U.S. in Progress projects visit Here...
- 10/26/2013
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Glenn here. After decades of trying to attain the same critical and cultural awareness as feature films, it appears documentaries are now suffering from a case of too much of a good thing. We’re in a day and age where documentaries are so common that it’s impossible for the Academy’s documentary branch to keep up. Apparently 151 docos have been submitted - an average of three a week! - for this year’s Oscars and just like Diane Keaton, something’s gotta give.
Last year the Academy set up a secret online forum of sorts for documentary branchmembers so they could post recommendations of titles to help whittle down the number of contenders. “Nobody’s recommended that anthopological documentary about North Atlantic fishermen? Fine, I’ll just watch Blackfish.” I like the idea in concept, but Leviathan was highly acclaimed so what then? Admittedly, it would be nice...
Last year the Academy set up a secret online forum of sorts for documentary branchmembers so they could post recommendations of titles to help whittle down the number of contenders. “Nobody’s recommended that anthopological documentary about North Atlantic fishermen? Fine, I’ll just watch Blackfish.” I like the idea in concept, but Leviathan was highly acclaimed so what then? Admittedly, it would be nice...
- 10/10/2013
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
American Film Festival in Wroclaw to close with Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra; competition and programme highlights announced.Scroll down for competition titles
The fourth American Film Festival (Aff) in Wrocław, Poland is to feature 80 films comprising 42 Polish premieres; three European premieres and one world premiere.
The event, which is focused on independent Us cinema, will run from Oct 22-27.
It will open with Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive and close with Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra, both of which played in competition at Cannes.
Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra recently picked up 11 Emmy awards, including best television movie, best leading actor for Michael Douglas and best director.
Dutch experimental lutenist Jozef van Wissem will conduct a live performance of the soundtrack for Only Lovers Left Alive, which won the Cannes Soundtrack Award, on Oct 23 - the day after its opening night screening.
Competitions
A total of 10 documentaries and 16 narrative feature films will compete...
The fourth American Film Festival (Aff) in Wrocław, Poland is to feature 80 films comprising 42 Polish premieres; three European premieres and one world premiere.
The event, which is focused on independent Us cinema, will run from Oct 22-27.
It will open with Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive and close with Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra, both of which played in competition at Cannes.
Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra recently picked up 11 Emmy awards, including best television movie, best leading actor for Michael Douglas and best director.
Dutch experimental lutenist Jozef van Wissem will conduct a live performance of the soundtrack for Only Lovers Left Alive, which won the Cannes Soundtrack Award, on Oct 23 - the day after its opening night screening.
Competitions
A total of 10 documentaries and 16 narrative feature films will compete...
- 10/8/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The 7th annual Sydney Underground Film Festival, which runs this year on September 5-8 at the Factory Theatre, opens with a real bang when they will screen cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s latest cinematic odyssey, The Dance of Reality. This is Jodorowsky’s first film in over twenty years and is an imaginative and playful quasi-autobiography.
The rest of the four-day celebration is packed with more film oddities and excursions into surreal and transgressive territory. One particular highlight that is not to be missed is Don Swaynos’ incredibly crowd-pleasing comedy Pictures of Superheroes, about a slacker cleaning woman’s descent into an absurd world she can’t escape. Read the Underground Film Journal’s review of Pictures of Superheroes here.
Other twisted fiction films screening include Drew Tobias’s sick and twisted See You Next Tuesday, Cody Calahan’s apocalyptic Antisocial and Lloyd Kaufman’s highly-anticipated sequel Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol.
The rest of the four-day celebration is packed with more film oddities and excursions into surreal and transgressive territory. One particular highlight that is not to be missed is Don Swaynos’ incredibly crowd-pleasing comedy Pictures of Superheroes, about a slacker cleaning woman’s descent into an absurd world she can’t escape. Read the Underground Film Journal’s review of Pictures of Superheroes here.
Other twisted fiction films screening include Drew Tobias’s sick and twisted See You Next Tuesday, Cody Calahan’s apocalyptic Antisocial and Lloyd Kaufman’s highly-anticipated sequel Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol.
- 8/15/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
James Broughton turns 100 years old in November. Although the poet, filmmaker and writer passed away in 1999, it almost feels inaccurate to talk of him in the past tense. One of the biggest themes that runs through "Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton," the new documentary by Stephen Silha and Eric Slade is that there was (and is) a timeless element to his work. Whether it's his deceptively simple poetry or the emotional exuberance of some of his experimental short films, Broughton's work seems as much of the present as it does of the past. "In a way, his work is more relevant to the 21st century than it was to the 20th," Silha told Indiewire. "Big Joy" chronicles Broughton's personal journey as a member of the San Francisco Renaissance artistic movement and his individual achievements in the poetry and filmmaking fields. It also doesn't hesitate to show the various...
- 7/14/2013
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Emir Baigazin’s Harmony Lessons won the 39th Seattle International Film Festival’s Best New Director grand jury prize on Sunday [9] as top brass handed out jury and audience awards.Scroll down for full list of winners
The Siff 2013 Best Documentary grand jury prize went to Penny Lane’s Our Nixon and Lucy Walker earned a special jury prize for The Crash Reel, while Kyle Patrick Alvarez took the Best New American Cinema grand jury prize for C.O.G.
In the audience awards, Henk Pretorius’ Fanie Fourie’s Lobola won the Best Film Golden Space Needle Award and Morgan Neville’s Twenty Feet From Stardom took the corresponding documentary prize.
The Best Director Golden Space Needle Award went to Nabil Ayouch for Horses Of God, while best actor was awarded to James Cromwell for Still Mine and best actress to Samantha Morton for Decoding Annie Parker.
The Best Short Film Golden Space Needle Award was presented to [link...
The Siff 2013 Best Documentary grand jury prize went to Penny Lane’s Our Nixon and Lucy Walker earned a special jury prize for The Crash Reel, while Kyle Patrick Alvarez took the Best New American Cinema grand jury prize for C.O.G.
In the audience awards, Henk Pretorius’ Fanie Fourie’s Lobola won the Best Film Golden Space Needle Award and Morgan Neville’s Twenty Feet From Stardom took the corresponding documentary prize.
The Best Director Golden Space Needle Award went to Nabil Ayouch for Horses Of God, while best actor was awarded to James Cromwell for Still Mine and best actress to Samantha Morton for Decoding Annie Parker.
The Best Short Film Golden Space Needle Award was presented to [link...
- 6/9/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
New York -- James Broughton's mantra was "follow your own weird." Years before Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, or William S. Burroughs were starting the Beat Movement, artists like Broughton were already pushing the boundaries of art and literature during the postwar San Francisco Renaissance. In Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton, co-directors Stephen Silha, Eric Slade, and Dawn Logsdon take a celebratory approach towards the exploration of Broughton's life and work, which include such influential films as The Pleasure Garden (1953) and The Bed (1968). Through rare, archival footage and interviews with Broughton's friends and family members, including his last partner Joel Singer, his ex-wife Suzanna
read more...
read more...
- 4/28/2013
- by Joshua Stecker
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Iconic artist, filmmaker, and poet, James Broughton
It is more than appropriate that the Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton made its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival considering the documentary's subject, James Broughton can very well be considered a Godfather of independent film. More than that, he can be considered a pioneer of bizarre and expressive art that indirectly effects today's artists.
James Broughton is one of those names that, if you know it, marks you as a connoisseur of the obscure and cool. Broughton was a gay poet, filmmaker, and a shining example of West Coast weird. He embodied the life of the California bohemian and was a influential figure during the San Francisco Renaissance. In addition to that he influenced the Beat generation, and was considered a groundbreaking voice in the sexual revolution during the '60s and '70s.
Co-directed by journalist Stephen Siha and documentarian Eric Slade,...
It is more than appropriate that the Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton made its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival considering the documentary's subject, James Broughton can very well be considered a Godfather of independent film. More than that, he can be considered a pioneer of bizarre and expressive art that indirectly effects today's artists.
James Broughton is one of those names that, if you know it, marks you as a connoisseur of the obscure and cool. Broughton was a gay poet, filmmaker, and a shining example of West Coast weird. He embodied the life of the California bohemian and was a influential figure during the San Francisco Renaissance. In addition to that he influenced the Beat generation, and was considered a groundbreaking voice in the sexual revolution during the '60s and '70s.
Co-directed by journalist Stephen Siha and documentarian Eric Slade,...
- 3/27/2013
- by Dino-Ray
- The Backlot
Former reporter and Eric Slade was inspired by his mentor, filmmaker and poet James Broughton, for his first feature film What is it about? A chronicle of the iconoclastic life of gay poet, filmmaker, and spiritual visionary James Broughton, one of the defining voices of the sexual revolution, whose groundbreaking artistic celebrations of sexuality and the body influenced generations of the 1960’s and 70’s to profoundly embrace life and ‘follow your own weird’. About the filmmaker: I’m a director and producer based in Portland, Oregon. I attended Emerson College (I graduated in 1981) and lived in San Francisco for 15 years. My first feature documentary, Hope Along the Wind, The Life of Harry Hay premiered on PBS in 2001. It won the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, was nominated for a Bay Area Emmy Award for Best Documentary and received numerous Best Documentary Awards at festivals around the world (including the Seattle,...
- 3/6/2013
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
Tribeca Film Festival organizers on Wednesday announced 46 of the 89 feature films screening at the New York-set festival starting next month, including selections in the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film sections, as well as out-of-competition Viewpoints screenings.
"Big Men," a documentary about American corporations pursuing oil reserves in Africa, will serve as the opening night film for the World Documentary portion; "Bluebird," a small-town drama featuring "Girls" star Adam Driver, will kick-off the World Narrative slate. "Flex Is Kings," a documentary about Brooklyn street performers, is the Viewpoints opener. All three films premiere on April 18. The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 17 through April 28, with "Mistaken For Strangers," a documentary about The National, serving as the fest's opening night film.
"Our competition selections embody the quality and diversity of contemporary cinema from across the globe,” Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frederic Boyer said in a release. “The cinematic proficiency that...
"Big Men," a documentary about American corporations pursuing oil reserves in Africa, will serve as the opening night film for the World Documentary portion; "Bluebird," a small-town drama featuring "Girls" star Adam Driver, will kick-off the World Narrative slate. "Flex Is Kings," a documentary about Brooklyn street performers, is the Viewpoints opener. All three films premiere on April 18. The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 17 through April 28, with "Mistaken For Strangers," a documentary about The National, serving as the fest's opening night film.
"Our competition selections embody the quality and diversity of contemporary cinema from across the globe,” Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frederic Boyer said in a release. “The cinematic proficiency that...
- 3/5/2013
- by Christopher Rosen
- Huffington Post
The Tribeca Film Festival announced the first half of its 2013 movie slate today, including its World Narrative and Documentary Competition film categories, along with selections from the out-of-competition Viewpoints section, which highlights international and independent cinema. Festival organizers reviewed more than 6,000 submissions to select 89 feature-length films from 30 different countries for this year’s festival, which boasts 53 world premieres. “Our competition selections embody the quality and diversity of contemporary cinema from across the globe,” said Frederic Boyer, Tribeca’s artistic director. “The cinematic proficiency that harnesses this lineup is remarkable and we’re looking forward to sharing these new perspectives, powerful performances,...
- 3/5/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
Check out this exclusive clip from Steven Silha and Eric Slade's documentary "Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton," making its world premiere at SXSW on March 9. The film centers on pre-Beat filmmaker and poet Broughton, whose pansexual lifestyle in the midst of the post-war San Francisco Renaissance truly embodied his own credo: "Follow your own weird." Here's more from the SXSW programming notes:Years before the Beats arrived in San Francisco, the city exploded with artistic expressions – painting, theatre, film, poetry. At its center was the groundbreaking filmmaker and poet James Broughton. His remarkable story spans the post-war San Francisco Renaissance, his influence on the Beat generation, escape to Europe during the McCarthy years, a lifetime of acclaim for his joyous experimental films and poetry celebrating the human body, finding his soulmate at age 61, and finally, his ascendancy as a revered bard of sexual liberation.
- 3/5/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Filmmaker Stephen Silha says he grew up with ink in his blood and "Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton" was another story he needed to tell. Silha has worked in newspapers, for private foundations, non-profits, and the United Nations. He credits all of those experiences as an important background for the crazy intensity of filmmaking. His co-director Eric Slade has a lot more experience in long-form filmmaking and they were able to mesh their skills to create this film. What it's about: Pre-Beat poet melds poetry and sensuality in a life embracing experimental film, hippie play, and gay liberation. What else he wants audiences to know: "Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton" evolved and blossomed by our diverse team "following our own weird." The film combines interviews, animation, journals, and snippets from Broughton's 23 poetic and sensual films. We had lots of ideas and lots of poetry to work with,...
- 3/3/2013
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
South by Southwest (SXSW) is just one of many film festivals, we here at Sound On Sight cover yearly. The fest, which takes place every spring in Austin, Texas, began in 1987, and has continued to grow in size every year. The fest announced the first wave of films back in early January, and the lineup included some highly anticipated films such as The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Evil Dead, Downloaded and Spring Breakers. Now the full lineup has been announced, and it just might be one of the best lineups the festival has ever programmed.
SXSW takes place March 8-16 in Austin Texas. Here are just some of the films we are excited about.
Narrative Feature Competition – This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,191 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.
Awful Nice
Director/Screenwriter: Todd Sklar, Screenwriter: Alex Rennie
Estranged brothers Jim and Dave must travel to Branson together when...
SXSW takes place March 8-16 in Austin Texas. Here are just some of the films we are excited about.
Narrative Feature Competition – This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,191 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.
Awful Nice
Director/Screenwriter: Todd Sklar, Screenwriter: Alex Rennie
Estranged brothers Jim and Dave must travel to Branson together when...
- 2/1/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Some of the best films of the 2012/2013 calender year from Richard Linklater, Harmony Korine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Bujalski, Jeff Nichols, David Gordon Green, Shane Carruth and Joshua Oppenheimer are among the headliner names for the 2013 edition of the South by Southwest Film Festival. With a little over 100 plus film line-up (a whopping 2000+ titles were submitted), almost 70 are world premieres: there is the highly anticipated sophomore film (that has been on our radar since it first went into production) with M. Blash’s (The Wait), Joe Swanberg who makes SXSW his second home will premiere Drinking Buddies, veteran indie filmmaker John Sayles saddles in with Go For Sisters, and rounding out the Narrative Spotlight section we’ve got The Bounceback from Bryan Poyser, Loves Her Gun from Geoff Marslett along with titles we thought might break into Park City, but found an Austin home instead with Jacob Vaughan’s Milo and...
- 2/1/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
This morning, the Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) announced the 10 films selected to participate in its 2012 Ifp Documentary Lab, which takes place all this week in New York City. The slate for this eighth edition of the doc labs is very geographically diverse, with participants hailing from Washington, Kentucky and Berlin in addition to the usual indie strongholds of Los Angeles and New York City.
Each year, 20 indie films with budgets under $1 million — 10 documentary and 10 narrative — are selected for participation in the Ifp post-production labs, which gives filmmakers strategic help and guidance regarding the completion, marketing and distribution of their projects.
Commenting on the importance of the labs program, Ifp’s Executive Director Joana Vicente said, “The Labs are unique in our focus on guiding filmmakers to concretely and constructively plan for their films’ lives beyond post-production, and are tailored to maximizing their opportunities given the particular assets of each film.
Each year, 20 indie films with budgets under $1 million — 10 documentary and 10 narrative — are selected for participation in the Ifp post-production labs, which gives filmmakers strategic help and guidance regarding the completion, marketing and distribution of their projects.
Commenting on the importance of the labs program, Ifp’s Executive Director Joana Vicente said, “The Labs are unique in our focus on guiding filmmakers to concretely and constructively plan for their films’ lives beyond post-production, and are tailored to maximizing their opportunities given the particular assets of each film.
- 5/14/2012
- by Nick Dawson
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
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