the traveler's resource guide to festivals & films
a FestivalTravelNetwork.com site
part of Insider Media llc.
Interviews
Mighty Movie Podcast: Quentin Dupieux on Rubber
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Interviews
- Published on Friday, 01 April 2011 19:23
- Written by Daniel Persons
Yes, RUBBER was released theatrically on April 1st. No, it's not some kind of a joke -- I've seen it, I know. It's actually a film about a tire that gains consciousness in the middle of the desert, finds it has the power to destroy objects and animals (including the human kind) with its mind, and then goes on to wreak fear and destruction amongst the inhabitants of a small motel. That director Quentin Dupieux (a.k.a. electro musician Mr. Oizo) goes ahead and has characters regularly address the audience -- both in the actual auditorium and on the screen (the latter are placed on a hilltop and conveniently provided binoculars to watch the action) -- then gives Wings Hauser possibly his best role to date as one particularly cantankerous spectator, and did it all with a bare-bones crew (Dupieux wrote, directed, composed (with Gaspard Augé) and photographed using the Canon 5D, the same digital still camera used for TINY FURNITURE) on a short schedule (less than one year from conception to final cut), only adds to the rarefied nature of the entire project. But have no doubt: It exists, and it's pretty damn cool.
Click on the player to hear my interview with Dupieux.
{enclose http://media.blubrry.com/mightymoviepodcast/m.podshow.com/download_media/26081/episodes/275263/mightymovie-275263-04-01-2011.mp3}
Tanna Frederick is Jaglom's "Queen of the Lot"
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Interviews
- Published on Thursday, 24 March 2011 02:49
- Written by James Van Maanen
Actress Tanna Frederick, Henry Jaglom's latest muse, shares her thoughts and experiences on Queen of the Lot, Hollywood Dreams and more. Recently Frederick got on the phone, and went into the process of making this and other Jaglom films. This vivacious red-head could not have been more gracious, 
charming and clear-headed.
JV: There’s a scene in Queen of the Desert in which Noah [Wyle] says that your character seems needy and sweet, etc., but that you are really very competent, strong and clear-headed (something like that).
TF: Yep, that's pretty much what he says.
JV: And then, in the faux-dead body scene, we see this exhibited in spades. It reminded me somewhat of how Naomi Watts handled that wonderful scene in Mulholland Drive. It’s a side of you we haven’t seen before (I haven’t anyway). How did that scene play for you?
TF: Wow -- Naomi Watts and Mulholland Drive! Thank you!
JV: Well, I know Queen of the Lot and that scene are not up to David Lynch-level, but there is a resemblance -- and a good one.
Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley Can Be Seen On Big Screens In 3-D
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Interviews
- Published on Sunday, 20 March 2011 23:10
- Written by Brad Balfour
Just before St. Patrick's Day, Dance Lord Michael Ryan Flatley held court at the Regency Hotel with a small set of select journalists and waxed on about his career of breaking boundaries and a few bones. The boisterous 52-year-old became internationally known for creating and performing in the Irish dance-based shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames and Celtic Tiger.
Born on July 16th, 1958, in Chicago, this Irish-American took traditional Celtic step dancing beyond its traditions and established an international audience for the form. First, he created a dance portion for touring with the Chieftains, the legendary Irish folk-rock group. Then as an actor, choreographer and musician, this dancemeister extended the idea into several long-form shows that has made him one of the richest men in Ireland.
This occasional television presenter has now memorialized his current long-running show in a film, Lord of the Dance 3D. The movie theatrically debuted in New York this week for a limited run. Filmed during Flatley's return tour in the fall of 2010, it features new sets, costumes, performers, state-of-the-art lighting, pyrotechnics and projections.
Actors Rashida Jones and Chris Messina Entangle in Monogamy
- Details
- Parent Category: Film and the Arts
- Category: Interviews
- Published on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 17:47
- Written by Brad Balfour
![Rashida Jones [Photo by Brad Balfour]](/images/stories/2011/03/rashida-jones.jpg "Rashida Jones [Photo by Brad Balfour]")
When it debuted at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, Monogamy seemed more like a fiction film done documentary style than a highly stylized indie feature. No wonder, for director Dana Adam Shapiro had done a highly stylized doc, Murderball, as a sports action feature. And it snagged an Oscar nom in 2006 -- deservedly so.
In Monogamy, actors Rashida Jones and Chris Messina portray a couple, Nat and Theo, grappling with the very meaning of that word. Interfering with their relationship is Theo's obsession with a woman he has been stalking from a distance behind his camera lens.
A professional wedding photographer, he now spices up his business with this racier assignment (a stalker-for-hire) and finds an irresistible muse (Meital Dohan) in this fetching blonde who engages in sexually compromised situations. Though framed as a suspense story, the film is essentially about long-term relationships and what can preserve or destroy them.
