Bergman, Zvaganitsev, and L’Avventura
Eric Welles-Nyström writes about his adventures on Fårö, Sweden, i.e., Ingmar Bergman’s island, where he rode in Bergman’s old Volvo in the company of Russian director Andrey Zvaganitsev.
Features
Tribeca 2012: New York Stories
Daniel Guzmán discusses a quartet of New York-centric films that were screened as part of the Tribeca Film Festival.
Tribeca 2012: Spanish Language Films
Spanish language films dominated this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, both in the awards competition and in the headlines.
Jude Dry’s Tribeca Notebook
Jude Dry responds to the films she caught at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, including Tanya Wexler’s “Hysteria” and Julie Delpy’s “2 Days in New York.”
Tribeca 2012: Performing Arts Films
Sheila Kogan writes about “El Gusto,” “Ballroom Dancer,” and “Wagner’s Dream,” three performing-arts-related documentaries included at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Austin Notebook, Entry One: The Work of Art in the Age of Industrial Light & Magic
A pioneer of pre-digital visual F/X, Tom Smith showcased his work Thursday, April 19 at The University of Texas at Austin.
Reviews
Childhood’s End
French actor-director-screenwriter Maïwenn Le Besco’s “Polisse” opens on Friday, May 18 at IFC Center.
Still Cinema Enemy No. 1
A new digital print of the long-lost negative of Jean Renoir’s “Grand Illusion” stands to further solidify its place not only in cinema history, but in your heart as well.
Reading Sebald
Grant Gee’s new documentary “Patience (After Sebald)” is an homage to “The Rings of Saturn,” one of W.G. Sebald’s most beloved works.
Girls Just Want to Have Fornoyelse
Jannicke Systad Jacobsen’s “Turn Me On, Dammit!” exhibits all the post-feminist moxie of a teenaged, Scandinavian Lena Dunham.
Semi-Arresting Citizen
Cole Hutchison reviews “Citizen Gangster,” the true story of a Canadian veteran of Word War II who turns to a life of crime.
The Discreet Charm of Whit Stillman
A casual viewer of the work of Whit Stillman can intuit the deep and abiding love the director has for the characters in his films.
Interviews
Interview with Israeli Filmmaker and Scholar Avner Faingulernt
Cinespect speaks with Avner Faingulernt, who has overseen a program of new Israeli cinema from Gaza and Sderot at Maysles Cinema.
Q&A with Richard Peña on Film Society’s Turkish Cinema Showcase
Cinespect sits down with Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Richard Peña to discuss “The Space Between: A Panorama of Cinema in Turkey,” said to be the largest retrospective ever assembled in America on Turkish cinema.
Q&A with Laufey Guðjónsdóttir, Director of the Icelandic Film Centre
A conversation on Icelandic cinema, as Film Society of Lincoln Center brings the cinema of Iceland to New York City.
Executive Producer Barney Oldfield on NewFilmmakers
Barney Oldfield reflects on the past, present, and future of NewFilmmakers, an ongoing bi-coastal series that showcases films and videos often overlooked by traditional film festivals.
Q&A with Susanne Notman
Cinespect recently spoke with Susanne Notman, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Bermuda International Film Festival.
A Conversation with Producer Ted Hope
Jonathan Stromberg interviews producer Ted Hope about Indie Night at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the challenge of discovery after the digital filmmaking revolution.
From the Vault
A Fanatical Ode to “World on a Wire”
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Sci-Fi Noir Masterpiece “World on a Wire” is now available on DVD and Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection.
Vernal Growing Pains
Seasonal, generational, and cultural maturation occur in Yasujiro Ozu’s “Late Spring,” recently released on Blu-ray by the Criterion Collection.
Busby Berkeley Dreams in Technicolor
Whether you see “The Gang’s All Here” as a lavish musical classic, a psychedelic camp gem, or history’s most expensive war bond advertisement, you’re right!
Paradise Found
A beautifully restored version of “Children of Paradise” runs from March 9-27 at Film Forum.
Living Doll
“Air Doll,” showing Saturday at Japan Society, is a melancholy, whimsical fantasy in which an inflatable sex doll comes to life and embarks upon an existentialist journey.
Vengeance Is Hers
Matthew Minot-Scheuerman takes a look at François Truffaut’s 1968 film “The Bride Wore Black.”