Saturday, 3. June 2006, 03:53:17
coverage, horror, non-fiction, politics
...
NEW YORK TIMES, June 1, 2006: Jeannette Catsoulis,
"LONG KNIVES NIGHT / REPORTING FROM A RABBIT HUTCH: Indelible Portraits of Power's Absolute Corruption."
NEW YORK PRESS, May 31, 2006: Jim Knipfel, "LONG KNIVES NIGHT / REPORTING FROM A RABBIT HUTCH: Propaganda That Works."
TWITCHFILM, May 31, 2006: Todd Brown, "Europe's Last Dictatorship."
THE NEW YORKER, May 29, 2006: Reed Brody, "LONG KNIVES NIGHT."
NY POST, June 2, 2006: V.A. Musetto, "Say 'Da!' to Belarus Duo (LONG KNIVES NIGHT / REPORTING FROM A RABBIT HUTCH.)"
NY SUN, June 2, 2006: Nicolas Rapold, "An S.O.S. From A Former Soviet Republic."
THE REELER, June 2, 2006: S.T. VanAirsdale, "Screening Gotham (LONG KNIVES NIGHT / REPORTING FROM A RABBIT HUTCH)."
NERVE SCREENGRAB, June 1, 2006: Bilge Ebiri, "LONG KNIVES NIGHT / REPORTING FROM A RABBIT HUTCH." (scroll to bottom of page)
NOVOYE RUSSKOYE SLOVO, June 1, 2006: Oleg Sulkin, "LONG KNIVES NIGHT / REPORTING FROM A RABBIT HUTCH."
Thursday, 1. June 2006, 00:26:50
coverage, horror, politics, post-Communist world
...
". . .makes FAHRENHEIT 9/11 seem tepid and weak . . .a brutal and brilliant bit of filmmaking."
- Jim Knipfel, NY PRESS (
click here, then scroll down)
"Indelible portraits of power's absolute corruption. . .an astonishing diatribe. . .heaves with disturbing scenes of violence against innocent Belarussians. . .a primal howl of outrage and disgust."
- Jeannette Catsoulis, NY TIMES (
link)
See also:
Todd Brown's notice on TwitchFilm.net (
link)
Buy tickets now. Please.
Wednesday, 31. May 2006, 03:28:52
non-fiction, post-Communist world, serious, horror
...
LONG KNIVES NIGHT and REPORTING FROM A RABBIT HUTCH are almost certainly the most important films the Pioneer will show in 2006. They may be the most important films the Pioneer has ever scheduled.
Recently, you have read and seen coverage of the “election” in Belarus. You have heard that the election's aftermath pits Russia against the West: Russia has endorsed Alexander Lukashenko's return for a third term, while a rather unified West, including both the European Union and the United States, have called it fraud.
You have also heard of rebellion, hunger strikes, and protesters jailed for “hooliganism.”
But who is this Alexander Lukashenko?
Why is he called “the last dictator in Europe?”(1)
What on earth has he done?
With fury and agony, LONG KNIVES NIGHT and REPORTING FROM A RABBIT HUTCH approach these questions. Writer / director Victor Dashuk has risked imprisonment and abuse – common for dissidents, as you will see in the films – to depict and attack Lukashenko's rise to authority. The films are raw, vicious, and totally one-sided: there is not a frame of sympathy for Lukashenko in these films. Dashuk is outrageously cynical, attacking Lukashenko himself, but also comparing Belarussians' prostrations before authoritarian leaders with Satanists' prostrations before their dark master.
You could easily blow off these movies. We're showing them in the wrong format (one was made on celluloid, but we're projecting both from a rather low quality video master smuggled out of Minsk). They're not a single feature, but rather two films of odd length – though the latter is a sequel to the former, and, combined, they are loosely feature length. They're not brand new. They are political propaganda.
But don't blow off these movies. Chew on them, react to them, fight with them, take them seriously. The situation they depict is certainly serious enough.
Buy tickets on our
front page. This is a very limited run. June 1-7, 9pm only.
And please, help spread the word. We've got nothing going for this, except for the films' importance.
VILLAGE VOICE review, by Mike AtkinsonNEW YORKER review, by Reed Brody (scroll down)(1)
This is a common phrase. A few recent usages include the March 5, 2006 editorial from the INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE; and the article “The EU and America put sanctions on Belarus's leaders,” THE ECONOMIST, March 24.
These films shown by the Pioneer on versions smuggled out of Belarus.
Presented with thanks to Zoya Rozin.
Saturday, 22. April 2006, 04:15:30
non-fiction, serious, site-specific cinema, filmmakers in person
...
The Pioneer continues its quest to be the geekiest movie theater on earth with next week's ALTERNATIVE FREEDOM, a sexy documentary about the free culture movement and open source software. It stars hot middle-aged men Lawrence Lessig and Richard Stallman. Though it also stars
DJ Danger Mouse, the man behind the "Gray Album" which fused the Beatles' White Album with Jay-Zee's Black Album.
And, yes, Lawrence Lessig himself will be in the house, for the 9pm show next Saturday the 29th. Ladies, please, don't throw your underwear.
Seriously, though, the free culture movement is really important.
Yes, we're charging a price for tickets.
Check it out.
Thursday, 13. April 2006, 04:47:28
silly, serious, site-specific cinema, non-fiction
...
"These comedy things are just not for me," a film critic recently wrote me. I had pitched him to cover our "Comedy Fortnight," a two-week extravaganza of hilarity kicking off tonight. I feel this is a strong and nuanced program. That is why I had pitched him. I figured he might see some value in the program, given his analytical skills for films proper as well as their surrounding contexts. True, he doesn't write about comedy much, and recently he has become ever more harsh and alarmist in his diagnoses of the world of cinema.
His harshness and alarm are appropriate. The grand political situation seems at least as bad, if not much worse, as it was under Nixon. Socio-economically, we are headed back past the era of Warren G. Harding, toward a new robber baron-based Gilded Age. Meanwhile, the dark shadows of media-consolidation and xenophobic paranoia pour over the land like a poisonous mist, transforming our perception through a newspeak that equates torture with freedom and democracy with occupation. (Or "independent film" with movies produced by major studios and monopolistic cable television concerns.)
So how on earth can I rationalize showing an absurd improvised mockumentary about paintball? Honestly, I don't know that I can. Do I mention something about relief? Escapism? Balance?
Politically, socially, BLACKBALLED: THE BOBBY DUKES STORY is indefensible.
But the movie's pretty damn funny.
And so are a lot of the other programs in our Comedy Fortnight.
doom spreads
nothing is funny
i crack up
The Comedy Fortnight program is
here.
Thursday, 16. February 2006, 00:04:50
politics, serious, silly, site-specific cinema
...
Bush's brain got split in half today. One half arrived at the Pioneer, and the other half is stuck somewhere in New Jersey.
More precisely, the two cans of a 35mm print of the movie BUSH'S BRAIN were separated as they journeyed across the U.S. over the last few days. New tracking info showed up today, coinciding with delivery of the first half to the Pioneer. The other half, apparently, is
somewhere in New Jersey.
What did you think I meant?
BUSH'S BRAIN, as you may know, is a movie about
Karl Rove, the political operative widely credited with turning the derelict scion of a politically powerful oil family into a viable political candidate. This coming Monday, we're showing the movie as an "Un-President's Day" screening, reflecting our rather queasy feelings toward that holiday at the moment.
The
Billionaires for Bush, an over-the-top yet earnest political theatre troupe, will co-present the screening, at which they will also screen their own film "Billionaires Love Karl Rove." The Billionaires are bringing some very special guests, including Bush's Brain "Karl Rove" himself (Tony Torn), as well as Bush's Heart "Dick Cheney" (Ron Kidd). We also look forward to welcoming a number of unannounced, undercover CIA, NSA, and FBI agents.
"Rove" will present a copy of THE SATANIC BIBLE, by Anton Lavey, to the best Karl Rove impression.
As "Dick Cheney" will attend the screening, bulletproof vests and facemasks are recommended.
Meanwhile, follow the confused journey of Bush's Brain's derelict half, by
clicking here. We do expect both halves here well in time for the screening.
Buy tickets here.
Friday, 6. January 2006, 22:51:57
coverage, non-fiction, serious, New York City
Another strong review / feature article on director Peter Josyph.From
Downtown Express.
LIBERTY STREET: ALIVE AT GROUND ZERO opens Thursday, January 12.
Get tickets here.
Monday, 2. January 2006, 17:47:35
non-fiction, New York City, politics, serious
...
Not this week, but next, we're opening
LIBERTY STREET: ALIVE AT GROUND ZERO.
Yes, another September 11 movie.
But no, not just another September 11 movie.
Check out
Phil Hall's review in FILM THREAT.
Opens January 12.
Tickets available on
the Pioneer front page
Thursday, 10. November 2005, 04:56:35
politics, Latin America, non-fiction, serious
This evening - Thursday November 10 - the Pioneer returns to Colombia for LA SIERRA, a documentary portrait from that country's burning ground. Exactly a week later, we travel north to Haiti (and beyond) with
ARISTIDE and the Endless Revolution.
Superficially, at least for a gringo like me, the two films have a lot in common. Both are passionate, politically charged documentary portraits. Both are clearly hard fought portraits made by filmmakers portraying a land with which they are fascinated but to which they are foreign. Both are set in Latin American countries that have endured political and military chaos for decades.
But despite those superficial similarities, the differences are much deeper. Most obviously of course Colombia and Haiti are radically different places - one a continental, mountainous country, whose main language is Spanish, while the other is an island nation whose main language is Creole, a pidgin language formed from shards of French and West African languages. And of course the histories of the two countries are radically different. And on and on.
The two films' approaches to their subjects are also radically different, though in an instructive way. LA SIERRA is one of those films that sort of moves in and lives with the characters. You get to know their personal rhythms, their flaws, their quirks. Their favorite weapons. The film doesn't really take sides in their conflicts, it just observes. (That is, I admit, if memory serves; I saw the film quite some time ago.) ARISTIDE, on the other hand, is advocacy. After ARISTIDE, I didn't feel like I knew Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the twice deposed dictator of Haiti, as a man. I knew him as a cause. The middle ground, I suppose, would be a film like THE PRIVATE ARCHIVES OF PABLO ESCOBAR, which we showed a bit over a year ago. There, you knew Escobar's causes - philanthropy and social welfare as well as dealing cocaine - but you also got to know him as a man who liked to waterski.
Both films have their merits. It will be interesting to see the reactions. Given the breadth of human portrait in LA SIERRA, I don't really expect all that many people to be upset after the film. I think it's more a film that moves people as people, while they relate to the film's characters. But after ARISTIDE, that advocate film, I think we'll see some tempers flare.
LA SIERRAVillage Voice reviewNY Times review (registration required)Thanks to our friends at Cinema Tropical, Slamdance, and First Run for their help getting the word out on LA SIERRA.
ARISTIDE and the Endless Revolution(opens next week)
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