Posts Tagged ‘film’
‘October Baby’ Is An Honest-to-Goodness Portrayal of Discovery, Abortion and Forgiveness
Posted by Lorin Drinkard / Tuesday, March 20th, 2012
Jason (Jason Burkey) comforts his childhood friend Hanna (Rachel Hendrix) after she learns the disturbing truth of her past in October Baby. / Photo courtesy of Lovell/Fairchild Communications.
“October Baby”
After winning Best Fiction Feature at last year’s Red Rock Film Festival, “October Baby” hits the big screen this Friday, March 23, packing a big message: every life is beautiful.
20th Annual Environmental Film Festival
Posted by Geoff Nelowet / Friday, March 9th, 2012
Graph | Shutterstock
Watch movies for a cause.
The 20th annual Environmental Film Festival is back for a milestone year, and will likely be presenting their biggest and most star-studded event yet. The 20th anniversary Festival will present 180 films, including 93 Washington, D.C., United States and World premieres, from 42 countries. The crux of the festival takes place in the DC area with a retrospective of the work of Academy Award-nominated director Lucy Walker, who will screen her latest film, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom. Iconic filmmaker Ken Burns will also be in the area presenting his new documentary, The Dust Bowl.
But the festival is not driven by its star power — this is an event for and about environmental awareness. The festival directors note:
”Growing awareness of the critical role that the environment plays in human health has inspired the theme of the 20th anniversary. The water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe are all essential to human life. The effects of toxins and pollutants on the human life support system can be disastrous to our health. Our films address the complex relationship between health and the environment with the warning that whatever we do to the environment we do to ourselves.”
So whether you’re a film or environmental enthusiast — or just looking for something to do, come out and enjoy a few movies by internationally recognized filmmakers.
The 20th annual Environmental Film Festival will start showing films and documentaries across the Washington DC area on Tuesday, March 13. The venues for the viewings change regularly. Find the schedule here. Tickets are typically free.
DC Independent Film Festival is Just Around the Corner
Posted by Geoff Nelowet / Friday, February 24th, 2012
Shutterstock/Noel Powell, Schaumburg
The DC Independent Film Festival is a non-profit event that has been going strong for 13 years. It’s the longest-running DC film festival, and they’re back again this year beginning this coming Wednesday.
Not just for cinephiles, the DCIFF presents cutting edge features, documentaries and short films on a variety of subjects from across the world, representing a large assortment of countries and cultures. There is something for everyone at the festival, whether you’re an avid film enthusiast or a casual movie-goer. And if sitting and watching isn’t your thing, the DCIFF hosts seminars and workshops on a wide range of film-related topics.
The DCIFF, though, was not conceived solely for the viewer experience. The festival believes that they offer independent filmmakers opportunities for their voices to be heard in a way that no other festival can provide, and they state that the festival was created to “nurture” independent films. The independent filmmaker players an integral role in the development and maintenance of this event, and the festival functions as a chance for filmmakers to enjoy their own works on the work of their peers.
The Festival is from Wednesday, February 29 – 7:00pm to Sunday, March 4 – 11:30pm at the US Navy Heritage Center off Pennsylvania Ave. Each film program is $10 or $7, depending on the screening room. Special events are $12-$16. Filmmakers will be available for a post-screening discussion for almost all our programs. The full schedule can be found here.
New in January: Music, Book & Film
Posted by Rebekah Lowe / Thursday, January 5th, 2012
MUSIC
‘Fallen Empires’
Courtesy of Potomac Books Inc.
Over five years have passed since Snow Patrol barged onto the scene with “Chasing Cars,” the band looks to be more musically adventurous than ever before on their latest album. Release date: Jan. 10.
Book
‘Gone at 3:17: The Untold Story of the Worst School Disaster in American History’
Approximately 300 children and teachers died in 1937, when a school in New London, Texas, exploded. But this tragedy remains little-known. Brown and Wereschagin delve into every aspect of the disaster. Release date: Jan. 31.
3D Nostalgia
‘Beauty and the Beast’ in 3D
Disney gives the 3D treatment to yet another of its classic films. “Beauty and the Beast,” arguably Disney’s finest animated achievement, shines amid the typical dearth of winter movies. Release date: Jan. 13.
December’s Spotlight Festival, Movie & Book
Posted by Rebekah Lowe / Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
Courtesy of Harpercollins/It Books
Head out to the Dulles Expo Center from Dec. 9-11 to pick up handmade pottery, Christmas gifts and statement jewelry at Chantilly’s mega crafts festival. The event also includes live demonstrations from artists and special guest entertainers.
‘We Bought A Zoo’
Based on the true story of Benjamin Mee, single dad Matt Damon attempts to piece his family back together by purchasing a zoo in this family flick, hitting theaters on Dec. 23.
‘Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Volume 1’
Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt spearheaded the “Tiny Book” project, partnering with It Book and hitRECord, in which online submissions were selected, edited and compiled by Gordon-Levitt. The final collection hits bookshelves in December.
-Lorin Drinkard
(December 2011)
Posted by Rebekah Lowe / Friday, August 26th, 2011
Universial pictures (‘The change-up’); Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com (Lenny Kravitz)
(August 2011)
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, March 2nd, 2009
Nothing like a snow day to bring this area to a grinding halt, huh? (We know, Obama. We should toughen up).
Good thing it takes more than a few inches of scattered flakes to topple the interweb, or else we wouldn’t have been able to launch the latest Northern Virginia Magazine blog: Gut Check.
For our inaugural post, we decided to tackle the subject of food in film.
Confidence is high that many gastronauts are already foaming at the mouth in anticipation of this year’s “Julie & Julia” adaptation, an homage to that cackling culinarian Julia Child by amateur cook and pioneering gastro-blogger, Julie Powell.
And while most foodies love to clog chat boards with ebullient tributes to the fantasy dining depicted in flicks like “Big Night,” “Like Water for Chocolate,” and “Babette’s Feast” (random musings here, here and here), we’re infinitely more fascinated by those times cinema baits us with the meal-time equivalent of a Sunday drive (“Move along. Nothing to see here”) then straps us in for an emotional/psychological roller coaster that’s about to go off the rails.
Here, in no particular order, are a handful of dining sequences that illustrate what happens when the simple act of breaking bread breaks really, really bad:
1) The Untouchables: Deniro’s Al Capone espouses the virtues of America’s pastime while sending an indelible message to the weak links in his organization.
2) The War of the Roses: perhaps entertaining guests whilst actively pursuing the dissolution of one’s marriage is not the best idea. Skipping the fish course, on the other hand, projects sound judgment.
3) Alien: already paranoid space jockeys think they’re out of the woods following a harrowing scrape with a previously unknown species. At least until their parasitic antagonist makes the grandest of entrances by eviscerating John Hurt mid-celebratory meal.
4) The Whoopee Boys: Paul Rodriquez poses perhaps one of the greatest existential quandaries (“Do fish have balls?”) and defiles a Cornish game hen while channeling Eddie Murphy, all before dessert.
5) Parenthood: Nothing like having your battery-operated skeletons dragged out of the closet-or nightstand, as the case may be-in the middle of a big family gathering.
6) The Nutty Professor (remake): From grandma’s libidinous tendencies to rampant flatulence, Sherman Klump endures perhaps the most mortifying first date ever courtesy of his wildly dysfunctional family.
7) Donnie Darko: the candid exposition of sibling rivalry, distaste for all things Dukakis and ersatz expletives flying round the Darko table ensures you won’t catch this modern fairytale on Nick at Nite anytime soon.
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life: the real tragedy is that the ill-fated Mr. Creosote arrives too late to enjoy Eric Idle’s jolly dinner ditty.
9) Rushmore: I’ll have the pathos with a side order of sexual frustration
10) Borat: Because sometimes breaking the ice involves stepping on toes.
Did we miss any of your favorite epicurean train wrecks?
–Warren Rojas
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
19th and Wilson broadens its scene spectrum to go beyond the everyday industry
By Brian Truitt
Courtesy of 19th + Wilson
It takes more than just fancy computer software and a high-tech video camera to be the next Martin Scorsese. And it’s that extra something that Eric Espejo believes will make his independent Northern Virginia film-production company a success.
Founded by Espejo’s friend and fellow IT person Aaron Goodmiller in 2001, 19th and Wilson, Inc., brought Espejo on a year later as vice president, and the collaboration has resulted in a number of acclaimed short films. Two, the Scorsese spoofs “TechFellas” and “The Department,” have already been online hits, and the latest, the romantic horror “Love Story of Henry and Carol,” has been entered in the 21st Virginia Film Festival, to be held later this month in Charlottesville.
Written and directed by Espejo, an Ashburn resident who works for Microsoft when not moonlighting as a filmmaker, “Henry and Carol” is about a woman who plays pranks on her husband until one proves fatal—or mostly fatal. It took one day and one night to film in a house in Loudoun County’s Stone Ridge with a local cast and crew.
“Writers always have a notebook full of ideas, and that was one of them that just kept calling out to me to get written,” said Espejo, 38, who said he never considered a life in film until joining 19th and Wilson. “I realized I could do this for a living. I’m spending 12 hours a day researching stuff, and I don’t mind.”
While he and Goodmiller have thus far established sturdier footing in comedic territory, Espejo, for one, dreams of doing a supernatural flick someday soon like one of his influences, M. Night Shyamalan. Which is why they’re currently trying to scrounge up money and investors to film the full-length feature “Ghosts Don’t Exist.” They’ve signed on Richmond’s James Mercurio as an executive producer, whom Espejo said he hopes will give them some extra credibility and momentum in collecting the $100,000 needed to greenlight the movie.
“Sometimes we even debate with shooting it for $50,000. What happens there, though, is you start to cut costs and have to find a really good crew for cheap,” said Espejo, who added that he recently had the chance to meet Scorsese at the Kennedy Center Honors.
So what is that key that takes an independent filmmaker to the directorial idol’s level?
“There’s a concrete answer to that question, and that is story,” Espejo said. “What makes you stand out is always the product. Whoever has the product, whoever has the story, is king. It’s story that separates the best and the rest.”
(October 2008)
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Monday, January 5th, 2009
Mount Vernon film site has Washington’s history reheating
By Brian Truitt
Mount Vernon’s basement is home to the iconic cornerstone seen in ‘National Treasure: Book of Secrets.’ Courtesy of Mount Vernon
It’s a good time to be George Washington. The founding father and first president is getting major props in acclaimed books and cable shows, and a blockbuster movie has fans storming his estate.
Now on DVD and Blu-ray disc, the sequel film “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” was released last December in theaters. The flick features scenes filmed at Mount Vernon, and dramatically increased the number of daily visitors to the homestead by the time February rolled around. Recognizing instant opportunity, the Vernon folks created a “National Treasure” tour, which spotlights a basement and 18th-century ice house never before open to groups.
The tours—organized four times a day and now offered through the end of October—bring audiences a sneak peek at what they saw in the movie, then take them down to a private road along the sea wall and below the mansion. There, they can see what Nicolas Cage’s Ben Gates sees as he sneaks onto the grounds for some face time with the president (Bruce Greenwood) during a high-profile party.
“For those who are movie fans, they get to see and hear about where the cameras were placed and what happened here. And for those people who just want to see parts of Mount Vernon they normally wouldn’t see, it’s a great tour,” said Nancy Hayward, the assistant director of education at Mount Vernon who oversaw last year’s filming.
In the movie, Gates lures the prez to Washington’s basement with a centuries-old map and leads him through a secret tunnel after initiating an iconic cornerstone. The cornerstone is there, but the rest? Well, that’s where the movie gets a bit historically hinky. There is no “secret tunnel,” per se: “Our director has a joke that he’s got people out digging it now,” Hayward said.
There are, however, tunnel-like structures, such as the one designed for runoff from the ice house. The nooks and crannies so enamored director Jon Turteltaub and his scouting crew that they returned to Hollywood, conceived the secret tunnel in the script and designed their own, as well as a recreation of the old basement. (Hayward said Mount Vernon gave the film crew permission to shoot in the actual basement, but the Tinseltown types were afraid of damaging the well-preserved area.)
Sure, Hayward and her co-workers have to remind people daily that the tunnel from the movie doesn’t really exist—but the small correction is worth getting kids interested in making history fun.
“They start with the movie, and then we suck them into what happened 200 years ago,” she said. “It was a nice marriage for us to get them … excited about the place.”
(August 2008)
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, August 8th, 2008
We’ve looked at books, music, crude drawings of teen girls and band geeks this week, and now let’s turn our attention to the screen with Friday Flicks. We’ll focus mostly on indie movies and what’s coming out the next Tuesday, and maybe even look at the occasional major release. (Some NoVa Poppers may, like me, be all about the animated “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” coming out next week. I’m hoping for a midnight showing on Thursday!)
The stoner comedy “Pineapple Express” has seen decent reviews so far, but no release gets higher this week than “Man on Wire.” The documentary follows the ballsy Frenchman Phillippe Petit, his obsession with the World Trade Center and his ensuing, death-defying act of walking between both towers on an illegally placed wire in 1974. He went from rooftop to rooftop, but what’s almost as impressive is what he had to do to get up there in the first place. The doc, which also makes for a mini-tribute to the grandiosity of those fallen skyscrapers, opens at the Cinema Arts Theatre in Fairfax, as does the psychological French thriller “Tell No One.” And at the AMC Loews Shirlington 7 in Arlington, the drama “Bottle Shock” stars Bill Pullman as an ex-attorney out to make the world’s perfect chardonnay, but in the meantime runs into financial trouble and has to repair the relationship with his estranged son (played by Chris Pine, who is Kirk in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming “Star Trek” film). Alan Rickman’s very bushy moustache may be worth the price of admission alone.
The DVD release list is highlighted by three TV shows on Tuesday: “The Wire – The Complete Fifth Season” wraps up the acclaimed HBO crime series with a focus on the Baltimore Sun, and of course Dominic West’s McNulty straddling the line between good cop and bad cop; “South Park – The Complete Eleventh Season” is the funniest volume yet, with the priceless “Imaginationland” trilogy and the “Guitar Queer-o” episode; and the third season of “Prison Break” hits on standard and Blu-ray DVD with a strike-shortened 13 episodes and Wentworth Miller in the pokey, needing to be broken out.
Have a great weekend! Let us know what’s up - email novapoppin@gmail.com.