This past year, I enviously read reports from the TriBeCa and San Francsico Film Festivals about Adam Curtis' documentary on the rise of fundamentalism, The Power of Nightmares. Reviews of the film were tantalizing, but despite demand, the film never saw a theatrical release in this country. I was able to catch Curtis' four-part look at the impact of psychoanalysis on our culture, The Century of The Self, when it played a few months back at the Cinema Village, and I found the film to be an utterly compelling film of ideas about the way in which our culture of self-examination has morphed into the perfect, self-centered delivery system for consumerism and greed. It only made me long to find The Power of Nightmares.

Well, I finally found it. This may not be news to the rest of you, but the entire film, all three chapters, are available for legal download at archive.org. This is great news, and the files are downloading right now. Why didn't anyone tell me? Oh internet, how sweet you are!

...See You Next Spring!

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Ah, Florida! It’s been a great week. I finally got down to Sarasota to get situated and start work on the Film Festival. I also had a chance to work with our team on the Festival’s big fundraiser for the year; The Sarasota Film Festival Career Tribute to Kevin Bacon.

Kevin Bacon speaks to the crowd at the Tribute

These past couple of weeks, I have been pretty much holed up in Brooklyn, working from home, getting started on my work for The Sarasota Film Festival. I will be moving to Florida in the next couple of weeks, so I have been bunkering a bit, trying to frequent my favorite local places, just taking in autumn in my neighborhood. As 5th Avenue has grown and changed over these past few years, I find myself staying in Brooklyn more and more often; There is so much to do here, so many options, I don't want to leave. Of course, the jewel in the crown of my admittedly provincial lifestyle is the Brooklyn Academy of Music's BAMcinématek, which has been the heartbeat of film in Brooklyn since it opened in 1999 (sorry Williamsburg). In Toronto, I was lucky enough to meet Florence Almozini, the BAMcinématek's Film Curator, at a dinner, and having talked to her has only made her fine work feel more the result of an singular, curatorial intelligence. We are lucky to have her.

Next week, Florence has assembled an outstanding Tribute to Gena Rowlands, which includes some of the Rowland's best films. I am most excited for the collaborations with her late husband John Cassavettes not included in the indispensible Criterion Box Set* (a new print of Love Steams? I'll be there!). This series also represents a chance to catch her in conversation with Peter Bogdanovich next Thursday, November 10th after a screening of her astonishing performance in A Woman Under The Influence. I think Bogdanovich is a great choice, not only because he is the epitome of the witty, insider historian, but having just watched The Last Picture Show on DVD last night, he seems to be a filmmaker in tune with the emotional complexity on display in Rowland's performances. There's no place like home....

No Center Aisle, But You Get Used To It: The BAM Rose Cinemas

* The John Cassavettes: Five Films Box Set is truly amazing, and if you haven't seen it or Cassavettes' films before, I couldn't recommend it more highly. It is the pinnacle of Criterion's work, and looking at their catalogue, that is no faint praise.