http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/ THE BACK ROW MANIFESTO by Tom Hall en Copyright 2009 2009-07-02T04:10:45+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/werner_herzog_on_pbs_the_newshour/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/werner_herzog_on_pbs_the_newshour/ My evenings have become a ritual. Play with the boy at 5:00PM, watch PBS’ The NewsHour at 6:00 PM and start cooking dinner and putting the boy to bed starting at 7:00. By 9:00, I finally have time to unwind, watch a movie (rarely these days) or hop online and catch up with the world. But today, I was surprised to hear Werner Herzog’s voice coming from my TV. I looked up to see a scene from Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo playing underneath some typically brilliant comments about how the jungle in the film was more a “fever dream of a jungle… Interviews 2009-07-02T04:10:45+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/stranded_at_the_drive-in/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/stranded_at_the_drive-in/ Radio silence on this blog the past few weeks, but with the end of the Newport International Film Festival and a long overdue family trip to the midwest, I have been way out of the loop for the entire month of June. One of the highlights of the trip was visit to a newly refurbished Drive-in (yes, that’s right) in my hometown of Flint, MI. It was actually pretty funny as we learned two important lessons: —Although Michigan is in the Eastern time zone, it is hundreds of miles west of New York City. Therefore, dusk comes much, MUCH later… Personal, Screenings 2009-06-25T16:56:45+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/real_smashes_days-old_transfer_record_with_80_million_bid_for_ronaldo/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/real_smashes_days-old_transfer_record_with_80_million_bid_for_ronaldo/ It’s official… The team who shall not be named have accepted an £80 million bid for the Portugese whinger winger Cristiano Ronaldo. The bid arrived just days after Real spent a then-record £56 million on the Brazilian midfielder Kaká, topping the £47 million they spent on Zinedine Zidane back in 2001; the relative value of the Euro during each deal made Kaka’s transfer either the highest or second highest fee ever. But that’s all water under the bridge now that Real have bought Ronaldo for €93.6 million/ £80 million. That doesn’t even count Ronaldo’s salary, which will certainly exceed £120,000… Sport 2009-06-11T12:14:53+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/munyurangabo_heads_to_theaters/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/munyurangabo_heads_to_theaters/ The winner of the 2008 Best Narrative Feature Jury Prize at our very own Sarasota Film Festival, Lee Isaac Chung’s Munyurangabo finally lands a theatrical relelase this week at the Anthology Film Archives courtesy of our good friends at Film Movement. My thoughts on the film are up at Hammer To Nail, but I can’t say enough good things about this movie. I was recently reading Philip Gourevitch’s New Yorker article of May 4 (regsitration req’d), describing his recent return to Rwanda, more than a decade after the publication his incredible We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will… Film News, Screenings 2009-05-28T15:09:03+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/newport_2009_archival_gotham/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/newport_2009_archival_gotham/ Now that the line-up for the 2009 Newport International Film Festival has been announced, I can take a quick moment to post some thoughts on this year’s festival, which we’ve had a lot of fun assembling. We have a ton of filmmakers coming, lots of industry guests have decided to make the trip and I think it’s going to be a great time. One of the most exciting programs at this year’s festival is our Archival Gotham: NYC On Film program, which was curated by Anne Morra, Josh Siegel and Katie Trainor of the Museum Of Modern Art’s To Save… Festivals 2009-05-27T13:57:37+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/cannes_outsider_art1/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/cannes_outsider_art1/ The coverage of this year’s Cannes Film Festival has me thinking about the festival in my sleep; I’m plotting, scheming and dreaming of going next year (but don’t I say that every year?) Eugene Hernandez, a true champion of independent and international cinema, recently wrote a resonant defense of Cannes in indieWIRE that deserves more attention. Eugene writes: “What I’ve always loved about this fest is that people take cinema so seriously here. Movies ignite debates and stir arguments. Where else but in Cannes would moviegoers booing a film by a Danish art film director stir international media attention. Granted,… Festivals, Industry 2009-05-21T15:16:07+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/epiphany/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/epiphany/ A couple of nights ago, I was opening Kent Jones’ terrific (at least what I’ve read of it so far) book Physical Evidence: Selected Film Criticism when I stumbled upon this paragraph in the Introduction: “The pietistic strain in movie appreciation that makes a fetish out of moviegoing itself (and that consequently gets movies and the experience of watching them on big screens hopelessly confused) is doomed to a bittersweet finale, judging from the decreasing attendance figures and relative disinterest in the intellectual currents around cinema. Many writers are desperate for movies to mean something in the ‘national conversation’ that… Personal, Writing 2009-05-12T15:09:31+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/julia/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/julia/ My thoughts on Erick Zonca’s Julia are now up over at Hammer To Nail. It’s nice to be back there. Give a look and be sure to see the film, which is extraordinary. Reviews 2009-05-07T17:18:38+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/three_monkeys/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/three_monkeys/ (This post originally appeared in September, 2008; it has been modified. Three Monkeys opens today in New York City, courtesy of Zeitgeist Films) Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Three Monkeys is a scorching portrait of moral corruption and social decay, a haunting and indelible film that instantly moves to the top of my list as the best of this year’s crop. Following on the heels of his masterful Climates (which was named on this blog as the best film of 2006), Ceylan has maintained his sense of humor and his unmistakable style with this depiction of a small family that can’t seem… Reviews 2009-05-01T16:24:14+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/baby_got_blog/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/baby_got_blog/ Daddying and programming work has eaten up my writing time this week… more soon… (thanks to JM for the onesie. *ha*) Personal 2009-04-30T00:08:43+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/my_hometown/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/my_hometown/ Flint, MI is my hometown. I moved there when I was 6 years old and stayed through high school. My mom and step-dad still live there, my brother and his family just outside the city. It is a community that taught me about the issue of class (an almost taboo word in this country); our schools were integrated, and race was far less of a concern among my classmates than our disdain for the rich kids in the suburbs and at the private schools (well, some of them anyway…*ha*). My experience there has had a huge influence on my politics… Personal, Politics 2009-04-22T00:06:15+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/newport/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/newport/ No rest for the wicked. Even though it was announced last month, I haven’t had the opportunity to talk much about my latest job as Artistic Director of the Newport International Film Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. It has been a busy couple of weeks as Holly Herrick and I (along with the team at the festival) work to get the program completed, but things have been coming along nicely. Details will follow as soon as they are ready for public consumption, but we’re in great shape, particularly our partnership with MoMA’s To Save And Project Festival, which, in a… Festivals 2009-04-20T22:50:51+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/hillsborough/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/hillsborough/ This year marks the 20th anniversary of Hillsborough, Britain’s deadliest sporting disaster. 96 Liverpool Football Club fans died at Hillsborough Stadium on 15 April, 1989 - crushed to death against steel fencing. Thinking of the 96 today.... You’ll Never Walk Alone. Personal, Sport 2009-04-15T14:44:53+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/sarasota_2009_vod_mea_culpa/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/sarasota_2009_vod_mea_culpa/ This past January, I wrote about a press conference announcing the launch of the SXSW/ IFC partnership, a deal that saw IFC release four films on Video On Demand (VOD) simultaneous with their screenings at the SXSW Film Festival. At the time, I was deeply skeptical of the strategy and said as much right here on this blog: …On the surface of things, playing (a film already on VOD in my festival’s market) might make sense. But there are new, competing interests at play. The energy generated by a live event for an unknown film with little marketing that will… Festivals, Industry 2009-04-13T15:31:08+00:00 http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/sarasota_2009_victory_lap/ http://blogs.indiewire.com/twhalliii/archives/sarasota_2009_victory_lap/ The 2009 Sarasota Film Festival wrapped up last Sunday night and now, five days since the last frame of film passed through the projector, I am finally able to take a step back and get a little perspective. The odds were completely stacked against us this year, from the economic downturn to the massive turnover in staffing at the festival itself, but in the end, people came together and worked their asses off to not only pull us through, but to put on the best festival of which I have ever been a part. Every possible thing that could have… Festivals, Personal 2009-04-10T13:10:48+00:00