I've thoroughly enjoyed all the films that I've caught so far and I've been very impressed with the range of programming. As an Arts lover, it's been an embarrassment of riches and there are simply too many good films on offer.
The Tribute to Melvyn Bragg series has been a real eye-opener. Unfortunately, I missed the Masterclass with Melvyn Bragg, but the films themselves have all been fantastic. Bragg made some 750 documentary portraits of artists over a 33-year period for the BBC's The South Bank Show. Most were shot on film and he is a terrific interviewer.
Norman Mailer and Harold Pinter are articulate and engaging as you'd expect. The conductor Sir John Barbirolli is lively and fascinating to watch in action. He manages a rare interview with Ingmar Bergman, who I must admit I'd never seen before, and he offeres great insights into his own films. Francis Bacon was an oddity - not very eloquent, and increasingly drunk as the show progresses - but Bragg helps him along with smart questions that elicit Bacon's full agreement. Strangely, he completely glosses over Bacon's frank admission "I like men!" as that show was done in the 80s. Bragg's own brilliant editing does a fine job of drawing out the meaning of Bacon's work by showing them alongside their subjects or comparable photographs.
Speaking of Bergman, Isabella Rosselini, the daughter of the other Bergman (Ingrid) is profiled in Isabella Rossellini – My Wild Life and we get her personal take on the highs and lows of her career. Other films about film featured at the festival include portraits of Milos Forman (Milos Forman, années 60), Luchino Visconti (The Life and Times of Count Luchino Visconti) and Elia Kazan (A Letter to Elia). But the revelation is Hollywood Chinese which goes into the long and embarrassing history of Chinese exclusion in American cinema. It's astounding to see clips from The Curse of Quon Gwon, a 1916 silent film made by Chinese-Americans before all Chinese characters soon came to be replaced by white actors in yellowface. Almost a century later, Chinese people and Asians are number in the millions everywhere and yet are still all but invisible onscreen.
Of the many music films, I quite enjoyed Arthur Rubinstein, a profile of the great Polish pianist. He was a great talent and fluently multilingual - English, French and Spanish. Unfortunately my French is dismal and the subtitles were in French. Nonetheless, the music is exceptional and one really gets a sense of his muscular Romanticism. The films honouring three extraordinary singers who passed away (Joan Sutherland: the Reluctant Primma Donna, Lena Horne: In Her Own Voice, Maureen Forrester: La Diva En Hiver) last year remind us of what great singing really is.
Music films you can still catch this weekend include Django Reinhardt, Cab Calloway: The Dandy of Harlem, To Russia with Jazz: Benny Goodman in the USSR, and a probing look at one of the all-time great conductors Traces to Nowhere - The Conductor Carlos Kleiber.
But whatever your interests, you should definitely try to see whatever you can this weekend at FIFA. You'll be glad you did.
http://www.artfifa.com/
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Additional screenings
Screening 154 | Sunday, march 27 | 1.30 p.m.
Cinéma ONF
LE PAVILLON ALLEMAND DE BARCELONE (C)
France/Stan Neumann/2009/26 min/F
LIONESS AMONG LIONS – THE ARCHITECT ZAHA HADID (HZ)
Allemagne/Horst Brandenburg/2009/58 min/A
(reprise, screenings 95, 137)
Screening 176 | Sunday, march 27 | 6.30 p.m.
5e salle de la Place des Arts
POET ON THE STONE: IZUMI MASATOSHI (C)
Japon/Kenji Hayashi/2010/58 min/JA, STA
THE YEAR OF ANISH KAPOOR (C)
Royaume-Uni, États-Unis, Pays-Bas/Matthew Springford/2009/55 min/A, STF
(reprise, screenings 15, 40)
Screening 181 | Sunday, march 27 | 9 p.m.
Musée d’art contemporain
À TRAVERS LE CRISTAL D’ALAN GLASS (HZ)
France, Mexique/Tufic Makhlouf Akl/2009/53 min/F, A, ES, STF
NIKI DE SAINT PHALLE ET JEAN TINGUELY, LES BONNIE AND CLYDE DE L’ART (C)
France/Louise Faure, Anne Julien/2010/55 min/F, A, STF
(reprise, screenings 86, 143)
Les matinées du Festival
Screening 182 | Friday, march 18 | 3.30 p.m.
Musée des beaux-arts
PARIS, THE LUMINOUS YEARS (C)
États-Unis|Perry Miller Adato|2010|116 min|A
(reprise, screening #116)
Screening 175 | Sunday, march 27 | 6.30 p.m.
Musée des beaux-arts
SUR LES TRACES DE MARGUERITE YOURCENAR (C)
Canada | Marilù Mallet | 2010 | 82 min | F
(reprises, screenings 6 & 77 & 150)
Screening 183 | Sunday, march 27 | 9 p.m.
Université Concordia – Cinéma J.A. De Sève
BAUHAUS – MODEL AND MYTH (C)
Allemagne | Niels Bolbrinker, Kerstin Stutterheim | 1998-2009 | 103 min | A, DE, STA
(reprises, screenings 2 & 49 & 149)
Screening 126 | Saturday, march 26 | 1.30 p.m.
Cinémathèque québécoise – Salle Fernand-Seguin
MAKE NO LITTLE PLANS: DANIEL BURNHAM AND THE AMERICAN CITY (HZ)
États-Unis/Judith McBrien/2010/57 min/A
NEW BEIJING – REINVENTING A CITY (HZ)
Australie/Georgia Wallace-Crabbe/2009/53 min/CM, STA
(reprises, screening 25 & 153)
Screening 133 | Saturday, march 26 | 4 p.m.
Cinémathèque québécoise – Salle Fernand-Seguin
LET’S DANCE / BROADWAY GOES HOLLYWOOD (7e)
France/Clara Kuperberg/2009/52 min/A, STF
JEAN PAUL GAULTIER OU LES CODES BOULEVERSÉS (C)
France/Farida Khelfa/2010/52 min/F
(reprises, screening 11 & 46 & 166)
Screening 140 | Saturday, march 26 | 6.30 p.m.
Cinémathèque québécoise – Salle Fernand-Seguin
LES ENSORTILÈGES DE JAMES ENSOR (HZ)
France, Belgique/Nora Philippe, Arnaud de Mezamat/2010/60 min/F
DIX FOIS DIX (C)
Canada/Jennifer Alleyn/2011/52 min/F
(reprises, screening 104 & 121)
Screening 148 | Saturday, march 26 | 9 p.m.
Cinémathèque québécoise – Salle Fernand-Seguin
THE MAGUS (AM)
Canada/Jaimz Asmundson/2011/12 min/SD
OLAFUR ELIASSON: SPACE IS PROCESS (HZ)
Danemark/Jacob Jørgensen, Henrik Lundø/2010/77 min/DA, F, STA
(reprises, screening 45 & 157)
Screening 156 | Sunday, march 27 | 1.30 p.m.
Cinémathèque québécoise – Salle Fernand-Seguin
PARIS, LES ANNÉES LUMINEUSES (C)
États-Unis/Perry Miller Adato/2010/104 min/F
(reprises, screenings 53 & 80)
Screening 164 | Sunday, march 27 | 4 p.m.
Cinémathèque québécoise – Salle Fernand-Seguin
GORDON SHEPPARD (HZ)
Canada/Francine Pelletier/2010/86 min/F, A, STF
(reprise, screening 59)
Screening 172 | Sunday, march 27 | 6.30 p.m.
Cinémathèque québécoise – Salle Fernand-Seguin
MTL PUNK – LA PREMIÈRE VAGUE / THE FIRST WAVE (HZ)
Canada/Érik Cimon, Alain Cliche/2010/46 min/F, A, STF
KARKWA – LES CENDRES DE VERRE (HZ)
Canada/Nathanaël Le Scouarnec/2010/51 min/F
(reprises, screenings 76 & 105 & 147)
Screening 163 | Sunday, march 27 | 4 p.m.
Cinémathèque québécoise – Salle Claude-Jutra
BREAKING BOUNDARIES: THE ART OF ALEX MASKET (HZ)
États-Unis/Dennis Connors/2009/18 min/A
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (C)
France, Belgique/Jean-Michel Vecchiet/2010/52 min/F, A, STA, STF
(reprises, screenings 94 & 134 & 174)
Screening 178 | Sunday, march 27 | 9 p.m.
Cinéma ONF
LE PAVILLON ALLEMAND DE BARCELONE (C)
France/Stan Neumann/2009/26 min/F
LIONESS AMONG LIONS – THE ARCHITECT ZAHA HADID (HZ)
Allemagne/Horst Brandenburg/2009/58 min/A
(reprises, screenings 95 & 137 & 154)
Screening 180 | Sunday, march 27 | 9 p.m.
Goethe-Institut
JOANN SFAR (DESSINS) (C)
France/Mathieu Amalric/2010/90 min/F
COMIC BOOKS GO TO WAR (C)
Italie/Mark Daniels/2009/67 min/A
(reprises, screenings 28 & 55)
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