Ahram Online: Virtual Cannes Market: Arab Cinema Centre and Telescope Film launch database of Arab films. “Within the Virtual Cannes Market’s events, and aiming to expand the scope of the Arab cinema’s exposure internationally, Telescope Film announced the launch of Arab Cinema Centre’s microsite. Arab Films and Where to Find Them! is the opening motto for the new microsite, as it serves as a comprehensive English-language guide to Arab cinema.”
films
Study Breaks: The Power Of ‘Selfilm’ Is Inventing A New Cinematic Subgenre
Study Breaks: The Power Of ‘Selfilm’ Is Inventing A New Cinematic Subgenre. “It’s 7 p.m. and you’re ready to binge, assuming that content exists solely to comfort, to backload worries and delay the confrontation with the dreary world outdoors. Although the newly prescribed lifestyle of a hermit may precipitate greater escapism, it also welcomes the opportunity for self-exploration. It is impossible to regard film and television without one’s identity in mind, especially when so much of our quarantined lives are defined by the latest Netflix show. In an attempt to categorize and demystify this situation, an obscure word has found its way into my everyday thoughts: selfilm.”
Variety: Studios and Movie Theaters Want to Reopen, but Coronavirus May Still Scramble Plans
Variety: Studios and Movie Theaters Want to Reopen, but Coronavirus May Still Scramble Plans. “From delaying ‘Tenet’ by two weeks to pushing the Oscars by two months, Hollywood is scrambling to adjust to a new reality. In the coronavirus era, it’s nearly impossible to predict what the world will look like next week, much less for the rest of the year and even into 2021. Because of this persistent fluidity, studios have been gripped by a new and growing sense of uncertainty.”
Coronavirus movie delays: New release dates for 2020 and 2021 blockbusters (CNET)
CNET: Coronavirus movie delays: New release dates for 2020 and 2021 blockbusters. “When the latest James Bond premiere was called off because of the coronavirus outbreak, it came as a shock. But that was just the first in a cascade of movie blockbusters being canceled or postponed, causing a huge reshuffle of the release schedule throughout 2020 and into 2021.”
Forbes: The American Black Film Festival Goes Online This Year
Forbes: The American Black Film Festival Goes Online This Year. “The American Black Film Festival will be taking place online only this year. The festival, overseen by ABFF Ventures LLC, has been running in person for the last 24 years. The annual fest usually draws 7,000 to 10,000 people to Miami Beach, but this year due to social distancing concerns and the coronavirus, the festival will take place on August 21-30, 2020… While it will be online only, the schedule will still boast studio premieres, conversation, panels, business of entertainment seminars and virtual networking events. ”
WCCO: Walker Art Center Unveils Online Archive Of 3 Decades’ Worth Of Filmmaker Interviews, Retrospectives
WCCO: Walker Art Center Unveils Online Archive Of 3 Decades’ Worth Of Filmmaker Interviews, Retrospectives. “Over the course of the last three decades, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis has hosted retrospectives of many of the most internationally renowned contemporary filmmakers, as part of their Dialogues and Film Retrospectives series. The roster of luminaries highlighted by the Walker since 1990 includes directors like Clint Eastwood, Spike Lee, Robert Altman, Jane Campion, Werner Herzog, Agnes Varda, Abbas Kiarostami, Joel and Ethan Coen, Claire Denis, and John Waters; and also actors like Jodie Foster, Tom Hanks, Lily Taylor, and Harry Belafonte.”
“Germ-Zapping Robots”: How Hollywood Might Kill Coronavirus Fears on Set (Hollywood Reporter)
Hollywood Reporter: “Germ-Zapping Robots”: How Hollywood Might Kill Coronavirus Fears on Set. “With plans for safely revving up production underway in Hollywood, the industry is looking at creative ways to make sure sets are sanitary in the age of COVID-19. One newly emerging strategy might have people wondering whether the pandemic is turning Hollywood into one of the sci-fi films it churns out: ‘germ-zapping robots.’ Yes, really. Hollywood has begun to take interest in a lab-certified disinfecting robot that uses pulses of ultraviolet (UV) light to kill SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.”
CNET: Coronavirus shut down Hollywood, but there may be a silver lining
CNET: Coronavirus shut down Hollywood, but there may be a silver lining. “Last month the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that, at least for next year’s Oscars ceremony, movies no longer need to fulfill a one-week run in a Los Angeles theater to be eligible for best picture. As long as a film had a scheduled theatrical release, it qualifies for a chance at an Oscar nomination. Out of the few films trickling out during the pandemic, several of the standouts were directed by women. These films could bring long-overdue recognition for female directors at the next Oscars, where women have historically missed out on nominations in the best director category.”
The Conservation: International film archives are streaming up a storm during lockdown. Australia’s movie trove isn’t even online
The Conservation: International film archives are streaming up a storm during lockdown. Australia’s movie trove isn’t even online. “Film archives began to be established in 1933 as archivists realised films needed to be safeguarded for their own sake, rather than for military or religious purposes. Nitrate film used from the early 1890s through the mid-1950s, and magnetic tape used from the mid-1940s to the early 2000s, cannot survive the test of time. So, in addition to managing storage environments, archives preserve films digitally. Commercial streaming services offer access to films, but they do not ensure this content is stored, saved and contextualised. They are not custodians of history or culture. Archives ensure recordings of the past remain meaningfully embedded in our contemporary life. In a time when the audiovisual is our primary mode of communication, the archive as an institution protecting and championing our shared history is more important than ever.”
Catalyst: For Year 31, Tampa Bay gay film festival goes online
Catalyst: For Year 31, Tampa Bay gay film festival goes online. “Stymied like the rest of the performance world by the interminable Covid crisis, the Tampa Bay International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival has begun a virtual screening series. Curated by the festival’s new programming chief Derek Horne, TIGLFF Online began Thursday with Laughter in Lockdown, a series of short films – all comedies – from the festival’s last 10 years.” The free short films go away May 20, so check ’em out now.
Variety: Pornhub Offers to Stream Germany’s Oldenburg Film Festival Amid Coronavirus Shutdown (EXCLUSIVE)
Variety: Pornhub Offers to Stream Germany’s Oldenburg Film Festival Amid Coronavirus Shutdown (EXCLUSIVE). “Digital juggernaut Pornhub has offered itself as a streaming partner to Germany’s Oldenburg Film Festival, a 26-year-old indie movie event known for edgy programming and quirky celebrity tributes. The offer, extended by Pornhub vice president Corey Price, comes nearly a week after the festival announced it will forge ahead as planned for a September run. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the festival is aiming for a combination of physical and virtual screenings. The move is yet another recent sign of Pornhub’s seriousness about participating in mainstream cinema.”
Variety: London Indian Film Festival Goes Online with Satyajit Ray Short Film Winners
Variety: London Indian Film Festival Goes Online with Satyajit Ray Short Film Winners. “The London Indian Film Festival is to go online, launching its own streaming platform with a selection of winners from the Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition. Due to be held in June this year, LIFF has gone digital because of coronavirus restrictions and will show movies online in a range of South Asian languages.”
British Vogue: Is The Future Of The Film Festival A Digital Experience?
British Vogue: Is The Future Of The Film Festival A Digital Experience?. “The Venice Film Festival launched the $1 billion (£802 million) hit Joker and Noah Baumbach’s critically lauded Marriage Story; Telluride followed with crowd-pleasers Judy and Ford v Ferrari (Le Mans ’66); and Toronto’s Audience Award secured Jojo Rabbit a spot on Hollywood’s awards circuit. So, now that a global pandemic has upended the 2020 festival calendar, how can programmers and filmmakers adapt? By going digital, of course.”
Cineuropa: RTVE Digital offers Spanish films to watch online, for free
Cineuropa: RTVE Digital offers Spanish films to watch online, for free. “More than 60 features, many of which have won a Goya Award, can be enjoyed online, for free, thanks to Somos cine, a platform launched on RTVE’s website. Standing out among them are arthouse titles such as the drama Julieta [+] by Pedro Almodóvar and the road movie The Olive Tree [+] by Icíar Bollaín, together with box-office smashes like Champions [+] by Javier Fesser, the horror flick Verónica [+] by Paco Plaza and the musical Holy Camp! [+] by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo. In addition, there is a batch of edgier films, such as Magical Girl [+] by Carlos Vermut, as well as others that refuse outright to be pigeonholed, like People in Places [+] by Juan Cavestany.”
Everybody’s Library Questions: Finding films in the public domain (Everybody’s Libraries)
Everybody’s Libraries: Everybody’s Library Questions: Finding films in the public domain. “First, how do you find out what films exist that meet your content criteria? Second, how do you find out whether films in that set are in the public domain? Finally, how can you get access to a film so you can do things with it (such as write a score for it)?”
