If you are a filmmaker in Fresno, your working conditions changed suddenly this summer—you may now be a guerrilla filmmaker and not even know it! In July, the Fresno Film and Entertainment Commission [...] Continue Reading
Art House Redux
Compared to the heyday of 1960s art cinema, when imports made up ten percent of the U.S. film market, today’s theatrical film scene offers American audiences far fewer international films to choose [...] Continue Reading
‘Emmett Till’ in Context: Notes on African-American Cinema
Even before seeing Keith Beauchamp’s The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, the new documentary about the infamous murder of an African-American teen, I expected to find similarities to Spike Lee’s [...] Continue Reading
Closely Watched Films: The Czech New Wave
Many reviewers of Jan Hrebejk’s new film, Up and Down, have astutely noted its similarities to the Czech New Wave of the 1960s – its pointed criticisms of contemporary Czech society, its eye for the [...] Continue Reading
Filmworks: Three Years and Counting
This month three years ago, more than 150 people crowded into the Bonner Auditorium of the Fresno Art Museum to see a little-known Swedish comedy called Together. Dozens of friends and supporters, [...] Continue Reading
“That’s Armenia”
Midway through Vodka Lemon, a character asks the barkeep of a remote outdoor stand why the concoction that gives the bar its name is called “lemon” when “it tastes like almonds.” “That’s Armenia” [...] Continue Reading
Hollywood in the UK: The Battle for British Screens
This past summer I spent a little over two weeks in the UK, mostly in London. Aside from the usual touristy destinations like the Tower and Westminster Abbey and the more high-brow environs of the [...] Continue Reading
The Enduring Power of Film Noir
Several weeks ago, when reminding a friend and faithful Filmworks supporter about our then-upcoming film Blind Shaft, I described it as “a film noir from China.” Her reaction was not at all what I [...] Continue Reading