STF abuzz with COLONY

• by Raphaela Neihausen, November 06, 2009

New York City was a swarm with different kinds of bees on Tuesday night, as COLONY co-director Carter Gunn poses here at the Sixth Avenue newsstand outside the IFC Center. Inside the theater, it was a packed hive of activity for the film’s first sneak preview since its acclaimed world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The New York Times Urban Eye gave the following plug:

You’ve probably heard about the mass death of the world’s honeybees. Scientists are still debating how much to worry about it; filmmakers, though, are acting. The documentary “Colony” tackles the subject, shifting “seamlessly from macroimages of the swarming bees to close-ups of their fretting keepers who are struggling with the devastation,” Manohla Dargis writes. With its “attention to beauty, interview style and even pacing,” she compares the film to the works of Errol Morris.

In the Q&A, Gunn talked about the hazards of making the film, including 35 bee stings in one day. The screening attracted many STF newcomers, several of whom joined for the regular post-film celebration at the bar 99 Below.

Visitin gfrom out of town, Camden International Film Festival‘s producer Leah Hurley with founder/director Ben Fowlie.

Tatiana McCabe with filmmaker Ashley Sabine of Carnivalesque Films.

A farmer from Norway who discovered Stranger Than Fiction on Facebook - Baard Haus Sylling.

Dieter Cartwright and Sarah Luhtala discovered STF accidentally when they picked up a postcard at the IFC Center last week after seeing ANTI-CHRIST (hopefully they enjoyed COLONY more!).

Also first-time STF attendees: documentary enthusiasts Leigh Johnson and Barry O’Flanagan.

Amie Segal of EyePop Productions with filmmaker Paul Devlin (BLAST)

STF passholders who are both editors: Cheree Dillon and Carla Ruff.

Filmmakers Hilla Medalia (AFTER THE STORM - which won the audience award at this year’s Woodstock Film Festival) and Yoni Brook (BRONX PRINCESS).  They are also two recent guest speakers at Thom’s NYU documentary class.

STF Executive Director Raphaela Neihausen reuniting with Angela Tseng, an old colleague from her former life as a management consultant.  Angela is now floor manager at Spice Market - yum!

Related Film/Screening:
COLONY by Carter Gunn and Ross McDonnell

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LOOT wins while the Yankees lose

• by Raphaela Neihausen, November 03, 2009

LOOT made a sensational debut last night at Stranger Than Fiction with director Darius Marder in attendance. Not even the World Series stopped the theater from filling up. Winner of the jury prize at the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival, the film was introduced at STF by one of those jurors, Esther Robinson who praised the film for being full of surprises. Indeed, the most frequent comment heard after the show is that audience members didn’t think the film’s synopsis does justice to its splendors. Rather than dwell on the plot-line about World War II veterans going in search of buried wartime treasure, perhaps it’s better to take Sam Shepard’s word that it’s “a powerful evocation of fathers, sons, war and time, that sneaks up on you like a thief in the night.”  Or as Michael Tully wrote yesterday in HAMMER TO NAIL: “Darius Marder’s LOOT isn’t just proof that truth is stranger than fiction; in this case, it is infinitely richer than the very best of fiction.”  LOOT will open later this month at the IFC Center.

(Q&A photo courtesy of Tequila Minsky)

After the film, we headed to 99 Below for drinks and the remainder of the Yankees game (ouch!).

Filmmakers Margaret Brown (ORDER OF MYTHS) and Astra Taylor (EXAMINED LIFE).

Filmmaker Esther Robinson (WALK INTO THE SEA) and director of LOOT Darius Marder.

Former students from Thom’s NYU class: Evan Schlossberg and Terry Greenberg.

 

Filmmaker Jonathan Goodman Levitt (SUNNY INTERVALS AND SHOWERS) and Jesse Moss (FULL BATTLE RATTLE).

IFC General Manager John Vanco with STF curator Thom Powers.

Maria with filmmakers Ruth Somalo (her recent film TILL YOU’RE TOLD TO STOP won 3 awards at last week’s Tenerife Film Festival: Best Director, Best Documentary and Best Picture - go Ruth!) and Cathryne Czubek (GIRL AND A GUN).

Filmmaker Lee Hirsch (AMANDALA) demonstrates what happens when your iPod gets jammed into the back of a theater seat…

Related Film/Screening:
LOOT by Darius Marder

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STF celebrates the 25th anniversary of THE GOOD FIGHT

• by Raphaela Neihausen, October 30, 2009

Matti Mattson, the 93-year-old veteran who fought with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, took the stage on Tuesday to a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd at Stranger Than Fiction (pictured). The occasion was the 25th anniversary screening of THE GOOD FIGHT, co-presented by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. Mattson praised the filmmakers for capturing the spirit of the times when over 3,000 American soldiers volunteered to fight against the fascist forces in Spain. The filmmaking trio of Noel Buckner, Mary Dore, and Sam Sills were joined by the film’s consulting historian David Paskin in a Q&A to discuss the making of the film. They noted that the film was among the last round of projects to be funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities under the administration of President Carter. It took over five years to complete and entailed over 100 interviews. Twenty-five years later that investment of energy is still paying dividends as a historical record. Among the STF audience were filmmakers who have previously presented their own work in the series including George Stoney, Ngawang Choephel, and David Leitner.

After the screening, Matti Mattson and the filmmakers braved the rain to join fans for drinks at the bar 99 Below, where a descendant of another Brigade fighter hushed everyone to raise a toast.  (Photos courtesy of Joshua Z Weinstein)

THE GOOD FIGHT directors (L to R): Noel Buckner, Sam Sills and Mary Dore.

L to R: Directors Noel Buckner, Mary Dore, Sam Sills and project historian David Paskin.  Seated in front is 93-year-old veteran Matti Mattson.

Matti enjoying some wine at 99 Below.

Director Ngawang Choephel (TIBET IN SONG) and film editor Jean Tsien (PLEASE VOTE FOR ME).

A toast to the directors.

Related Film/Screening:
THE GOOD FIGHT by Noel Buckner, Mary Dore & Sam Sills

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New film in STF fall line-up: HOOP DREAMS

• by Raphaela Neihausen, October 26, 2009

This year marks the 15th anniversary since HOOP DREAMS premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the audience award for Best Documentary.  Roger Ebert described this film as “one of the great moviegoing experiences of my lifetime.”

To celebrate this special anniversary, STF will screen HOOP DREAMS on Monday November 9th.  Due to the length of the film - the screening will commence at 7pm.  Filmmaker Peter Gilbert will be in attendance.  Tickets now on sale here.

STF hosts STILL BILL

• by Raphaela Neihausen, October 23, 2009

Written by guest-host Hugo Perez

Last Tuesday night, STF (with co-presenter SXSW) hosted the sold out New York premiere of Damani Baker and Alex Vlack’s STILL BILL, an intimate and engaging portrait of music icon Bill Withers.  Withers is one of those iconic figures whose name some people don’t recognize until you mention that he penned and performed songs like “Lean on Me”, “Ain’t No Sunshine”, and “Lovely Day”.  But STILL BILL is not just your standard biopic of a music industry legend, it’s an examination of an artist who stopped publishing and performing at the height of his career and a man who wonders whether he still has something to say in today’s world.  Withers’ common sense philosophy of life suffuses his ruminations on his career – ruminations shared both with the camera, and with friends like Cornell West and Tavis Smiley who drop by for an impromptu visit.  Withers’ classic songs are woven in throughout the portrait through archival performances that compliment Withers’ reflections on his life and whether he wants to get back in the saddle again.

SXSW Producer, Janet Pierson, was on hand to introduce the doc which world premiered at SXSW 2009.  Pierson recounted how of all the films that played at SXSW this year - STILL BILL was the one that people kept on mentioning to her as a highlight and a film that resonated with audiences.  Damani Baker and Alex Vlack took the stage after the screening to wittily recount their epic quest to make a Bill Withers documentary – a quest dreamed up when they were just big Bill Withers fans starting out in the film industry.  Fellow producer Jon Fine “Kanye West-ed” himself up onto the stage to share in the telling of how they tried for years to get Withers to even agree to meet them, and how years went by after that before they were able to shoot their first interview.  Baker, Vlack, and Fine entertained the crowd with quirky stories like the time they asked Withers to run down the beach for them to get a shot and he disappeared on a 4 mile run and reappeared a half-hour later.

The Q&A was further enlivened by a man who will forever be remembered in the STF mythos (a la X-Files/ Kennedy plot/etc…) as the “cell phone man” who very loudly answered a cell phone call in the front row and then engaged the filmmakers in an attempt to get them to speak with his friend before shambling out of the theater.  A ‘you had to be there’ moment that the filmmakers calmly stepped over to continue their tale-sharing.  The half hour Q&A went by in the blink of an eye, and before you knew it the filmmakers and audience were huddled together at 99 Below, as is traditional, downing the special STF Withers Cocktail on the evening’s menu.  (Photos courtesy of Joshua Z Weinstein)

SXSW producer Janet Pierson with long-time friend Joni Wehrli.

STF season passholders Andrew Berends and Andrew Yamato.

Filmmaker Yoni Brooks (Bronx Princess) with a friend

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Related Film/Screening:
STILL BILL by Damani Baker and Alex Vlack

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