A full house greeted the 87 year-old Richard Leacock as he made a special visit to Stranger Than Fiction from Paris. Among the luminaries in the audience were Albert Maysles and D.A. Pennebaker (see photo on left), Chris Hegedus, Robert Drew, George Stoney, Kevin Rafferty, and many others. Titled THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF RICHARD LEACOCK, the evening was a sampling of various films and clips from Leacock’s illustrious career. The evening started out with a screening of Leacock’s very first film – CANARY BANANAS (1934) – shot when he was only 13 years old. This 7 minute short was intended to convey the “bliss” of his life in the Canary Islands to his classmates in his boarding school in England. “Instead”, he laughs, “it became a commercial for my father’s banana plantation”. The next film THE CHILDREN WERE WATCHING (1961) tells the story of a white New Orleans school legally forced to integrate four black students, and the surrounding hatred and racism of the situation. Leacock describes one scene, where he is in the house of a family supporting integration while outside the anti-integration people are banging on the windows and doors, as being “more frightening than being a combat photographer in WWII.” The last clip was from his most recent film MUSICAL ADVENTURE IN SIBERIA which he shot with his daughter Victoria in 1996.
In addition to his film career, Richard Leacock also discussed the book he has been writing for the last several years, describing the experience as “just as enjoyable as making films”. The electronic book will feature 97 films that can be interactively accessed while reading. We all impatiently await its release!
Do the math: you get 3 special screenings in Dec, plus the 10 regular season films in Jan – Mar. That’s 13 films for $95 or ~$7 per film.
But that’s not all! Your Winter Season pass also gets you these great perks:
1) two free DVDs from Docurama;
2) free popcorn at every STF show;
3) assurance that you never miss a sold out show;
4) the ability to transfer your pass to a friend, if you can’t come;
5) week-round drink specials at “99 Below”
A lush culinary feast accompanied the screening for the newly-HBO-acquired documentary A TABLE IN HEAVEN. True to expectation, the buffet style stations featured a mouthwatering menu of tender roasted beef, asparagus risotto, and a vast array of other savory items. As for the desserts – there were too many to count! In case there were any doubts, I must say that Le Cirque definitely lives up to its reputation.
Martha Stewart was one of many socialites and Le Cirque patrons in attendance
Held at the Tribeca Cinemas, the annual Gotham Film Party was hosted by Kodak and featured many familiar faces. Here are a few snapshots from the night.
On Friday January 13, 1995, pop artist Ray Johnson’s body was found floating in Sag Harbor. In the investigation that followed those who knew Johnson admitted that they knew very little about him. Popular and still unknown; those close to Johnson had stories to tell but few claimed to know much about him. In his film HOW TO DRAW A BUNNY, director John Walter collected these stories and pieced them together: an appropriate narrative for an enigmatic collagist. Walter started conduction interviews with artists such as Chuck Close and Christo in 1996-97 and the film was finished in 2000. From the film, one gathered that Johnson was an artist who made art on his own terms and never seemed to lack inspiration.
Walter was on hand to discuss his work on HOW TO DRAW A BUNNY as well as his upcoming film THEATER OF WAR, a documentary following the Public Theatre’s recent production of Mother Courage. THEATER OF WAR will open at the Film Forum on December 25, 2008.
Martha Stewart was one of many socialites and Le Cirque patrons in attendance
Ann Rose of the Sundance Channel with Dia Sokol.