Underground Film Links: November 21, 2010

By Mike Everleth ⋅ November 21, 2010

It’s been a big week — and not quite in a good way — for Richard Wolstencroft of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, whose home was raided by Australian police looking for banned film L.A. Zombie. It’s a situation that sucks because it’s happening at all, but good because it’s bringing attention to archaic Australian censorship. The story was written up everywhere from the New York Times to The Advocate. Nicest of all, though, was a personal letter of support from Noah Cowan of the Toronto International Film Festival, which screened the film earlier this year.
Jay Hollinsworth created a simply amazing poster mashup of one of the most hackneyed visual cliché’s of all time: Looking down a foreshortened gun barrel. Great job, Jay!
Oscars.org has video highlights from the Governor’s Awards, including tributes to Jean-Luc Godard from Haskell Wexler, Vincent Cassel, Phil Robinson and more.
Speaking of Godard, Film Studies for Free pointed us in the direction to a website devoted exclusively to his 1980 film Sauve qui peut (la vie) aka Slow Motion aka Every Man for Himself.
Phil Hall of Film Threat posted up his 350th Bootleg Files article this week, which makes it the longest running weekly film history column. The film that gets the honors: Joseph Losey’s 1951 remake of M.
Rhizome has a write-up and amazing photos from what sounds like a fantastic event: B.Y.O.B. or Bring Your Own Beamer, a screening where attendees were encouraged to bring their own projectors.
Denis Faye of the Writers Guild interviewed horror directing icon John Carpenter. It’s a brief, but interesting chat.
The Wall Street Journal did a quick piece on the 40th anniversary of the Anthology Film Archives.
This is old and I forget how I stumbled on it, but in 2002 Patrick S. Brennan analyzed Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising through the lens of gay identity for the journal Genders.
John McAndrew has a diagram on how to make a VHS loop, and makes himself available for anybody with questions.
Patrick Smith has some tips on what makes a great short film, at least as traditional and semi-traditional narratives go. As far as those go, these are good tips.
Mike White is continuing to tour around with his Impossibly Funky book. Sounds like his best stop was in Ann Arbor. But, also good times in Pittsburgh and Metuchen, NJ. But, best of all? Getting a Funky cake made by Baltimore’s Charm City Cakes, of Food Network’s Ace of Cakes fame!
Ekrem Serdar has the absolute best screening anecdote of all time, about the time he was told by the presenter, “Well, if you have any questions, the filmmaker’s dead.” This was in relation to the films of Hollis Frampton.
Chopping Mall reviews a film you wouldn’t think would be written up on a blog called Chopping Mall: It’s the minimalist Chilean drama Huacho, which screened at the 24th Leeds International Film Festival.
Electric Sheep has a final, massive round-up of capsule reviews from the 54th BFI London Film Festival, ranging from James Benning’s experimental Ruhr to Godard’s Film Socialisme to indie film Never Let Me Go.
I should probably do a proper screening post for this, but in case I forget Peaches Christ is hosting a screening of Christmas Evil on Dec. 11. I just love that film. And I love the images in that blog post, so go look at it.
Twitch lets us know that a new Greaser’s Palace DVD is coming out soon. Hopefully it’ll have a nice new transfer, but I kinda like my grungy VHS copy still.
Luke Black laments (sort of) the uneasy distribution of short films.
Donna k. is amazed by the sudden surge in live cinema performances. Is Expanded Cinema making a serious comeback?
I’m planning to do an Underground Film Journal Holiday Shopping Guide again this year, but in advance of that, Jaimz Asmundson lets us know he’s selling his short film compilation for dirt cheap.
Andrea Grover is turned off by Art.sy and ArtFacts, which will suggests art to people based on prior favorite artworks. Sounds odd to me, too.
DINCA has a write up on another Laida Lertxundi film, Footnotes to a House of Love.
Professor Chris Hansen breaks his blog silence to let us know where his Endings will be screening.
I don’t quite get the use of all the profanity, but the Daily Grindhouse returns with a foul-mouthed ode to Sodomatik gore compilations.
Way not underground, but I just want to say that I liked Leonard Maltin’s tribute to retiring film critic Gene Shalit.