SCRIPT TO SCREEN CONFERENCE
Oscar-nominated writer-director Terry George (HOTEL RWANDA, THE BOXER) is one of the featured guests at annual Script to Screen Conference at 92YTribeca
92YTribeca
200 Hudson St.
Weekend Pass: Members $150, Nonmembers $200
($150 with the discount code FREE2010)
www.conference.ifp.org
Looking to be the next Geoffrey Fletcher or Mark Boal, both of whom won screenwriting Oscars earlier this month for independently produced films? (Fletcher won for PRECIOUS, Boal for THE HURT LOCKER.) The Independent Filmmaker Project will be holding its annual Script to Screen Conference at 92YTribeca this weekend, featuring two days of panel discussions, in-depth conversations, workshops, networking opportunities, and more with award-winning screenwriters, producers, casting directors, film festival programmers, executives, and other industry insiders and outsiders. Among the participants at last year’s conference, the first after a five-year hiatus, were Lee Daniels, James Schamus, Nelson George, Ramin Bahrani, and Ted Hope, with such seminal figures as Paul Schrader, Allison Anders, James Toback, Gale Ann Hurd, and Tom Fontana having attended in previous years.
Saturday (9:00 am – 4:30 pm) is devoted to “Launching Your Next Project,” with such events as “Development Demystified,” with Sophie Barthes, Anne Carey, and Jonathan Shukat, moderated by Susan Lewis, and “The Art of Selling & Storytelling,” with Rodney Evans, John Hadity, and Jenny Schweitzer, moderated by Monty Ross, in addition to DAILY SHOW head writer Steve Bodow in conversation with Filmmaker magazine’s Jason Guerrasio. Sunday’s theme is “Sustaining Your Filmmaking Career,” beginning at 2:00 with Terry George (HOTEL RWANDA, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER) in conversation with Filmmaker’s Scott Macaulay and followed by “Writing for a New Landscape: New Media & Cross-Platform Opportunities,” with Keith Bunin, Lena Dunham, Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo, and Zack Lieberman, moderated by Christian Vesper; “Now What? A Screenwriting Career with Peter Hedges,” with Hedges (PIECES OF APRIL, WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE) discussing his work with moderator Adam Brooks (ALMOST YOU, DEFINITELY, MAYBE); and concluding with Brian Koppelman (ROUNDERS, SOLITARY MAN) in conversation with film critic Elvis Mitchell. Weekend passes are $150 for IFP members and $200 for nonmembers, but nonmembers can get the member price with the discount code FREE2010.
THE NOSE
THE NOSE is making its long-awaited Met debut this month, directed by William Kentridge and conducted by Valery Gergiev
The Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center
Between West 62nd & 65th Sts. and Columbus & Amsterdam Aves.
March 18 & 25, $15 standing room - $375
212-362-6000
www.metoperafamily.org
Prior to the March 11 performance of THE NOSE at the Metropolitan Opera House, artist and mensch William Kentridge could be seen in the Met lobby greeting friends and fans as everyone awaited the second night of his production of THE NOSE, which had made its highly anticipated Met debut on March 5. Kentridge brings that same mensch spirit to his absurdist version of Dmitri Shostakovich’s absurdist opera, based on Nikolai Gogol’s absurdist short story about a young man who wakes up one day to discover that his nose has disappeared. The story, which deals with political hierarchy, social division, and the perils of bureaucracy, is set in 1830s St. Petersburg, but it also relates to Kentridge’s native South Africa under apartheid. Kentridge’s multimedia production features black-and-white animation, lofty sets that suddenly appear well off the ground or are dragged around by characters, and a Russian constructivist collage that serves as a backdrop for much of the action.
Kentridge, who designed the stunning sets with Sabine Theunissen, infuses the opera with the same playful humor evident in Shostakovich’s controversial score, which ranges from classical to folk to polka and includes a three-minute percussion intermezzo, all under the inventive baton of Valery Gergiev. Paulo Szot, who won a Tony for his role as Emile De Becque in Lincoln Center’s production of SOUTH PACIFIC, plays the noseless Kovalyov, but it is often difficult to hear his too-soft delivery. The cast of more than seventy also includes Andrei Popov as the police inspector, Vladimir Ognovenko as barber Ivan Yakolevich, and Gordon Gietz as the Nose. The English subtitles are projected onto the bottom of the set, sometimes hard to read or blocked by the performers, although they are also occasionally blasted onto the backdrop collage in unusual ways. THE NOSE is an unconventional opera, with unconventional sets, an unconventional score, and an unconventional length, clocking in at a mere 104 minutes, and it is playing to an unconventional audience of regular opera aficionados as well as fans of Kentridge, whose work is being celebrated all over the city this month, with a retrospective at MoMA, a drawing show at Dieu Donné, screenings with live music at the World Financial Center, and other special events and appearances. Be sure to stop by Gallery Met before the show to see “Ad Hoc,” a small display of Kentridge’s preparatory sketches, notes, costume cutouts, and a three-dimensional sculpture of Shostakovich.
NEW YORK CITY ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE
St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be last one that is not cut short by Mayor Bloomberg (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Fifth Ave. from 44th to 86th Sts.
Wednesday, March 17, free, 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
www.saintpatricksdayparade.com
While there should be all sorts of pomp and circumstance for next year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which will be celebrating its 250th anniversary, don’t sell this year’s party short. Hundreds of marching bands, pipers, step dancers, and police and fire departments from all over the city and the country will be descending on Midtown Manhattan for this annual rite of passage, so loathed by many New Yorkers for the drunken craziness and green puke that often comes with it. Well, with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly as this year’s grand marshal, the NYPD has promised to clamp down on public drinking, so hide those forties well. The parade will also be the last major one to be able to run all afternoon, through about 5:00, as Mayor Bloomberg’s shortening of parades begins next month.
Of course, New York City will be bustling with special St. Patrick’s Day events in addition to fife and drum bands making their way through Irish pubs across the city. The official After Parade Pub Crawl will begin at the Yard, Black 47 will be at B. B. King’s, the Chieftains are playing Town Hall, Rory Sullivan is at Googie’s Lounge, an 1855 St. Patrick’s Day Celebration will take place at the Merchant’s House Museum, and Sean Donnelly will host “Irish Eyes Are Laughing” at Comix with Patrice Oneal, Andrew Maxwell, and other comedians, among other green partying.
CANADIAN FRONT, 2010: FATHERS AND GUNS
Fathers and sons do physical and emotional battle in French Canadian action comedy
DE PÈRE EN FLIC (FATHERS AND GUNS) (Émile Gaudreault, 2009)
MoMA Film
Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Wednesday, March 17, 7:30
Saturday, March 20, 1:00
Series runs March 17-22
Tickets: $10, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days, same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk
212-708-9400
www.moma.org
A huge hit in its native Quebec – the film was so successful that Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will be producing an English-language remake for Sony next year – FATHERS AND GUNS is a goofy action comedy set in the world of cops and gangsters. When one of their agents, Jeff Tremblay (Hubert Proulx), is captured by an anarchistic biker gang, experienced hero cop Jacques Laroche (Michel Côté) is determined to get him back, preferably without the help of his son, Marc (baby-faced comedian Louis-José Houde), a young police sharpshooter who was unable to protect Jeff in the first place. Jacques continually abuses Marc, especially in front of the other officers, who include Geneviève (Caroline Dhavernas), who is in the process of breaking up with Marc. The team decides the only way to get Jeff back is to find a snitch, so they go after the bikers’ powerful lawyer, Charles Bérubé (Rémy Girard), who is about to head off on an adventure retreat to reconnect with his troubled son, Tim (Patrick Drolet). Much to his dismay, Jacques is ordered to attend the same retreat with his son, both undercover, where they are expected to share their feelings and do other things together that rile Jacques and his overt manliness. But it soon looks like they’re not the only father-son team with a different agenda. Directed by Émile Gaudreault (MAMBO ITALIANO), who cowrote the script with Ian Lauzon, FATHERS AND GUNS is sort of a Canadian ANALYZE THIS, with psychotherapy working its way into the lives of a pair of strong, proud men having difficulties with their sons. It’s a pleasing little film that never quite goes over the top, though it does come close, and it does feature one of the strangest scenes of the year, involving nipples, but enough said….
FATHERS AND GUNS is part of MoMA’s seventh annual Canadian Front, consisting of some of the best Canadian fiction and nonfiction films of the past eighteen months. The series gets under way March 17 with Sherry White’s debut coming-of-age CRACKIE and includes Bernard Émond’s drama THE LEGACY, Brigitte Berman’s documentary HUGH HEFNER: PLAYBOY, ACTIVIST, AND REBEL, the very odd rock-and-roll vampire musical SUCK, and Denis Villeneuve’s fact-based POLYTECHNIQUE, about a Columbine-like shooting spree in Canada.
ROY HAYNES
Roy Haynes will be celebrating his eighty-fifth with a series of special guests at the Blue Note
85th BIRTHDAY WITH SPECIAL GUESTS
Blue Note
131 West Third St.
March 17-21, $20-$35, 8:00 & 10:30
212-475-8592
www.bluenote.net
www.myspace.com/royhaynes
Born in Boston in 1925, drummer extraordinaire Roy Haynes has enjoyed a long, influential career, having played with the likes of Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charlie Christian, Miles Davis, Lester Young, Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Pat Metheny, Eric Dolphy, and just about every other jazz giant. Haynes turned eighty-five on March 13, and he will be celebrating that milestone birthday at the Blue Note, with special guests joining him for eight shows. On March 17, Kenny Garrett will sit in on alto sax with Haynes’s regular band (keyboardist Martin Bejerano, bassist David Wong, and saxophonist Jaleel Shaw), along with emcee Bill Cosby; March 18-19 features trumpeter Roy Hargrove and bassist Christian McBride; and Chick Corea will tickle the ivories on March 20. The special guests have not been announced yet for the finale on March 21. Tickets for all performances are only $20 at the bar and $35 for tables, a ridiculously cheap price to see one of jazz’s true legends.
DINE IN BROOKLYN
Bubby’s is one of more than two hundred restaurants participating in Dine In Brooklyn, March 15-25 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
Multiple locations
March 15-25, lunch $20.10 , dinner $25
718-802-3846
www.visitbrooklyn.org
Once upon a time, Brooklyn was not exactly known for its fancy food, aside from just a few classic joints — the River Café, Peter Luger’s, Junior’s, Lundy’s, Gage & Tollner, Gargiulo’s — but the last ten years or so have seen a steady rise in the quantity of quality restaurants in the world’s greatest borough, and you can try many of them during the annual Dine In Brooklyn festival. From March 15 to 25, more than two hundred Brooklyn eateries will be offering special prix-fixe lunches and brunches for $20.10 and dinners for $25. Among the many participants are the Pearl Room and Fushimi in Bay Ridge, Bacchus in Boerum Hill, Chestnut and La Petite Provence in Carroll Gardens, Bubby’s in DUMBO, Madiba in Fort Greene, Alchemy and Melt in Park Slope, Mazzat in Red Hook, and Zenkichi in Williamsburg. Oh, there are also these places called the River Café, Junior’s, and Gargiulo’s. In addition, a bunch of smaller restaurants will be offering an even better deal, cutting prices in half, so brunch and lunch for two is $20.10, and dinner is $25 per couple, at such dining establishments as Saint Germain, Rice, the Smoke Joint, Aperitivo, Gialeti’s Café, Chipshop, and Il Fometto. Mangia, bambinos!
SLASH
Andrea Dezsö, “Women in Red with Black String,” hand-cut paper, thread, acrylic paint, mixed media, 2008
PAPER UNDER THE KNIFE
Museum of Arts & Design
2 Columbus Circle at 59th St. & Broadway
Tuesday-Sunday through April 4, $15 (pay-what-you-wish Thursdays 6:00 – 9:00)
212-299-7777
www.madmuseum.org
It’s astounding what more than fifty international artists have managed to do in “Slash: Paper Under the Knife,” on view at the Museum of Arts & Design through April 4. Using paper, the artists have cut, sliced, folded, torn, ripped, and lasered the fragile material into a stunning array of sculptures, wall hangings, and site-specific installations bursting with creativity. Divided into such thematic sections as “Cutting as Gesture: Drawing with the Knife,” “Structure and Space: Slicing Architecture,” and “Dissecting the Past: Myths and Memories,” the exhibit, the third part of the museum’s “Materials and Process” series, highlights work that is layered with meaning either hidden right below the surface or emerging from out of it, touching on consumerism, war, slavery, and other topics while also questioning the fragility of life and what is real.
Thomas Demand, “Shed,” C-print on diasec / courtesy 303 Gallery and the Wolkowitz Collection
In “Flat File Globe 3A Red Version,” Noriko Ambe fills the drawers of a red metal cabinet with mountainous cut Yupo paper, each one its own unique landscape. For “Between the Lines,” Ariana Boussard-Reifel has cut every word out of a book. Thomas Demand meticulously re-created an actual life-size setting in “Shed,” took a photo of it that appears to be of a real shed, then destroyed the shed itself. Andrea Dezsö’s tunnel books relate offbeat scenes, as in “Alien Child with Hanging Meat” and “Mantis Resting in Utopian City.” Tom Friedman turns Quaker Oats boxes (and Quaker Oats themselves) into a “Quaker Oats” totem. Mona Hatoum uses tissue paper to portray soldiers with guns along with skulls and explosions. A forest rises from a children’s book in Su Blackwell’s “Rapunzel.” Pietro Ruffo’s “Youth of the Hills” is a tank covered in pages from the Hebrew Bible—but xeroxed copies. And Bféatrice Coron cut her enticing “Heavens & Hells” during a three-week residency at the museum last June. The exhibit also includes work by Lesley Dill, Olafur Eliasson, Nina Katchadourian, Oliver Herring, Judy Pfaff, and Kara Walker.
On March 27 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm, MAD will be hosting “Moving Paper: An International Film Festival of Cut Paper,” an afternoon of short videos made specifically for the show, all of which incorporate paper in some way. You can also watch the videos online here (www.movingpaper.madmuseum.org).
Also at MAD
Viola Frey, “Family Portrait,” ceramic with glazes, 1995 (courtesy the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution)
As fragile as most of the cut-paper works are in “Slash,” Viola Frey’s large-size ceramic sculptures are more imposing than at first assumed, each one made of several pieces totaling hundreds of pounds. “Bigger, Better, More: The Art of Viola Frey” comprises more than thirty works by the California artist, who died in 2004 at the age of seventy. The monumental sculptures are particularly impressive, mixing folk art with gender issues in a wonderland of imagination. The colorful display also includes pieces from her own collection as well as several sculptures she made with Betty Woodman, who received her own wonderful retrospective at the Met in 2006. Woodman will be part of a special presentation at MAD on March 18 at 6:30, “Viola Frey: Emphatically Present,” which begins with a lecture by curator and author Patterson Sims, followed by a discussion with Sims, Woodman, and MAD curator Lowery Stokes Sims.
