Cinema Arts Festival Houston 2010
November 10 - 14, 2010
Houston Cinema Arts Society (HCAS) is a non-profit organization created in 2008. With the support of former Houston Mayor Bill White and the leadership of Franci Crane, HCAS organized and hosted the 2009 Cinema Arts Festival Houston. The festival celebrates the vitality and diversity of the arts in Houston and showcased the international city that Houston is with a total of over 6000 people who attended 34 events and screenings of films and new media by and about artists working in the visual, performing and literary arts. Following the success of the inaugural festival, the second annual Cinema Arts Festival Houston will be presented November 10-14, 2010.
HCAS is funded in part by grants from the Crane Foundation, The Brown Foundation, Inc., Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, City of Houston Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department, Houston Arts Alliance, Houston Film Commission and Texas Film Commission.
Among the 2010 film selections is director Mark Landsmanʼs documentary Thender Soul, which earned the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2010. Thunder Soul also took home audience awards at SXSW in Austin, the Dallas International Film Festival, and the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto.
Landsmanʼs film is a reverent homage to Houston native and Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame inductee Conrad O. “Prof” Johnson and his work with Kashmere High Schoolʼs Kashmere Stage Band during the late 1960ʼs and 70ʼs. Thunder Soul recounts the Kashmere Stage Bandʼs remarkable run for a national title in 1972 along with the events leading up to a reunion performance in February 2008 when 30 original members (now in their mid-fifties) performed a tribute concert in honor of Mr. Johnson, who was 92 at the time. The Kashmere Reunion Band will perform live following the free screening of Thunder Soul at Discovery Green during the 2010 Cinema Arts Festival Houston.
“My fatherʼs legacy is the continued education of Houston-area youths, and this film shows how that can be achieved,” says Prof Johnsonʼs son, Conrad O. Johnson, Jr. “Mark really knows the mechanics of documentary storytelling and knows how to fit together this type of film. My father never got a chance to see the final product, but I do believe he would have been proud of Markʼs work. I hope weʼre able to get more documentaries such as this one exposed to the people of Houston, not only because its about Houston, but also because its about the power of achievement.”
For the second consecutive year, nationally recognized film programmer Richard Herskowitz will serve as the festivalʼs artistic director. In addition to his work as director of the Virginia Film Festival – one of two regional festivals to be awarded multi-year support from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – from 1994 through 2008, Herskowitz also helmed Cornell Cinema, the media arts center at Cornell University, for twelve years. While with Cornell Cinema, he served as adjunct curator for film and video at the universityʼs Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. He currently teaches Cinema Studies at the University of Oregon.
“Houston is fortunate, indeed, to have the talented visionary Richard Herskowitz returning as the artistic director of Cinema Arts Houston 2010,” says HCAS Board Chair Franci Crane. “Just like last November, Richard will bring Houston a sizzling film and media arts festival, one for which all Houstonians will be grateful.”
Also scheduled to be shown are:
Waste Land (2010): This Sundance Audience Award-Winning documentary follows artist Vik Muniz as he collaborates with catadores (pickers of recyclable material) in the worldʼs largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro to create internationally recognized art.
Ride, Rise, Roar (2010): A feature-length documentary profiling Talking Heads lead singer David Byrne and his collaboration with choreographers and dancers on his recent concert tour. The film was screened to great acclaim this year at SXSW.
The Woman with Five Elephants (2009): Winner of the Sterling World Feature Award at the 2010 AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival, this documentary follows the twilight years of renowned translator Svetlana Geier and her meticulous process of translating the five great novels of Dostoyevsky from Russian into German.
The New Rijksmuseum (2008): Winner of the Jury Award at the 2010 International Festival of Films on Art (Montreal), the documentary chronicles the renovation of the world-famous Amsterdam art museum through the eyes of several colorful characters including the flamboyant museum director and the beleaguered Spanish architecture team.
The Woodmans (2010): The documentary which debuted to rave reviews at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival is the story of a family of artists scarred by the tragic death of daughter Francesca, one the late 20th Centuryʼs most recognized photographers.
Isabella Rossellini will participate in “An Evening with Isabella Rossellini” at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston at 7:00 PM on Friday, November 12, during the 2010 Cinema Arts Festival Houston. At the event, Rossellini will receive the Cinema Arts Festival's first Levantine Cinema Arts Award. Additionally, she will present highlights from her Sundance Channel series Green Porno (2008-2009) and Seduce Me (2010), along with an intimate portrait of her life and history called Isabella Rossellini - My Wild Life (2010).
Green Porno and Seduce Me are short, funny and irreverent films exploring mating and attraction among animals. Conceived as a cross-platform project with Sundance, Green Porno netted the 2009 Webby Awards for Online Film and Video Best Individual Performance (Isabella Rossellini) and Experimental (Green Porno). To date, the short film series has appeared on the Sundance Channelʼs website, its television broadcast network, and in a book / DVD combo (HarperStudio, 2009).
The Levantine Cinema Arts Award honors a leading actor, director, or other creative artist who has stretched the boundaries of cinematic expression throughout an illustrious film career. The award is sponsored by Levantine Entertainment, a new motion picture development, financing and production company aiming to provide U.S. and worldwide audiences with high quality, socially conscious, and character-driven films.
Jamal Daniel, owner of Levantine Entertainment and a board member of the Houston Cinema Arts Society, comments: "Isabella Rossellini is not only a beautiful embodiment of the union of parentsʼ Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman, she has also in her own right contributed landmark moments to the world of cinema, whether as an actress under the direction of the greats, David Lynch and Guy Maddin, or as a director of entertaining innovative and educational films. Isabella Rossellini is an ideal and inspiring recipient of the inaugural Levantine Cinema Arts Award.”
On November 11 at 8:00 PM, Rossellini will help launch the Festival's 40th anniversary tribute to the Rice Media Center. Her father, the legendary Italian director Roberto Rossellini, worked with Dominique and John de Menil to establish the Rice Media Center in its early years. Rossellini will introduce Journey to Italy (Viaggio in Italia) in the Rice Cinema. The 1954 masterpiece about a married couple headed for divorce was directed by her father and stars her mother, Academy, Emmy and Tony award-winning actress Ingrid Bergman. Also on the program will be Isabella Rossellini's own film tribute to Roberto Rossellini, My Father is 100 Years Old, and a rare interview with the de Menils conducted by her father.
The tribute to the Rice Media Center exemplifies a major theme of the 2010 Cinema Arts Festival Houston. According to Richard Herskowitz, "The enormous value of arts education programs in schools and universities, which John and Dominique de Menil believed in passionately and supported through their founding of the Rice Media Center, is powerfully conveyed in several of our film selections." The life-changing value of the musical education and self-esteem students gained from joining Houston's Kashmere High School band is the message of Thunder Soul.
Other films about arts education also scheduled are:
Chekov for Children (2010): This documentary film from director Sasha Waters Fryer premiered as an Official Selection at the 2010 Telluride Film Festival. It follows Phillip Lopate's teaching experience in 1970ʼs New York City. Lopate is one of Americaʼs greatest film critics and essayists, taught at the University of Houston during the 1980ʼs and started the Writers in the Schools Program. Both Lopate and Fryer will be in attendance.
Louder Than a Bomb (2010): From co-directors Jon Siskel and Greg Jacobs, this documentary chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four slam poetry teams as they prepare for and compete in Chicago's Louder Than a Bomb Festival – the largest youth poetry slam competition in the world. The film has won Audience Awards at the Cleveland International Film Festival and the Woods Hole Film Festival, where it also received the Jury Prize for Best Documentary. Five student poets from the film will perform live at the November 11 Thunder Soul event at Discovery Green. Co-Director Jon Siskel will also be on hand.
Academy Award-winning actress Shirley MacLaine will attend a screening of Terms of Endearment (1983) at 7:00 PM, Saturday November 13, 2010 at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. During the special event, MacLaine will be presented with the 2010 Texas Film Award, which honors a classic film made in Texas or an artist who has made significant contributions to film in the Lone Star State. Following the screening, Ms. MacLaine will engage in a conversation with Houston-based Variety film critic Joe Leydon about Terms of Endearment and her extraordinary career.
Shirley MacLaine created the unforgettable character of Aurora Greenway in James L. Brooksʼ classic romantic comedy drama, which earned her the Best Actress Oscar. Terms of Endearment – produced, directed and written for the screen by Brooks – features scenes shot in and around Houstonʼs River Oaks and The Heights neighborhoods, and famously, Brennanʼs restaurant. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Direction and Best Actress for MacLaine, and four Golden Globes.
Other films – new and classic – will join Terms of Endearment in celebrating the great and growing tradition of film in Texas.
This State Iʼm In (1990): 20th Anniversary Presentation: The initial grant funding for the project was to create a trailer for a film that would never be made. Encouraged by the outstanding performances of a number of characters from the Houston, Texas art scene, lens-based artist Robert Ziebell expanded his initial concept into a feature film. In addition to its Wizard of Oz-inspired narrative, the movie documented Ziebellʼs first impressions and actual experiences in Texas since relocating to Houston for the Museum of Fine Artsʼ newly established Core Artist-in-Residence program. It features performances by noted Texas art personalities such as the late Curator and Menil Founding Director Walter Hopps; Museum of Fine Arts Houston Contemporary Art Curator Alison de Lima Greene; MFAH Film Curator Marian Luntz and Houston arts patron and socialite Carolyn Farb. Houston arts leaders, including Fredericka Hunter of the Texas Gallery, will join Ziebell for a post-screening discussion. Also, Ziebell will participate in a panel discussion in the festival's "Meet the Makers" series on low-budget feature filmmaking from twenty years ago to the digital productions of today.
The Texas Filmmakers Showcase is a special screening event consisting of the best of Texas short films and videos under 40 minutes in length. Each year, the program is presented to studio executives, agents and producers in the Hollywood film community, with subsequent screenings around Texas throughout the rest of the year. The Showcase is presented by the Houston Film Commission with the generous support of additional sponsors.
Texas Film at the Visitors Center: Cinema Arts Festival Houston will introduce this new series of programs highlighting new and upcoming arts films by Texas filmmakers at the Visitors Center located in City Hall. All programs are free to the public. Included in the multi-part series is First Look: Houston Arts Films in Progress, a series of excerpts from three Houston-based films currently in production: Jenalia Moreno's Stitched is a documentary that gives viewers a glimpse at the life of competitive quilters; Ford Gunter and Carlton Ahrens' Art Car follows a handful of local artists as they prepare their entries for the 2010 Houston Art Car Parade; and Alex Luster's Stick 'Em Up takes an in depth look into the overshadowed world of wheat pasting in Houston. Also in this series will be artist portraits by Mark and Angela Walley, Painting Poetry by Earl Latchley, and "Pixel Painting" by Johnny DeKam, with the filmmakers present.
With Isabella Rossellini and Shirley MacLaine, American writer, director, and actor John Turturro will attend the 2010 Cinema Arts Houston. Also confirmed to attend are Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney, celebrated American animator Bill Plympton, and Houstonʼs own world-famous rodeo hotshot Clint Cannon, subject of two films from French filmmaker Frédéric Laffont.
Turturroʼs latest creation, Passione (2010), will kick off the festival on Wednesday, November 10 at a red carpet screening to be held at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston at 7:00 PM. Passione, which made its debut at the Venice Film Festival in September, is a “musical adventure” directed, co-written, and narrated by Turturro that takes viewers on a journey through Naples and its musical history with over 25 cinematic renderings of songs dating from the thirteenth century to the present.
On Thursday, November 11 at 4:00 PM at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Turturro will present Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy (2010), which he co-wrote with director and noted puppeteer Roman Paska. Also appearing on camera, Turturro takes audiences on an intimate journey through his ancestral homeland, where he is researching a prospective film to be set in the world of the island's unique puppet theater.
Although best known to mainstream audiences for his portrayal of Agent Seymour Simmons in Michael Bayʼs blockbuster Transformers franchise, in over 30 years in the business, Turturro has appeared in more than 60 films, establishing himself as one of the most skilled and dynamic actors in the industry. Among his most memorable are roles in Spike Leeʼs Do the Right Thing (1989), Robert Redfordʼs Quiz Show (1994), and the Coen Brothersʼ Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), and O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000).
In addition to John Turturro, the 2010 Cinema Arts Festival Houston will host a number of additional film heavyweights. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney will present My Trip To Al Qaeda (2010) at 6:45 PM on Saturday, November 13 at Edwards Greenway Stadium Palace 24. The film explores 9/11 and the Iraq War, also the subjects of Gibneyʼs Oscar-winning documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side (2007). The film is a cinematic adaptation of journalist and author Lawrence Wrightʼs one-man show about Americaʼs vexed relationship with the Middle East. Wright will join Gibney to present My Trip To Al Qaeda. Gibney will also screen his current project, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (2010) at 1:00 PM on Sunday, November 14 at Edwards. The film is an in-depth look at the meteoric rise and scandalous fall of former, disgraced New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.
Groundbreaking American animator Bill Plympton will present his newest project, Idiots and Angels (2008), a darkly comic tale of Angel, a misanthrope in a battle for his soul, at Edwards Greenway Grand Palace Stadium 24 on Friday, November 12 at 9:45pm. Plympton, best known for his Academy Award-nominated animated shorts Your Face (1987) and Guard Dog (2005), will also conduct a master class for fans and aspiring animators on Friday, November 12 at 1pm and introduce the short animated and experimental films he has curated for Independent Exposure 2010 at 1pm on Saturday November 13 at Edwards.
Accomplished French filmmaker Frédéric Laffont will present Ballad for a Cowboy (Ballade pour un Cow-boy) – his portrait of rodeo sensation Clint Cannon produced for French television in 2006 – on Saturday November 13 at 9:45 PM at Edwards Greenway Grand Palace Stadium 24. The film depicts a charismatic hero following in the footsteps of his father, Jay, who competed in rodeo for 20 years. Cannonʼs dream is to gain enough points to reach the finals in Houston and, ultimately, win the national championship. Frédéric Laffont is completing a new project featuring Cannon titled Cowboy Solitude, a section of which will be screened after Ballad for a Cowboy. The film blends documentary and fiction, and takes off from an imagined Dictaphone recording by Clint to his father, questioning his choice to give up the rodeo. Both Cannon and Laffont will be on hand.
2010 CINEMA ARTS FESTIVAL HOUSTON, TEXAS
