Your handy one-stop-shop for film news, interviews, articles, and videos from the week that was.
What better way to kick off this week’s roundup than with Roundup, a captivating new short by BC documentarian Nettie Wild. Subtitled “the art of cows”, the NFB project’s synopsis reads: “Watch 4000 cattle return from summer grazing to 20 families who share a communal pasture and corral. Mesmerizing visual patterns from sky and ground frame an evocative contemplation of the relationship between human and animals, landscape and architecture.”
Having followed up Da 5 Bloods with David Byrne’s American Utopia, the ever-prolific Spike Lee has now signed on to direct a musical about the origins of Viagra. The film is based on David Kushner’s Esquire article “All Rise: The Untold Story of The Guys Who Launched Viagra” and will feature songs by Tony-winners Stew Stewart and Heidi Rodewald.
Meanwhile, Dick Johnson is Dead has risen to the fore in terms of end-of-year accolades. As reported by Point of View Magazine, Kirsten Johnson’s film claimed Best Documentary Feature of Critics Choice Documentary Awards. (Totally Under Control, which is available through VIFF Connect, was awarded Best Editing.)
Having been the rare film to screen at the Venice, Toronto and New York film festivals this fall, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland is now poised to hit theatres on December 4. Writing for Indiewire, Tom Brueggemann investigates the unique challenges that come with trying to give an Oscar-favourite a traditional awards season rollout during these unprecedented times.
Also coming in early December: a new cut of The Godfather: Part III. Yes, having recently unveiled restored or finalized versions of Apocalypse Now and The Cotton Club, Francis Ford Coppola has now wrapped up his reworking of the closing chapter of his organized crime epic. Coppola promises, “You’ll see a film which has a different beginning and ending, many scenes throughout have been repositioned, and the picture has been given, I think, a new life.”
And let’s leave you with a look at One Night in Miami, Regina King’s directorial debut that took several fall festivals by storm.
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