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Archive for the ‘Films’ Category

Brian DePalma filmed in my apartment?

Posted in Beyond Borders, border conflicts, Films, Popular Culture, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SistersIn 2011 I watched a movie on cable TV called Sisters. It’s a very early (1973) Brian DePalma thriller/murder-mystery about a local Staten Island journalist (played by Jennifer Salt) who sees a murder from her apartment window—my apartment window!

Well, my apartment window or the window of one of the other five apartments directly above or below me. What a strange experience to watch an actress (in my living room) look out a window (in my living room) while I’m sitting in said living room. I couldn’t believe my eyes, so I kept watching for clues to location. Was it really my apartment? Soon enough I see the actress leave through the front door of my apartment building and get into her car on my street. (more…)

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Slingshots and Checkpoints

Posted in Films, tagged , , , on April 24, 2008| 1 Comment »

Several weeks ago I attended the NYC premiere of a film called “Slingshot Hip Hop” at MoMA. It’s a feature length documentary film produced by first-time director Jackie Reem Salloum. It may have been her first film, but you would never know if she didn’t say so—in front of a sold-out theater. Through cinéma vérité scenes and MTV-style animations, “Slingshot” allows the music of resistance to reveal itself as a character in its own right. This cultural remedy for a severely oppressed people has been seen before in film—but not coming out of Palestine.

Slingshot Hip HopWhile there are quite a few documentaries dedicated to the conflict in Israel / Palestine, this one takes a fairly unique approach by gravitating toward a very Palestine-centered viewpoint. Yet it doesn’t come off as propagandistic. The audience watched as DAM, Palestinian Rapperz (PR) and Arapeyat overcome the obstacles of living in occupied lands. (more…)

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Le Chant des Partisans

Posted in Beyond Borders, Films, tagged , , , , , on April 13, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday I learned about another remarkable Russian woman from a documentary entitled Anna Marly, Russian Muse of the French Resistance shown at the first annual Russian Documentary Film Festival. Anna Marly (née Anna Yurievna Betulinskaya) wrote and performed the rousing anthem “Le Chant Des Partisans.” It became the theme song of the Resistance—during the occupation the French whistled the song to each other as a way of revealing one’s partisan loyalties.

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A short short story based on Alexander Sokurov’s film “Alexandra”

Posted in Films, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2008| 1 Comment »

Alexandra travels south on a military train. She sits apart from the young soldiers. Surely each of the men deserves a hug from this proud Russian woman, but Alexandra is also surly and resists social niceties. At times she mumbles to herself. Her body is in pain, especially when the soldiers have to help her on and off the train and on and off the military vehicle that takes her from the train to the military base. She warns them not to mishandle her. Not only does she look out of place, she makes the soldiers look out of place too. The heat is stifling.

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