Author Archive for Chale Nafus
Chale now happily serves as Director of Programming for AFS, a position he plans to hold until he is murdered by some angry film patron in the lobby of the Alamo Drafthouse. He continues to write and will eventually dump onto a website his 850-page magnum opus on the making of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE. Right now he writes lots of program notes and web essays on films he programs for AFS and is currently researching interesting crimes committed in Dallas in the 19th century and through mid-20th century. Why? He hasn't a clue.
FOR THE LOVE OF MOVIES: THE STORY OF AMERICAN FILM CRITICISM, a documentary by Gerald Peary
Film critic/scholar/professor Gerald Peary has crafted a seminal film study of 100 years of American film criticism and critics.
Program Notes for Aki Kaurismaki series
Program notes for the recent Aki Kaurismaki series have been added to the AFS website. You can access them by searching on the film title or going to the Essential Cinema Archives link….
Austin doc filmmaker Heather Courtney receives $50,000 United States Artists grant
Austin documentary filmmaker Heather Courtney is among the 50 new recipients of United States Artists grants. The awards were announced last night in a ceremony in Santa Monica, California….
Austin Filmmaker To Be Among United States Artists Grant Recipients
United States Artists, a grant-making organization based in Los Angeles, will announce the 50 new USA Fellows tonight (14 Dec) at 9 pm (CST). Among the grantees is an Austin filmmaker.
FROWNLAND, a brilliant movie that made me rage, now available on DVD
I used to laugh smugly at the ridiculous idea that the audience present at the 1913 premiere of the ballet “The Rite of Spring” were so upset by Stravinsky’s ground-breaking music and Nijinsky’s style-shattering dance that they screamed at the orchestra, dancers, and composer and were at the very edge of rioting. Then last night [...]
Pecha Kucha Night 6
Pecha Kucha Night 6
19 November 2009
Sustainable Waves
4704 E. Cesar Chavez [east of Springdale Rd]
Street parking
Free admission
Doors open at 7:30p
Show starts at 8:20p
http://www.pecha-kucha.org/night/austin/6
The magical 20/20 experience is back once more. Pecha Kucha Night started in Tokyo as a way of bringing designers and architects together to see each other’s creative work in a fast-paced presentation [...]
Program Notes Posted for Recent Asian Series
I have posted program notes for our most recent Essential Cinema series, Love on the Largest Continent: Ten Asian Films.
Click on these direct links:
TULPAN
A PECK ON THE CHEEK
MONGOLIAN PING PONG
THE MASSEURS AND A WOMAN and ORNAMENTAL HAIRPIN
TRAVELLERS AND MAGICIANS
IN LOVE WE TRUST
STOLEN LIFE
LUXURY CAR
ELECTRIC SHADOWS
Eric Bricker’s Q&A for VISUAL ACOUSTICS: THE MODERNISM OF JULIUS SHULMAN
Check out Anne Heller’s 3-part video featuring the Q&A session conducted by director Eric Bricker during the Austin Film Society/Blanton Museum of Art/Alamo Drafthouse Cinema presentation of VISUAL ACOUSTICS during the “Birth of the Cool Nights” film series in March-April 2009.
Links available for Parts 1-3 on the AFS webpage for VISUAL ACOUSTICS.
Screening the World
As director of programming for the Austin Film Society, I have the best job a retired college film professor could imagine. I present 44 feature films, 11 documentaries, and dozens of short experimental films/videos to audiences over the course of each year. I spend much of my time dreaming, watching, researching, reading, writing and talking [...]
Robert DeNiro Unclothed
Last Saturday (3.24) I shook the hand of Travis Bickle, Rupert Pupkin, Jake La Motta, the young Vito Corleone, Johnny Boy, Jimmy Doyle, Jimmy Conway, Noodles Aaronson, Max Cady, and Sam Rothstein.
Robert De Niro, who embodied all those fascinating and often disturbing characters, was guest of honor at a reception at the UT Harry Ransom [...]
