Turkish "Star Wars," Turkish "Rocky" and Turkish "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial"

Recently, Paul and I had lunch with Frazer Bradshaw, who was the director of photography for These Amazing Shadows. Frazer is always full of interesting film related stories. He told us about the incredible Turkish remake of Star Wars (see above). Here is the lowdown:

"The Turkish-made film commonly known as Turkish Star Wars is notorious for it's bootlegging of Star Wars clips. Released in 1982, Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (AKA: Turkish Star Wars or The Man Who Saves the World) was created in Turkey during a period of massive political upheaval. American-made films were not easily acquired and were often remade with a Turkish cast and setting. The musical soundtrack is entirely lifted from Western film hits of the time, primarily using Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are also scenes incorporating the music of Moonraker, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes and Disney's The Black Hole."  You can download the entire film at the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/TheManWhoSavedTheWorldturkishStarWars1982     Want more? Here come Turkish Rocky (my favorite) and Turkish E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial!

ALERT!: Need three partners to bid on 'Wizard of Oz' Ruby Slippers and Cowardly Lion Costume

Debbie Reynolds (famed actress and These Amazing Shadows interview subject) is auctioning off her amazing Hollywood memorabilia collection on December 15, 16 and 17 as part of the "Icons of Hollywood" Auction at the Paley Center for Media Arts in Beverly Hills. I am seeking two or three partners to pool our money to bid on two items.

AUCTION WEBSITE:  http://ec2-107-22-93-82.compute-1.amazonaws.com/press-releases/cowardly-lion-from-the-wizard-of-oz-preoo-releaoe

1) The first item I want to bid on is the Cowardly Lion's costume from The Wizard of Oz. The auction catalog says the following,"This costume was worn when the Cowardly Lion first meets Dorothy on the Yellow Brick Road and sings ‘If I only had the Nerve’ as well as when he later sings his trademark, ‘If I were King of the Forest’ in the Emerald City. This Cowardly Lion costume is very special because it was worn in some of the most magical moments of the film. It is one of only two known costumes worn by Bert Lahr in the production of The Wizard of Oz.”

The auction house, Profiles in History, has established a pre-sale estimate of value to be in the $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 range. I have $400 cash, so need some partners who can come up with the remaining $1,999,600 to $2,999,600. Caution - the amount could be higher if we get carried away during the bidding. 

The second item I want to bid on are the Ruby Slippers - also from The Wizard of Oz. The auction catalog says: there are four pairs of screen used Ruby Slippers known to have survived the seventy years since the making of The Wizard of Oz. One pair is the center piece of the Icons of American Culture exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.  Another pair was unfortunately stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and will likely never be recovered. The third pair is in private hands and will not be reaching the market any time soon.


AUCTION WEBSITE: http://ec2-107-22-93-82.compute-1.amazonaws.com/press-releases/ruby-slippers-from-the-wizard-of-oz-to-be-auctioned-press-release

The final fourth pair up for auction are marked on the inside lining, "#7 Judy Garland" and the leather soles are painted red on the bottom. The lack of felt, in addition to light, circular scuffs evident on the soles indicate their use in the extra-close-up or "insert" shots when Judy Garland taps her heels together at the film's climax. Author Rhys Thomas recently commented on this particular pair of slippers stating, "There's no question in my mind that they are the crème-de-la-crème of all ruby slippers."  Their condition is near mint.


The pre-sale estimate of value is $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. I have about $274.89 available for this item. My partners would need to come up with the remaining $1,999,726.11 to $2,999,726.11. 

DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY - EMAIL ME IMMEDIATELY AT knorton@gravitasdocufilms.com. 

(Also, I'll need some money for airfare and lodging)

Film Reconnects Us to the World

In These Amazing Shadows, Robin Blaetz says "film reconnects us to the world and to our experience of our lives in this space, in this time." It is such a beautiful thought. The idea that we can go into a dark theater and be reconnected to the world is on its surface a strange notion. But, film has that ability to allow us to observe in an intimate and clear way the details of the world that we often don't have the time or inclination to see. A good example of that is the above video, Timescapes, by Tom Lowe. He describes it as a "portrait of the American Southwest." What really jumps out at me is the spectacular starry sky. Most of us in the US are urban dwellers. We forget how the incredibly beautifully universe is available to us in the night sky. Lowe's film has reconnected me to the world because now I am dedicated to getting out in nature to see the stars.

Tom Lowe was named Astronomy Photographer of the year in 2010 and has been working on Timescapes for over two years.

Tom Lowe on Vimeo
Tom Lowe on Facebook

These Amazing Shadows Holiday Gift Guide!

It's up to you if you'll take this TAS Gift Guide seriously, but we do! We don't encourage anyone to focus too much holiday energy on buying gifts. Simple activities like gathering with family and/or friends is always best. But, sometimes a reasonably priced and well thought out gift can be a joyous thing. Off we go! (when writing a holiday gift guide we feel strangely compelled to use a lot of exclamation points!)

For the wannabe movie star in your family!

Bid for a walk-on role in David O. Russell's next film. 

http://www.charitybuzz.com/categories/18/catalog_items/277895

Through the website Charitybuzz.com you can bid on all kinds of amazing experiences and things. Don't have any information on how much of the money goes to administrative costs and how much goes to an actual charity.

David O. Russell is an American director and screenwriter, known for a loose comic energy and occasional conflict with his actors. His films include The Fighter, Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees, Spanking the Monkey (which I saw at Sundance years ago and wondered - "Why would anyone make a movie like this?")  At the time of this writing the current bid: $4,250 (bidding ends 12/13/11 10pm EST)

35mm Motion Picture Film is not dead! 

Own your own 35mm movie camera!

The LomoKino is the affordable choice for you avant garde filmmakers ($79.00)
http://usa.shop.lomography.com/lomokino

This is a really fun idea but you must be aware of it's inherent limitations. It has a 3-5 frames per second frame rate. A professional 35mm motion picture camera runs at 24 frames per second. So...you get a pretty funky image. Plus, the lens is very limited. All that aside - it is still pretty great. Especially with the crank - you rotate the advancing crank to shoot your movie. It's like being back in the silent era!

There is a large and enthusiastic community built around Lomo products. You can get lots of great advise from seasoned Lomography veterans.

The Art of Pixar (hardcover $50.00)

The Complete Color Scripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation

http://www.chroniclebooks.com/titles/art-design/art-design-reference/the-art-of-pixar.html

Over the past 25 years, Pixar’s team of artists, writers, and directors have shaped the world of contemporary animation with their feature films and shorts. From classics such as Toy Story and A Bug’s Life to recent masterpieces such as Up, Toy Story 3, and Cars 2, this comprehensive collection offers a behind-the-scenes tour of every Pixar film to date. Featuring a foreword by Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter, the complete color scripts for every film—published in full for the first time—as well as stunning visual development art.

Vintage Japanese Back to the Future movie poster! ($250.00)

Why own an American version when a foreign one looks so much cooler!

http://www.posteritati.com/product_details.php?multi=yes&skuvalue=75720

Perhaps the best movie poster shop in the US is Posteritati in New York City. If you ever find yourself in NYC make a point to stop by their shop on Centre Street. They are really nice and will really educate you about the beauty of vintage movie posters. You don't have to go to their shop to buy - their website is quite excellent.

We're not kidding about buying foreign posters over their American counterpart. It is not just the different language they offer, but seeing how other cultures interpret our films through graphic imagery. Think of your favorite movie, then on the Posteritati website look around for a foreign version - you won't be disappointed.

Buy a goat and sheep for a family in need. ($120)

Save the Children online store

http://www.savethechildren.org/c.dvKSIbOSIlJcH/b.6885593/site/apps/ka/ec/product.asp?c=dvKSIbOSIlJcH&b=6885593&en=efIPLOPrGbLCKLPuFjLKJLPrG7INJ6MFJiLMLPMpEeLOLYMxHfL1E&ProductID=1503711

One of the greatest struggles families face in poverty-stricken countries is the inability to grow or maintain essential livestock herds. Farm animals keep families fed, provide valuable income and can grow into larger herds with even more potential. The combination of two goats and a sheep gives a family the means to succeed. There are many less expensive options.

AND!!!!!

These Amazing Shadows DVD and Blu-ray!!  

(you know we had to include it)

It really is the perfect non-fuss - one click away - perfect gift for pretty much everybody! Did we mention it is the perfect gift? (prices vary)

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/These-Amazing-Shadows-America-Blu-ray/dp/B005KLOPU0
Shop PBS: http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=12151915

What do the films Casablanca, Blazing Saddles and West Side Story have in common? Besides being popular, they have also been deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and listed on The National Film Registry. THESE AMAZING SHADOWS, an 88-minute documentary, tells the history and importance of the Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself. The current list of 550 films includes selections from every genre - documentaries, home movies, Hollywood classics, avant-garde, newsreels and silent films. These Amazing Shadows reveals how "American movies tell us so much about ourselves... not just what we did, but what we thought, what we felt, what we aspired to, and the lies we told ourselves."         Plus, a lot of fun bonus features!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE WHOLE 

THESE AMAZING SHADOWS GANG!

Christine, Paul, Suzanne, Doug, Alex, Brian, Peter, Frazer, Larry, 

Matt, Scott, Chris, Barbara, James, Michael, Travis, and Kurt

Marvelous Montages

A commercial runs before the featured video. Be patient!

Recently Kevin Yost (Lucasfilm editor and seen in These Amazing Shadows) sent us a link to the film, Precious Images by Chuck Workman. It features approximately 470 half-second-long splices of movie moments through the history of American film. This film has been the long considered THE standard by which all other film montages are measured. It won an Oscar as best short and was added to the National Film Registry in 2009.

We consider Doug Blush, who co-edited These Amazing Shadows, to be just as good as Mr. Workman. That point of view is supported by John Lopez of Vanity Fair who called Doug's work in These Amazing Shadows to be "the montage to end all montages."

Another great montage editor is Stephen Garrett of Kinetic Trailers. Stephen edited the These Amazing Shadows trailer. In 2010 he edited a Martin Scorsese tribute montage for Golden Globes that is considered one of the best film montages of recent memory. See it below.



When a director is working with an editor a lot of verbal discussion goes on, but it is always best to support an idea with visual aids. Way back when Paul and I were first starting to work with our editors, Doug Blush and Alex Calleros, we put together some ideas (including montages) to show them what we had in mind for TAS. Below is one early (and very rough) example of something we presented to our editors to show them what the doc might feel like. Some of it survived - but most was discarded. Ah, the vagaries of the creative process!

 

Telling the truth in Hollywood

In this video director Terry Gilliam is amazingly open and direct with his opinion of Steven Spielberg movies. Hearing what he had to say reminded me of a surprising situation that developed during the shooting of interviews for These Amazing Shadows.

The first interviews for our documentary were in Washington DC. One of the standard questions we asked was, "What is your favorite movie and why?" Though it is a rather predictable softball type question most people took delight in answering.

We then moved on to interviews in Los Angeles and we asked our film industry interview subjects the same question, "What is your favorite movie and why?" To our surprise hardly anyone would answer. Most were afraid by answering they would offend someone they knew or worked with because they didn't pick their film. This seemingly simple question turned out to be a very politically loaded question in the film capitol of the world. At first we were really shocked, but then began to understand.

We did not interview director Terry Gilliam, but given his candor in the above video we wished we had. In a world where we are all hungry for openness and honesty Terry is a rare bird indeed.

Good & Bad Homages, Tributes and Ripoffs

If you're a successful director, filmmaker or auteur with a unique style you're sure to spawn a bevy of imitators and expressions of admiration across the Internets that take the form of a tribute video, reinterpretation of your work or downright ripoff. Above you will find a skillfully edited example of an homage compilation of Christopher Nolan's work by Dutchman, Kees van Dijkhuizen (who is all of 18 years old according to his youtube profile). This video is part of his [the films of] series that includes Ridley Scott, Tim Burton and David Fincher. I think [the films of] Christopher Nolan is his best.

A less successful "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" video was done by me over two years ago when we were trying to figure out the tone and point of view for These Amazing Shadows. I've always been taken by the old style newsreels of Pathe News, March of Time and Hearst Metrotone News. The fast talking infotainment style evoked a certain excitement and urgency that is so ripe for satire and reinterpretation. Above is a very crude attempt (and by crude I mean awful) at using the lively newsreel style to make the kinda dry subject of film preservation come alive. My only defense is that I threw it together quickly and cheaply to show others the basic idea. Out of some failures you don't really learn much other than how to wince. Below you can view the real deal.



Newsreels on the National Film Registry:
Jenkins Orphanage Band (Fox Movietone News)
Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage
Republic Steel Strike Riot Newsreel Footage

November 22nd

Detail from the These Amazing Shadows Amazon page. The "This Item" is These Amazing Shadows.

November 22, 2011: (today!) These Amazing Shadows (TAS) released on DVD and Blu-ray by PBS Video. A great holiday gift, you can find it at Shop PBS and Amazon.

November 22, 2010: We received a phone call from the Sundance Film Festival informing us that These Amazing Shadows was selected.

(clockwise from lower left) My Grandmother Lauraine, my Mother Audree, my Great-Grandmother Allie and my sister Nikki.

November 22, 1909: My Grandmother Lauraine (we called her Ama) born. She was a major influence in my life.



November 22, 1899: Hoagy Carmichael born. American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust", "Georgia On My Mind", "The Nearness of You", and "Heart and Soul", four of the most-recorded American songs of all time. He appeared in To Have and Have Not (seen above) and The Best Years of Our Lives (selected to the National Film Registry 1989) among other films.

Jacqueline and John Kennedy

November 22, 1963: John Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) in Toy Story.

November 22, 1995: Toy Story released in 2,281 theaters and remained in wide release for 13 weeks. Toy Story was selected to the National Film Registry in 2005.

Scarlett Johansson with Woody Allen.

November 22, 1984: Actress Scarlett Johansson born. Best known for Lost in Translation, Match Point, Girl with the Pearl Earring and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in Halloween (1978).

November 22, 1958: Actress Jamie Lee Curtis born. Best known for Halloween (selected to the National Film Registry in 2006), Trading Places, A Fish Called Wanda and True Lies.

Awards, Accolades and Trophies

Louisville's International Festival of Film Best Documentary Award - a Louisville Slugger.

I have very mixed feelings about film awards. On one hand they are fun (the anticipation, debates and awareness they create) and competition is as American as an award winning apple pie. On the other hand awards are subjective, capricious and often just silly popularity contests (though there is nothing wrong with being popular!).

Over the past eleven months of our distribution of These Amazing Shadows (TAS) we have been faced with making decisions that qualify or disqualify us for Oscar and Emmy consideration. We elected early on to be part of Sundance Selects which brought with it a special one month Video-On-Demand release during the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011. That VOD release disqualified us from Oscar consideration for 2011. You may be thinking, "Dudes, an Oscar Best Documentary nomination for TAS is a rather remote possibility anyway." - and we would pretty much agree with you. At the time of the decision there was a little irrational voice inside my brain warning not to lose our Oscar consideration, "Don't do it! You never know! TAS could be a contender!" I quickly and easily quieted that high pitched irritating voice and we made what we thought was a good business decision. We disqualified ourselves from Emmy consideration because we elected to release our DVD/Blu-ray on November 22nd, which is prior to our national PBS/Independent Lens broadcast on December 29th (check local listings for exact date/time). That is an Emmy no-no. We balanced our chances for an Emmy nomination (yes, that high pitched voice of warning did return) against getting our DVD/Blu-ray out for the holiday shopping season.

Screen grab from our iphone video of accepting the Savannah Film Festival Best Documentary Award.

As they say - when you close one door another one opens - These Amazing Shadows recently won two awards: Best Documentary at Louisville's International Festival of Film and the Savannah Film Festival. We thank both festivals for the honor and attention they have given our doc. The Louisville's International Festival of Film award is really cool and unusual - it is a Louisville Slugger bat with an award inscription (please see it above). Paul says he is going to print up a bumper sticker that says, "My slugger can beat the hell out of your Oscar!" As a note to my family and friends who notice that only Paul's name is on the bat - most festivals for some reason cannot wrap their brains around the notion of co-directors. Sometimes my name is left off and sometime Paul's name is left off websites, awards, etc.

Paul and I were present for the Savannah Film Festival (really great festival) awards presentation. It was a fun affair with about 900 people in the audience. As Paul and I take turns addressing special events on behalf of TAS it was Paul's turn and he gave a very good acceptance speech. I was on stage shooting the whole thing with my iphone much to the delight of the audience (see photo above). We will post that video soon.