I have been actively maintaining a blog ring for fun that I started on tumblr. But moreover have spent the past half year traveling around. Perhaps I’ll be back in the groove of things soon when inspiration comes!

I saw the trailer for this just a few days ago (it looked good!) when I was at IFC to see what was a disappointing film (Certified Copy), so when I found out it was premiering today- I bought myself a ticket for the evening screening which included a Q&A with Director Robin Hessman.

It was so fascinating– kids raised under communism, the iron curtain falls and begin to piece together reality while at the same time coming of age. My Perestroika was engaging the whole way through, where documentaries usually feel clinical to me. This had humor, an intrinsically engaging subject matter, momentum, a very nicely laid out structure, and intimacy. You feel like you’re hearing from people you who are your friends (which while usually a goal, not so many directors accomplish very well). This isn’t a film about drama or disaster and victims, it’s about a mass cultural movement to enlightenment and being able to laugh at the world around you.

Synopsis from IFC:

Director in person Wed at 8:20, Thu at 6:20 and 8:20, Fri-Sat at 8:20!

This is the story of five ordinary Russians living in extraordinary times — from sheltered Soviet childhood, to the collapse of the USSR in their teenage years, to the constantly shifting political landscape of post-Soviet Russia. Weaving interviews of the one-time classmates together with rare home movie footage from the ’70s and ’80s and official Soviet propaganda films, MY PERESTROIKA paints a complex picture of the dreams and disillusionment of those raised behind the Iron Curtain.

NR, 88 Minutes, In Russian with English subtitles
USA/UK
Official Website: http://myperestroika.com

***

Though while it certainly warms me up to Russian culture, unfortunately the widespread xenophobia against Asians and people from the Caucuses will probably keep me from going there anytime in the near future.

I had a memorable, if not historic night, at tonight’s monthly Queer/Art/Film event at IFC put on by Butt magazine’s Adam Baran & Ira Sachs. I really wanted to see this man in real life- especially after seeing Bidgood’s Pink Narcissus, and having met and done a portrait of Bruce Benderson for EastVillageBoys who worked on putting the Taschen book together of Bidgood’s photography, I really wanted to see this man in real life. What happens at this monthly event is a queer director presents a film that has inspired them, and does a short q&a afterward about their own work and how the film influenced them.

The Thief of Bagdad had beautiful color, and fantastical imagery and set design that doesn’t appear in movies today. Bidgood argues that this is a result of overinformation, so we are left with facts which while intended to be enlightening can also confine ones mind from wild and beautiful imaginations that might otherwise exist. We know what the middle east (Arabia) looks like now, and most places of the world.. so there’s less wonderment of that magical place far away from here where tall tales grow.

Our standards of cinema have also changed, seeing the special effects when the movie was first released were unlike anything people had seen, and thus very believable.. where our eyes now have adapted to different standards and seeing it today looks a bit more artificial but still as enjoyable.

Bidgood is one sure quirky guy.. very entertaining. It was inspiring in a way to hear from a guy who’s been at it for so long and though beaten down time and again- and dirt poor, hasn’t given up. What screw is loose that I don’t have that kind of resolve?

If you don’t know the story of the making of Pink Narcissus.. here is the introduction of Bidgood’d interview with BUTT Magazine:

“It was a hot June morning in New York when after a long hike up an endless flight of stairs, I met the photographer and filmmaker James Bidgood. Famous for his ethereal photography of beautiful young men in the 1960s, James Bidgood directed, produced and wrote the iconic 1971 film Pink Narcissus, starring Bobby Kendall. Nearly all of the film was shot in Mr. Bidgood’s Hell’s Kitchen apartment between 1963 and 1971 where he lived within the sets he built. Before the film reached completion, it was taken from him by investors and edited without his involvement, creating something Bidgood says he couldn’t even follow himself or stay awake through. Devastated after having spent the past seven years of his life making the film, he refused to sign his name to the project and for years it was credited to ‘Anonymous’, which led many to think that perhaps Andy Warhol was behind it. When I arrived at his apartment, Mr. Bidgood asked the first question.”
–[Read full interview here]

Here’s what’s coming up next:
IFC Queer/Art/Film Schedule

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, NY
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

HEATHER HUEY HAT SHOP UNTIL SUNDAY OCT 3, 2010
shop.heatherhuey.com

This past Thursday evening, fashion celebrated the opening of New York-based milliner Heather Huey’s two new collections and 10 day pop-up shop at Building Fashion. Located at 504 W. 24th street under the highline, Huey paired with the design firm Urban A&O to convert the HL23 tin into an art installation space with a wall of retail. The first installation, Cocoon, consists entirely of scrap felt meticulously sewn together to create organic body sculptures and headwear. In the second, titled Asylum, Huey revisits her widely recognized black cage collection (worn by Daphne Guinness and Lara Stone); this time the exoskeletons are entirely in white.

Co-hosted by Patti Wilson and Michelle Harper, fashion notables attending this party included: Andre Walker (Tiwimuta Publisher and Marc Jacobs Design Consultant), Robert Knoeke (Artist), Bil Donovan (Dior Illustrator), Masha Orlov (Stylist), Anne Koch (Artist), Katherine Zarella (Fashion Journalist / Dossier), Antwan Duncan (Interview “man about town”), Siki Im (Designer), Sebastian Kim (Photographer), Victor De Souza (Designer), and Corinna Springer (Nouveau PR founder) among many others.

Heather Huey’s designs have been featured in Vogue Italia, W Magazine, Interview, Numero France, Purple, and Harper’s Bazaar. Visitors can see Huey’s creations in person and try on a hat for purchase until Sunday, October 3rd, and can find the store hours on the designer’s site: http://heatherhuey.com. According to sponsors BOFFO and Building Fashion, Huey is the second in a lineup of five designers to occupy the space (the first was Simon Spurr). Following Huey will be installations by House of Waris, Richard Chai, and Siki Im.

[PHOTOS OF OPENING PARTY TO BE UPDATED HERE SOON]

I saw this tonight with the director doing a Q&A afterward. Beautifully shot, touching on a lot of topics.. grim reality leaves you feeling a bit unsettled.

Showing until Thursday September 9th at IFC!
http://www.ifccenter.com/films/last-train-home/

Trailer:

Synopsis:

Every spring in China, 130 million workers return home for New Year’s–the world’s largest migration, an epic spectacle of a modern country tied to a rural past. The Zhangs have embarked on this annual trek for almost two decades, visiting parents and, like many, the children they left behind for grueling factory jobs. The absences stretch on, and these yearly reunions grow strained to the breaking point, as revealed in this intimate and starkly beautiful observation of one fractured family–and the human cost of China’s economic miracle. From the producers of Up the Yangtze.
NR, 85 Minutes, In Mandarin with English subtitles.
Canada/China/UK, 2010
Official Website: zeitgeistfilms.com

NY Times Review: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/movies/29home.html?_r=1&ref=movies

This is for all you young models, enjoy!
The rewards, disadvantages, and lessons of a youth spent modeling for the fashion industry.

“Cindy Crawford interviews Beverly Johnson, Linda Evanglista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Lauren Hutton for House of Style Special.”

Welcome to the dream world. One of my best friends turned me onto Sergei Parajanov. We had watched The Legend of Suram Fortress & Ashik Kerib. I was completely speechless and in shock on the first viewing. It hit really far inside my sub/unconscious.

The Color Of Pomegranates is probably Parajanov’s most known film. It’s currently playing at Anthology Film Archive in the East Village
Wednesday July 14, 2010 at 9:15pm & Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 7:15pm

http://anthologyfilmarchives.org/film_screenings/calendar?view=list&month=07&year=2010#showing-36101

Film Notes from Anthology’s website:

The powerful words of 17th-century poet Arutuin Sayadian, also known as “Sayat Nova” (“King of Siam”) are magnificently captured in this visual pastiche which is both a stylized biography and a tribute to his work. Charted into eight sections of his life from childhood to death, the film is a series of symbolically rich, almost hallucinatory scenes. This baroque masterpiece was banned in the Soviet Union for its religious sentiment and nonconformity to “Socialist realism.” Paradjanov, a tirelessly outspoken campaigner for human rights, was convicted on a number of trumped-up charges and sentenced to five years of hard labor in the gulag. A wave of protest from the international film community led to his release in 1978.

Watch below via google video:

Additional info from Kino.com:

The Legend Of Suram Fortress
Director: Sergei Paradjanov
Country: Russia | USSR
Year: 1985
Paradjanov’s first film after more than a decade of persecution and imprisonment is based on an ancient Georgian legend about unrequitted love. Armenia. 1985. 78 mins. Color. Georgian w/English Subtitles.

(The Legend of Suram Fortress) – Based on an ancient legend, this dazzling film by visionary director Sergei Paradjanov (Shadows Of Our Forgotten Ancestors) is a surreal ode to Georgian warriors throughout the ages who died for their country. Repeated efforts by the Georgian people to construct a defensive stronghold continually fail. The building collapses until a fortune teller remembers an old prophecy that the son of her erstwhile lover must be bricked up alive in order for the fortress to stand. The young man is faced with the prospect of sacrificing himself to save his country.
Ashik Kerib
Director: Sergei Paradjanov
Country: Russia | USSR
Year: 1988
This shimmering spectacle resembles a medieval manuscript brought to life in its tale of a wandering minstrel in search of his lost love. Armenia. 1988. 78 mins. Color. Russian w/ English subtitles.

(Ashik Kerib) – From Sergei Paradjanov (The Legend of Suram Fortress, Shadows Of Our Forgotten Ancestors) one of the most acclaimed experimental directors of the Soviet cinema, comes Ashik Kerib, a 19th Century romantic tale evocatively brought to life.

In recounting Lermontov’s fable of a wandering minstrel trying to earn enough money to marry the girl he loves, Paradjanov dispenses with conventional storytelling devices in order to present a boldly unique cinematic experience. Glorious tableaux, exquisitely composed, choreographed and photographed, are combined with intertitles, images of early Russian artwork and a haunting blend of traditional and contemporary musical forms, to create an enthralling and utterly unforgettable film.