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The Making of Alternative Cinema [Two Volumes]
Mario Falsetto and Liza Bear
ISBN: 0-275-99941-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-99941-4
704 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 12/30/2007
List Price: $199.95 (UK Sterling Price: £137.95)
Discount Price: $99.98 Sale Price for U.S. Customers Only. Save 50%. Ends 12/31/2009.
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: The massive investments made in Hollywood today mandate tight studio controls on mainstream cinema. As a result, one must often look to alternative outlets in order to see a movie intended primarily as art—or even as a sincere effort at entertainment—instead of as a simple source of revenue. Foreign and independent movies thus often play the role of bellwether for the Hollywood studios that are unable to experiment themselves: behind the look of the studio smash Sin City, for instance, was the rigorous pulp style of Road to Perdition; before the sadism and cynicism of many current thrillers and horror movies there was the work of Neil Labute; and where would Hollywood's plots be without the harsh, fragmented narratives of Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro Inarritu? By looking at these films, and at the people who created them,we can obtain a clearer sense of what movies really are at heart, and what they may still want to become.

Elaborate measures are thus taken everywhere and at all points to maintain a grip on the public's imagination, but the more adept Hollywood becomes at giving the public what it wants, the less any given studio is able to say anything new or truly innovative. Inside of the United States, this means looking to independent films; outside of the United States, it means filtering through an enormous mass of movies and moviemakers.

In Volume 1 of this revealing set, Mario Falsetto presents extended interviews with nine of the most prominent independent film directors working in America today; while in Volume 2, Liza Béar gives prominent international filmmakers the opportunity to address essential issues surrounding creativity and production in a number of different geographical setting and contexts.
Table of Contents:
  • Volume 1
    Dialogues with Independent Filmmakers
    Mario Falsetto
    Introduction
    Sam Mendes, Boy Wonder Goes to Hollywood
    Neil LaBute, Sexual Politics, Violence, and Mormons
    John Dahl, Guns, Cars, and Fast Women: Film Noir and Other Genres
    Gus Van Sant, Art and Commerce: A Constant Battle
    Nancy Savoca, Ethnic Voices, Working Women, and the
    Struggle to Make Movies
    Anthony Minghella, Hollywood International, Epic Visions,
    and a Love of Words
    Alexander Payne, Nebraska Is a State of Mind
    Michael Polish, Double Vision (and Imaginary Places)
    Julie Taymor, Theater, Film, and the Power of the Imagination
    Filmographies
    Index




    Volume 2
    Beyond the Frame: Dialogues with World Filmmakers
    Liza Béar
    Foreword by Laurence A. Kardish
    Introduction by Robin Andersen
    Gleb Panfilov,Tema
    Shawn Slovo, Writer, A World Apart
    Chris Menges, Director, A World Apart
    Atom Egoyan, Director, and Arsinée Khanjian, Actor, Speaking Parts
    Brigitte Rouan, Outremer [Overseas]
    Gillian Armstrong, The Last Days of Chez Nous
    Lucian Pintilié, An Unforgettable Summer
    Chantal Akerman, On the Set in Brooklyn
    Abel Ferrara, The Addiction
    Jafar Panahi, The White Balloon
    Marleen Gorris, Antonia's Line
    Benjamin Ross, The Young Poisoner's Handbook
    Nicole Holofcener, Walking and Talking
    Karim Dridi, Bye-Bye
    Patrice Leconte, Ridicule
    Milos Forman, The People vs. Larry Flynt
    Jan Sverak,Kolya
    Judy Davis, Children of the Revolution
    Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Gabbeh
    Cédric Klapisch, Chacun Cherche Son Chat
    Miguel Arteta, Star Maps
    Masayuki Suo, Shall We Dance?
    Shirley Barrett, Love Serenade
    Rupert Graves, Profile
    Jim Jarmusch, Year of the Horse
    Alain Berliner, Ma Vie en Rose
    Takeshi Kitano, Sonatine and Hana-Bi [Fireworks]
    Wayne Wang, Chinese Box
    John Hurt, Love and Death on Long Island
    Sherman Alexie, Smoke Signals
    Michael Winterbottom, Welcome to Sarajevo
    Samira Makhmalbaf, The Apple
    Samira Makhmalbaf, Blackboards
    Fernanda Montenegro, Central Station
    Catherine Breillat, Romance
    Hayao Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke
    Zhang Yimou, Not One Less
    François Ozon, Criminal Lovers
    François Ozon, Swimming Pool
    Abbas Kiarostami, The Wind Will Carry Us
    Abbas Kiarostami, ABC Africa
    Wong Kar-wai, In the Mood for Love
    Alejandro González Iñárritu, Amores Perros
    Agnès Varda, The Gleaners and I
    Barbet Schroeder, Our Lady of the Assassins
    Jacques Rivette, Va Savoir
    Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Kandahar
    Wang Xiaoshuai, Beijing Bicycle
    Tsai Ming-liang, What Time Is It There?
    Laurent Cantet, L'Emploi du Temps [Time Out]
    Fabián Bielinsky, Nine Queens
    Juan Carlos Cremata, Nada
    Elia Suleiman, Divine Intervention
    Manoel de Oliveira, I'm Going Home
    Denys Arcand, Barbarian Invasions
    Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, James' Journey to Jerusalem
    Alan Mak, Andrew Lau, Infernal Affairs
    Ousmane Sembène, Moolaadé
    Ousmane Sembène, Transcript
    Michael Winterbottom, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
    Bruno Dumont, Twentynine Palms
    Zhang Yimou, Hero
    Yacef Sâadi, The Battle of Algiers
    Appendix 1:Filmakers by Continent and Country of Origin
    Appendix 2: First Feature Films
    Index
About the Author: Mario Falsetto has taught film studies at Concordia University in Montreal for over twenty years. He has published three major books in the past decade, including: the comprehensive analysis Stanley Kubrick: A Narrative and Stylistic Analysis (2001), the anthology Perspectives on Stanley Kubrick (Praeger 2nd edition, 1996), and Personal Visions: Conversations with Contemporary Film Directors (2000).

Liza Béar is a New York-based writer, filmmaker and activist. In the seventies she co-founded and edited the legendary conceptual art magazine Avalanche. She has taught at the films schools of Columbia and New York University, and her film interviews have appeared in Newsday, the New York Daily News, Ms., Elle, Salon.com, the Boston Globe, and other large-circulation metro dailies. She is a contributing editor at Bomb.
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