Friday, October 30, 2009

New Films by Claire Denis, Ulrich Seidl and Lisandro Alonso at NWFF : Nov 5 - 19


Exceptional abundance of cinema all-at-once over the course of two weeks beginning Nov. 6
at the Northwest Film Forum! Firstly, the most recent film by "Trouble Every Day", "The Intruder"
and "Friday Night" director Claire Denis; "35 Shots of Rum" which, every review I've read, from
the Village Voice to Sight & Sound had good things to say, suggesting this may be her carrier best.
The most recent by Ulrich Seidl; "Import/Export", following on his Cannes Jury Prize winning "Dog Days"
with more beautifully shot, brutal depictions of life in a Eastern Europe and the Global labor
market's exploitation of the post-communism underclass.


Lastly, there's the work of Lisandro Alonso, whose series here, "At the Edge of the World: The
Cinema of Lisandro Alonso," includes his most recent trilogy of films, concluding with 2008's
"Liverpool". Much lauded by Film Comment, Alonso is considered one of the major new director
finds of the past decade, and has been advocated by many of the other major international cinema
publications, following awards in festivals, from Vienna to Oslo to Rotterdam to Russia. Despite the
accolades, his work is rarely seen (this marks his first-ever screening in Seattle), and an entire series
of his work is quite a cinema event. New ones by Denis, Seidl and a Alonso series, making for two weeks
of rarely seen, highly qualitative, new global cinema....And just in time to act as a respite from
the annual season of rain n' gloom that's descended!

Link to Northwest Film Forum "Import/Export" site

Link to Northwest Film Forum "35 Shots of Rum" site

Link to Northwest Film Forum "At The Edge Of The World: The Cinema of Lisandro Alonso" site

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Parkins & Mori "Phantom Orchard" / Earshot Jazz Festival
- Seattle : Oct 16 - Nov 8


Seattle's answer to an International Jazz Festival - Earshot is back this fall for its 21st installment.
Highlight for me this year, (and quite a surprise) is Ikue Mori and Zeena Parkins "Phantom Orchard"
project who's 2003 release on the Mego label still stands as one of the finest fusions on improv
/electronics/electric instrumentation to be released in the past decade. Really. Fans of Evan
Parker's Electroacoustic Ensemble, the Improvised Music From Japan movement, Mori's other
collab project; Death Ambient on John Zorn's Tzadik label, the Polweschel ensemble and the
whole UK Sound323 scene take note!

Another significant show, also hosted by Nonsequitur thouh not directly in Earshot, is that of
Rachel Grimes from the neoclassical chamber-ensemble Rachel's. - check the Earshot and
Nonsequitur sites for other noteworthy goings on throughout the months of October/November:

Link to Earshot Jazz Festival site

Link to Rachel Grimes on the Nonsequitur site

Link to Parkins & Mori "Phantom Orchard" on the Nonsequitur site