Francois Truffaut is widely remembered for his brilliantly uncanny exploration of childhood in The 400 Blows, but a lesser known picture called L’argent de poche (alternately known as Small Change or Pocket Money) may be his true masterpiece of the genre. Presenting a vast array of vignettes about youth, Truffaut weaves together a joyously mischievous slice of life triumph. Small Change bursts with color and features a cast of wonderfully natural non-actors in a range of epic moments “from the first bottle to the first kiss,” as Truffaut explained it.
The Film Deskhas graciously re-released the film with a beautiful restored print that’s currently touring North America. It’s at Cinefamilythis Sunday, and then heading to Wisconsin, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Ohio. Don’t miss a chance to see this sparkling film on the big screen!
"'The Art of the Steal' is a documentary that chronicles the long and dramatic struggle for control of the Barnes Foundation, a private collection of Post-Impressionist and early Modern art valued at more than $25 billion." Actually, it's $25-$35 billion. The value is really incalculable. Albert C. Barnes (1872-1951) was a Philadelphian of working-class origins who used his fortune from an antiseptic compound called Argyrol to collect: 181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses (including his commissioned, unique, Art of the Dance murals), 46 Picassos, 21 Soutines, 18 Rousseaus, 16 Modiglianis, 11 Degas, 7 Van Goghs, 6 Seurats, 4 Manets and 4 Monets. And these are quality, not just quantity: they include some of the named artists' best works. For Renoir,Cezanne, and Matisse, this collection is unique, and there may be no other private collectionof such work of this magnitude.
Barnes was a great collector. He was also famously cranky and opinionated. He deeply and lastingly resented the fat cats of the city of Philadelphia who mocked the work in his collection when it was first shown. He chose to keep the collection away from those Philadelphian fat cats. A friend of the philosopher and educational theorist John Dewey, he built a museum in Merion, Pennsylvania (five miles from Philadelphia) on his own land, a 12-acre Arboretum, and restricted visits, running the Foundation as a teaching institution, which was his main focus in life from the Twenties till his death in a car accident in 1951. The collection was displayed as in a house, arranged with furniture and decorations, in aesthetically pleasing (if rather overly-symmetrical) groupings, rather than in the contemporary museum's open space, white wall style.
Barnes' will specified that the collection must never be loaned out or sold. His will put Lincoln University, a small black college, in charge of the collection after his death.
For a long time the Foundation was run by a close follower of the Barnes spirit, Violette de Mazia. But after she died in 1988, gradually, and recently quite rapidly, the will has been abrogated, the trust broken. In the Nineties, an ambitious man named Richard H. Glanton, who was then in charge loaned the collection to various major venues, including the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, and ending, ironically, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, ostensibly to raise money. More recently a powerful nexus of politicians (the governor and the mayor of Philadelphia), the Annenbergs, the Philidelphia Museum, and rich charitable organizations, mainly the Pew Foundation, have worked not only to get control away from Lincoln University but to move the whole collection to a new building in the city of Philadelphia, where Barnes emphatically did not want his collection to be.
"In an age where most docs are grafted over by pop narratives for greater suspense, drama or momentum, 45365works specifically because of its wonderfully curated aimlessness." - GreenCine Daily
From the patrol car to the courtroom, the playground to the nursing home, the parade to the prayer service,45365 explores the congruities of daily life in a small American town -- Sidney, Ohio, to be exact. The stories of a father and son, a young relationship, cops and criminals, officials and their electorate coalesce into a mosaic of faces, places, and events. First-time filmmakers Turner and Bill Ross not only do a fantastic job collecting engaging documentary subjects unfettered by the presence of their cameras, but also crafting a mood in which they trust you'll be persistent, that you'll let their quiet rhythm build -- that your enjoyment of the unforced cinematic whisper is not only OK, but desired in its own right.
Katharine Ross In Person!Double Feature: By the time Katharine Ross became a household name with her turn as Elaine Robinson in 1967’s THE GRADUATE, she had already honed her craft in dozens of hours of television and in the Civil War classic SHENANDOAH. Ross quickly followed her Oscar-nominated breakthrough with an equally high-profile role in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID and a critically acclaimed performance in TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE. In subsequent years she worked with maverick directors from Brian De Palma to Richard Kelly (her appearance as Donnie Darko’s psychiatrist introduced her to a whole new generation of filmgoers), and starred in one of the most iconic films of its era, THE STEPFORD WIVES.
THE GRADUATE, 1967, Stuart Lisell, 105 min. Dir. Mike Nichols.In this iconic 1960s classic, Dustin Hoffman stars as Benjamin Braddock, a recent college graduate in search of a little direction in his life. He soon finds himself having an affair with the wife of his father’s partner, Mrs. Robinson (the fabulous Anne Bancroft). Things get even more complicated when he falls for Mrs. Robinson’s beautiful, level-headed daughter (Katharine Ross). Featuring an unmatched soundtrack by Simon and Garfunkel, and the riotously funny, generation-defining line of dialogue, "Plastics."
GAMES, 1967, Universal Pictures, 100 min. Dir. Curtis Harrington. Beautiful people James Caan and Katharine Ross live in a fun house filled with Pop Art and pinball games – until mysterious charlatan Simone Signoret drops in, and the parlor games turn devilishly sinister.Discussion in between films with Katharine Ross.
There will be an opening reception on March 11, 2010, 7p -11pat The Eames Officeto introduce the Eames Century Modern Collection. The event will befree and open to the public. Stuff to do there that night:
Meet and greet with the Eames family and House Industries designers
Presentation about the Eames Century Modern Collection
Join Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, collaborating live with saxophonist Ulrich Krieger and guitarist Alan Licht, as he goes to the blasphemous extreme with live scores to the films of Stan Brakhage and other mid-century American cinema avant-gardists. According to Licht, Text of Light"does not perform soundtracks to the films of Stan Brakhage. Rather, it uses the films as a further element for improvisation, almost as [another] performer. While Brakhage intended for these films to be screened silently as films...[here] they are juxtaposed with the music, in a kind of real-time performance, mixed-media collage." But the evening doesn't stop there! The night also includes a screening of Parallel, an animation tour-de-force by mediamaker Huckleberry Lain, featuring music by Argentinean-born, L.A.-based electronic duo Languis.
The Oscar's are upon us, and a new crop of excellent short films are in the running for Best Short. Head on down to the Egyptian Theatre for a program of all shorts nominated in the Animation and Live-Action categories at the 2010 Oscars. Selections include "The Door,""Instead of Abracadabra," "Kavi," "Miracle Fish," "The New Tenants," "French Roast," "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty," "The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)," "Logorama" and "A Matter of Loaf and Death." English subtitles if dialogue is other than English. (Spielberg Theatre)
One of the most beloved traditional gospel groups and the musical laureate of New Orleans celebrate the sounds of the Crescent City. The Blind Boys of Alabama is still creating bold new music a full 70 years after its founding at the Talladega Institute for the Blind, finding the soulful core of songs by Tom Waits, Prince and others. As a composer, producer and musician, Allen Toussaint was behind “Mother-in-Law,” “Workin’ In a Coal Mine,” “Lady Marmalade” and dozens of other hits, as well as an acclaimed collaboration with Elvis Costello, “The River in Reverse,” recorded after Hurricane Katrina. On his new album “The Bright Mississippi,” his elegantly spirited piano playing honors Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton and other New Orleans legends.
The Hammer Museum will present the first museum retrospective of drawings by British artist Rachel Whiteread. While her sculpture is well known and widely published, Whiteread's work on paper has remained largely behind the scenes. "My drawings are a diary of my work," she explains, and like the passages in a diary her drawings range from fleeting ideas to labored reflections. Variegated textures, subtle nuances of tone over colored graph paper, and the play of imagery in collaged constructions are some of the distinctive characteristics of Whiteread's works on paper. A crucial aspect of her artistic practice, they are produced independently of the sculpture yet evoke similarly poignant notions of presence and absence.
In this exhibition, Whiteread's drawingswill be accompanied by key examples of her sculptural work. Among the special features of the installation is a vitrine of objects selected by Whiteread. Works by the artist are juxtaposed with items gathered from various sources, such as attics and thrift stores, or found on walks and travels. Fossils, a dental mold, a tin votive, buttons and shoe lasts are just some of the objects that belong to Whiteread's collection of captured memories, and thus to her extended notion of drawing.
This Saturday, stop by Freak City located at 6613 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. From 3pm – 7pm, come meet and learn from some of the leading Creative Professionals in LA. Join others interested in building careers in creative industries, aspiring entrepreneurs interested in cultivating creative talent.
Hosted by Minogi, a website dedicated to building resources for entrepreneurial leaders of the Millennial generation, this event is open--and free--to anyone of this generation who has an idea or a creative outlet and wants to make something out of it.
Panel discussion includes representatives from Delicious Vinyl, Universal Music Group, Studio Number One, Obey, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, Hearty Magazine, Diamond Supply Company, Dimepiece, Freelance Republic. Participating artists include Squeak E. Clean and Rob Roy.
Radical, hilarious and influential, "Top Value Television" was an ad hoc collective of documentarians whose pioneering use of portable, low-tech video gear allowed them unprecedentedbehind-the-scenes access to everything from presidential conventions to the Super Bowl. The Cinefamily celebrates the TVTV spirit, and the top notch documentary filmmaking they produced, with a panel discussion/reunion of TVTV members, a video "primer" of past works, and a screening of Lord Of The Universe, an expose on sixteen-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji and the national gathering of his followers at the Houston Astrodome.
Francois Truffaut is widely remembered for his brilliantly uncanny exploration of childhood in The 400 Blows, but a lesser known picture called L’argent de poche (alternately known as Small Change or Pocket Money) may be his true masterpiece of the genre. Presenting a vast array of vignettes about youth, Truffaut weaves together a joyously mischievous slice of life triumph. Small Change bursts with color and features a cast of wonderfully natural non-actors in a range of epic moments “from the first bottle to the first kiss,” as Truffaut explained it. 
