"Alfred Hitchcock's Tender Buttons"

Jim Finn's THE JUCHE IDEA

At Moving Image Source, I have a piece on Jim Finn's amazing The Juche Idea (which screens tonight at MOMA at 7—you must see it!) and Kim Jong Il's film writings:

In “Let Us Create More Revolutionary Films Based on Socialist Life,” a whopping 28-page talk, Kim sounds like a contemporary U.S. critic dissing Avatar as a Dances With Wolves ripoff: “As I pointed out some time ago, the new script in which you made the hero a shoemaker has a similar story to that of the feature film The Girl Barber, and there is also nothing particularly new in what the writer wants to say….As a matter of fact, this work differs little from The Girl Barber in theme, plot and mood. The only difference is that the barber, the heroine in The Girl Barber, has been replaced by a shoemaker as the hero.”

Beautiful Cheerleader Develops Dystonia

At Moving Image Source, writers chime in with their favorite moving-image moments of 2009. I wrote about this:

Table-Talk for New Year's Eve 2008

I. Happy new year!

II. At the New Yorker's Book Bench blog, PD has been dubbed "2008’s Best Novel About Doing Battle with Microsoft Word and Losing"! Heyyy—I'll take it!

An eeriely prescient tale of layoffs; think “Alien” set in an office, where computers are stealthily self-destructing and people keep disappearing from their cubicles, leaving vast empty warrens of corporate debris. Did I mention that it’s deeply, bitterly funny?

(Thanks to Levi for the tip.)

III. At Moving Image Source, assorted cinéastes weigh in on their favorite moving-image moments of the year. Here's a tidbit by Dzyd David "Shadowplay" Cairns:

I attended a rare screening of Sidney Lumet's Tennessee Williams adaptation Blood Kin and was most impressed by a shot where a giant plastic cow was wheeled past James Coburn. It made me feel alive in a special way. The combination of elements—Coburn and cow—something about it was just so right, and so bold.

(Here is Part 2.)

IV. Happy new year, again! Thank you for reading this blog! (AND a big thanks to everyone who read PD, or reviewed it or blogged it or end-of-year-listed it, or came out to see me read, or sent in PD sightings.....)

And that's...



(Via VSL. See more "The End" cards here.)

Attention Dennis Lim fans: "Moving Image Source" press release

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE ANNOUNCES MAJOR NEW WEBSITE DEVOTED TO FILM HISTORY AND RESEARCH: ‘MOVING IMAGE SOURCE’

New York, May 11, 2007—Rochelle Slovin, director of the Museum of the Moving Image, today announced the creation of a major new film website, Moving Image Source. The site, made possible with support from the Hazen Polsky Foundation, will launch this fall at movingimagesource.us. “Moving Image Source will be an important contribution to the fields of film history and film research,” Ms. Slovin said. “It will take a contemporary view of film history by offering fresh perspectives on current retrospective programs. It will also serve the growing interest in film studies by providing a gateway to a wide array of research resources.” The site will be supervised by Dennis Lim, the Museum’s editorial director, who recently joined the Museum after working for eight years as the film editor at The Village Voice.

Moving Image Source will consist of two components: a publication and a research directory. The publication will contain original writing on film and film history, including in-depth coverage of retrospective programs at museums, media arts organizations, and film festivals around the world. Leading critics and scholars will contribute new essays and articles. A master calendar will provide an overview of key revivals and programs at major venues. For each highlighted series, the site will offer suggestions for further viewing and reading.

The site’s research directory will feature an annotated and regularly maintained database of online and offline resources, ranging from scholarly and popular journals to film-related libraries and archives. It will also offer information, geared to students and scholars of all levels, on how to use research tools and serve as a meeting place for discussion on topics relating to film history and film studies.

“I look forward to working on Moving Image Source,” Mr. Lim said. “This site grows out of a belief that the health of film culture depends on a serious engagement with film history. Thanks to restored prints, new DVDs, and the vitality of retrospective programming at film institutions around the world, important old movies are now more accessible than ever. At the same time, coverage of revivals and historical surveys continues to dwindle at traditional media outlets. This is an ideal time for a publication and resource of this nature, and the Internet, which has enabled the emergence of a global cinephile community, is the ideal forum for it.”

Moving Image Source was made possible with a gift from the Hazen Polsky Foundation in memory of Joseph Hazen. One of Hollywood’s unsung executives, Hazen worked closely with Hal Wallis at Warner Bros. in the 1930s. Their independent company Wallis-Hazen Productions made 64 movies in just 26 years and nurtured the careers of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Burt Lancaster, Barbara Stanwyck, and Shirley MacLaine, among others. “We are grateful for the generous and visionary support of the Hazen Polsky Foundation,” said Ms. Slovin. “The Foundation understands both the importance of film history and the role that the Internet has as a forum for discussion and research. The first site of its kind, Moving Image Source will serve an international audience of cinephiles, scholars, students, and journalists.”

Museum of the Moving Image (movingimage.us) is dedicated to advancing the public understanding and appreciation of the art, history, technique, and technology of film, television, and digital media. It does so by collecting, preserving, and providing access to the nation’s largest permanent collection of moving image artifacts; screening significant films and other moving-image works; presenting exhibitions of artifacts, artworks, and interactive experiences; and offering educational and interpretive programs to students, teachers, and the general public. A major expansion and renovation, scheduled for completion in 2009, will add new film theaters, galleries, and an education center.