http://www.nypress.com/articles.sec-19-1-films-features.html We’ve reached the point where movies are less popular than other forms of pop culture yet remain compelling—as much for what they recall about the humanities as the inhumanity they routinely deliver. Thus 2011′s year-end mania for the specious cultural tributes of The Artist and Hugo, even though both films, while apparently reverential, were actually false to how cinema is made and enjoyed. ]]> While there is debate about when, exactly, the first film screening occurred, there is no arguing its genre. Whether the Lumiere brothers’ 1895 “Exiting the Factory” or Louis Le Prince’s 1888 “Roundhay Garden Scene” or the Edison workers’ undated camera test “Monkeyshines No. 1,” the earliest films were all documentaries. Simply by pointing a camera at it, these moving pictures made everyday life seem incredible.]]> Before she was an artist, author and filmmaker, Miranda July was a locksmith. Seriously.]]> On the surface, the story of Project Nim, the new film from director James Marsh (Man on Wire), resembles fiction rather than non-fiction. It’s late 1973, and a chimpanzee born in a prison-like research facility is shipped to New York to live with a family as part of a controversial and bizarre behavioral experiment. Herbert Terrace, a psychologist at Columbia University and mastermind of the proceedings, enlists one of his former students—now married with children—to be the surrogate mother to the chimp.]]> As someone born in 1980, I admit that I have never had anyone tell me that my work is worthless because I am a woman. No one ever told me that women cannot become journalists, or artists, or any other profession for that matter. But that’s what they told Lynn Hershman Leeson when she began working as an artist in the 1960s.]]> The itchy, rhythmic funk of the incomparable '80s post-punk band The Au Pairs underscores the British docudrama The Arbor. Deliberately chosen for leader Lesley Woods' feminist-lyrical analysis of sex and politics, the music is part of director Clio Barnard's strategy to revive the sociological scrutiny of '80s pop culture that forms the basis of her film. But then Barnard strips Woods' insinuating vocals (critic Greil Marcus had praised her sound as "acrid," although "tart" better describes Woods' ironicerotic tease). ]]> Famished filmgoers, take note: Director James Rasin hopes his new documentary Beautiful Darling— opening April 22 at the IFC Center—is "an exciting dinner conversation." Darling is the latest in a string of docs about a top cog of the Factory, Andy Warhol's departed avant-garde headquarters at 33 Union Square West. This time it's Candy Darling, Warhol's transgendered starlet—born Jimmy Slattery of Massapequa, Long Island—taking center stage.]]> Stake Land, a new independent film about feral vampires, is the latest collaboration between director Jim Mickle and writer-actor Nick Damici. The story takes place along the East Coast, as the narrator, played by Gossip Girl’s Connor Paolo, and his mentor-slash-guide—a renegade vamp slayer, played by Damici—trek north in an effort to survive the apocalypse in the “Land of Eden,” aka Canada. Stake Land opens at the IFC Center April 22 and goes to video on demand soon after. We sat down with Damici to talk about his favorite horror movies, the state of kickboxing and the allure of baby’s blood.]]> Within the history of Hollywood, it’s fair to say, exists a not-so-secret history of novelists being chewed up and spat out. Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Huxley, West: none achieved the same success at the movies, and rarely did they have nice things to say as the door swiftly hit them on the way out. In the shadows, less notable writers got tangled in the bureaucratic rigmarole, never to be heard from again. Presumably, they’re stuck in that never-ending development meeting from hell. Others have heeded the warning and stayed far away from its seductive pull.]]> There is no easy approach into the work of Brian De Palma. The director, known for his hyper-stylized thrillers and grand-scale epics, often revels in the slick perversity for which he’s routinely attacked. Blunt preoccupations with sex and death (often at the same time), along with a darkly comic streak and a worldview that teeters on the edge of nihilism, result in a repeatedly uncomfortable viewing experience. You’re invited to watch, but feel dirty for doing so. De Palma Suspense—a new series at the BAMCinematek April 8-20—focuses only on the films that thrill and chill.]]> In the documentary American: The Bill Hicks Story, a sound-bite of the late and great “outlaw comedian” quips to the audience, “By the way, if anyone in here is in advertising or marketing, kill yourself.”]]> At a time when it seems that film festivals are more commercialized than ever, New Directors/New Films serves as a sharp rejoinder from March 23–April 3. The annual festival co-hosted by the Museum of Modern Art and Film Society at Lincoln Center, now in its 40th year, holds true to the promise of its title: no big names, no familiar titles; everything is new.]]> As winter melts into spring in the city, the Museum of Modern Art celebrates our chilly northern neighbors with the eighth annual Canadian Front showcase, March 16–21. In association with Telefilm Canada, MoMA hosts the New York premieres of eight Canadian films—which proves that the Canucks have a distinct, if slightly odd, voice in the international cinema scene.]]> You remember film stock, don't you? Those whirring reels that fervidly hummed and unspooled in sexed classes and living-room slideshows, long before our iPads streamed Gnomeo and Juliet on the subway? Old-school projection will reign supreme again March 8 at The Kitchen, where curator Molly Surno presents the latest in her Cinema 16 archival series of wildly experimental short films from radicals past and present, featuring a live score from drone rock quartet Psychic Ills.]]> When the jury of the 2010 Cannes Festival bestowed the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest honor, upon Apichatpong Weerasethakul for his film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, the filmmaker was just as shocked as the audience. Gliding onto the stage to accept the award, endearingly nervous and dressed in his white suit jacket amid hollers from his fans in the back rows, the director whispered what may be the most direct description of the winning film: “This is like another world for me.”]]> In the summer of 2009, director Matt Porterfield was set to embark on the production of Metal Gods, his second feature film. With a cast and crew in place, a completed script and a camera package awarded to them as part of a grant, production was suddenly halted in suburban Baltimore when the small amount of financing the group previously raised fell apart. Instead of letting the many creative and practical elements already in place go to waste, Porterfield developed a five-page treatment that created a new scenario incorporating a few of the actors from Metal Gods.]]> Cold Weather is the thoughtful lovechild of Sherlock Holmes and mumblecore cinema, though its director would deny it. Opening Feb. 4, the film chronicles the delightfully average life of brother-andsister pair Doug and Gail until, about 40 minutes in, Doug's ex-girlfriend Rachel mysteriously disappears. Aided by his coworker Carlos, forensic studies dropout Doug attempts to follow the clues, stymied only by a dislike of Swedish fish and the lack of a car. Cold Weather is a delicious blend of comically pedestrian moments and nearly suspenseful car chases. We caught up with writer/director Aaron Katz to discuss his latest low-budget masterpiece.]]> The entries in this year’s Dance on Camera Festival include fascinating documentaries about seminal choreographers—Pina Bausch, Doris Humphrey—as well as pieces that focus on intriguing, little-known forms such as Armenian tightrope dancing and Bodala, a Swiss rhythm tradition. They range from four minutes to over two hours, and as usual represent an intriguing array of countries. There are glimpses into the rarefied corridors of the Paris Opera Ballet School, a documentary following a Belgian contemporary company as it travels to perform in Kinshasa, and a spirited showcase for female hip-hop dancers. Carlos Saura’s Flamenco, Flamenco, featuring highly theatrical stage performances by leading musicians and dancers, will receive its U.S. premiere.]]> To bring out the Jewish in January, the folks at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Jewish Museum have chosen the best of the Chosen to appear alongside eight films celebrating Jewish history and culture. Shrug on your schmata and brush off your Yiddish to enjoy the 20th anniversary of the New York Jewish Film Festival Jan. 13-24.]]>