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I just watched the premiere of IFC's new documentary film about LA's Z Channel. I was pretty much blown away not really by the documentary, but by the fact that a channel like this was even around in the late 70's to the early 80's. I mean where else at this time and place could you see Empire Strikes Back playing on the same channel as The 400 Blows. Z Channel it seems opened up the gates for other cable channels latter on like IFC, but it seems that no one will ever come close to what the Z Channel was. Major hollywood films shared airtime with smaller indies and European cinema. What is sad about the film is that it's not just about a cable channel, but about a man named Jerry Harvey. He battled personal demons that he couldn't control and used movies as his way to escape his world. All in all this is a great film, but there are some things that are lacking in the film. One thing is that they show a lot of shots of the magazine that was sent out to show was what coming on for the month, but we never really get a overview of what would be playing for that month. What would have been cool is if they would have shown some sort of a listing for a week of programing to show us how all over the map the programing was. Like I said above, one minute the channel would be showing a Star Wars film and then next up after that they would be showing a set of Robert Altman films. The other thing is that we never seen any footage of the channel at all, which I thought was odd. We see footage from the films that were shown, but never any footage of intro's to the films or even the station logo. I found it funny that Alexander Payne says that he still has 100's of hours of Z Channel stuff on tape, which means that if any of the footage was lost that they could have asked him if they could use what he had. He even had on a Z Channel t-shirt. But over all this is a great film to watch when it's replayed. It really makes you wish we had a channel like this again and not channels that replay the same things over and over or films that no one really cares about at all.

Shock and gore in Cannes to mark Friday 13th

Cannes is celebrating celluloid shock and gore to mark Friday 13th.

A documentary by Stuart Samuels explores the impact of six mainly low budget films that became cult classics after they were shown at midnight screenings by American arthouse cinemas during the 1970s.

Beginning with Alejandro Jodorowsky's "El Topo" (1970), many of the counterculture films were commercial flops before theaters like the Elgin in New York rescued them from the mainstream and transformed them into underground hits.

Directors and theater owners interviewed in "Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream" recall hundreds of fans queueing around the block and screens barely visible for the cannabis smoke.

"A den of cinematic iniquity" was how one owner described those nights.

Not only were people there for blood, guts, fear and fun, but, with the outrageous "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" the audiences adopted the costumes of characters and became a part of the film itself.

In the words of Rocky creator Richard O'Brien: "Don't dream it, be it."

For the most part the films were made on shoestring budgets, using stables for studios and tape to put together film reels. Only Rocky was a bigger affair, with a $1.25 million budget. But even that, after initially bombing at the box office, was rescued at midnight and went on to make at least $175 million.

IT ALL BEGAN IN CHILE

The midnight movie phenomenon began with "El Topo" ("The Mole"), an ultra-violent film by Chilean director Jodorowsky that began with a single-lined advertisement in a U.S. newspaper and became a ritual for thousands wanting to be shocked.

Then there was "Night of the Living Dead" (1968), the gory zombie flick with political resonances including the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King and the Vietnam war.

Director George A. Romero is in Cannes on Friday to present 20 minutes of clips from his new film "Land of the Dead."

John Waters's "Pink Flamingos" was "shlock" as much as shock, featuring lead actor Divine eating a poodle's excrement.

"An exercise in poor taste," was how the zany director described it. "Beyond pornography."

Perry Henzell's "The Harder They Come" (1972), a violent tale of a Jamaican country boy making it big in the city, and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," got fresh leases of life from the late showings, as did David Lynch's disturbing "Eraserhead."

But then came "Jaws," "Star Wars," and the video machine, and shock and awe became movie mainstream, which, according to the documentary, spelled the end for the late night ritual.

"The death of the midnight film is a sad thing," Lynch said.

Lino wrote:In the Realms of the Unreal, a film by Jessica Yu

pantheon viewer wrote:has anyone heard anything about the next up series film...isn't 49 Up due to come out soon??

Deckard wrote:In a recent interview Mr Apted said he's going to start shooting "49 up" in the Spring of 2005, so I imagine it will be shown around Christmas time [in the UK], with a bit of luck!

Les Reid wrote:According to Variety, the latest news on 49-Up (which is due next year) is that it will be broadcast by ITV. So it seems that the switch to BBC for the 42-Up instalment was a one-off. ITV wants to show the programme next year as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations, so no doubt it was prepared to pay much more than the BBC.

Quite unusual, surely, for a documentary to become the basis for a bidding war? Les

As a director, Apted is on the front lines of the film vs. digital debate. He's had his own internal conflicts since he experimented with high definition for his documentaries Married in America (2002) on A&E Television Networks, and a not-yet-released film on the Rolling Stones. Scheherazade will be shot in 35mm, but 49 Up will be HD even though the previous installments were captured on 16mm film.

He enjoys the fact that video equipment can be less obtrusive and, especially on something heavily interview-based, that he can shoot longer without changing magazines. “When we shot 16mm,â€

Brian Oblivious wrote:The only one outside the established quantities I've seen is Touch the Sound which is a pseudo-verite depiction of the disintegration of a Christian family living in Muslim Indonesia. The filmmaker has an cinematic eye but also a very heavy hand. The film seems purposely designed to scare Westerners.

DDillaman wrote:There's a fistful of documentaries playing at the Auckland Film Festival, including BE HERE TO LOVE ME: A FILM ABOUT TOWNES VAN ZANDT, TELL THEM WHO YOU ARE, A LABYRINTH OF TIME, DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE, THE FUTURE OF FOOD, BRASILIERINHO, MONSTER ROAD, SHAPE OF THE MOON, PROTOCOLS OF ZION, OCCUPATION: DREAMLAND, SISTERS IN LAW, HELL ON WHEELS, THE TAKE, and TOUCH THE SOUND, as well as established quantities such as THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON, GRIZZLY MAN, THE WHITE DIAMOND, ENRON, and Z CHANNEL. If anybody can recommend or de-recommend any of the less familiar ones, though, please do. (I did see TOUCH THE SOUND director's previous film, RIVERS AND TIDES, and am therefore inclined to check the new one out.)

Martha wrote: I'm incredibly curious about Darwin's Nightmare-- it got very high praise here, and just sounds like a fascinating story, whether it's a great film or not. Anyone seen it?

Martha wrote:I'm incredibly curious about Darwin's Nightmare-- it got very high praise here, and just sounds like a fascinating story, whether it's a great film or not. Anyone seen it?

Annie Mall wrote:Another thread from the dead.

I was wondering about Easy Riders and Raging Bulls and A Decade under the Influence, the 2 documentaries on 70's filmmaking. Which one is the best, does anyone have an opinion? Both seem to be flawed in some ways but which one do you recommend?