Congorama.

I saw the excellent CONGORAMA at the Boston Independent Film Festival. For now I'm going to list a series of good articles about the film:

ExploringThe Ties that Bind Belgium and Quebec by Matthew Hays

Congorama Wins 5 Prix Jutra

Congorama OpensMontreal Film Festival.

People have asked me why this is happening

I don't have an answer, at least not one they want to hear at any rate. The film festival starts tonight. This year's line up looks alright however not as promising as the one circa 2005. That was indeed a time to remember. In terms of programming, on a certain level I can understand why some basic so-called indie romances are included however they just don't provide any interest for me-- at all. I'd prefer more somewhat didactic documentaries, or ones that are at least educational to a certain degree-- something that the Canadians and Europeans seem to excel at.

Speaking of Canadian film-- that is to say Quebecois cinema-- "Congorama" (dir. Philippe Falardeau is one of the last films that Jean-Pierre Cassel starred in before passing away. I'm looking forward to that as well as Sarah Polley's (who is also on this year's Cannes jury) first feature film: "Away From Her". At any rate, this is all due to materialize in the near future.

What has piqued my attention in the many news stories regarding this year's Cannes Film Festival are Fatih Akin's new film "Yasamin Kiysinda", which includes Hanna Schygulla among its cast, and a film version of Marjane Satrapi's work Persepolis.

Recent Articles of note

The Minitel evolves; Public Art & Plagiarism are considered ; Pop music is sacred; sports get exclusive; Newspapers don't know how to handle blog comments; drugs and morality get the spotlight; The curse of retro-cinema is upon us; more end of the world scenarios profligate; Jean B and Kurt V passed away; Troxler's Swiss poster Tradition; Excellent look at the Ennio Morricone series that's been about; Jacques Rivette resurfaces; How to tell real drugs from fakes; what cyberchat does to the brain(cuts off inhibitions); A look at current Swedish Design; British seaside towns are in decline; Germany is booming.

That's most of what I've enjoyed reading in the past month or so news-wise.

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Kick off your weekend with an informative look at theAu Pairs.

Independent Film Festival Boston 2007 - tentative schedule

Below is my tentative schedule for the IFFB at the end of this month.
This is all subject to change.

Wednesday April 25, 2007
7pm “Fay Grim” dir. Hal Hartley at Somerville Theatre

Thursday April 26, 2007
Somerville Theatre
7pm “Congorama” directed by Philippe Falardeau

9:45pm “Great World of Sound” directed by Craig Zobel

Friday April 27, 2007
Somerville Theatre
6:45pm “The Cats of Mirikitani” directed by Linda Hattendorf

9:45pm “Monkey Warfare” directed by Reginald Harkema

12:00 “The Beach Party at the End of the World"
dir. by Kevin Wheatley & Jonny Gilette

Saturday April 28, 2007
Somerville Theatre
12:00pm “Lake of Fire” directed by Tony Kaye
12:15pm “The Unforseen” directed By: Laura Dunn

6:00pm “Away From Her” directed by Sarah Polley

10:45pm “The Living and The Dead” directed by Simon Rumley

Sunday April 29, 2007

12:00 “King Corn” directed by Aaron Wolfe at the Brattle

Somerville Theatre
3:00 “Strange Culture” directed by Lynn Hershman Leeson

9:00 “Fido” directed by Andrew Currie

Monday April 30, 2007
Somerville Theatre
5:15pm “Pretty In the Face” directed by Nate Meyer

Playlist - April 6th 2007

I'll be on the air this Friday the 13th and Friday the 20th of April.
Details are at WZBC

"off the cuff"
Fri Apr 6th 2007 7.00pm–10.00pm
Like everything else, times are approximate.

John Foxx & Louis Gordon “Car Crash Flashback V2” from Sideways (Metamatic)
David Sylvian “Pollen Path” from Dead Bees on A Cake CD ALBUM (Virgin w 1999)
The Berg Sans Nipple “Aquarium Life” from along the quai (Team Love 2007)
Num9 “The Wait” from The Glow-worm's Resistance CD ALBUM (Acuarela)
The Durutti Column “Birthday Present” from Sporadic Three (Kooky 2007)
At Swim Two Birds “falling from trees” from returning to the scene of the crime... (Green UFOs www.greenufos.com 2007)
July Skies “Garden Constellations” from Dreaming of Spires CD ALBUM (Rocket Girl)
Thomas Belhom “electrolyse” from Cheval Oblique CD ALBUM (Apparent Extent)
Holiday for Strings “Pain Au Chocolat” from CD (stilll 2007)
Hugo “la collection” from 20 Ways to Float Through Walls (Crammed Discs)
Florida “The Girl on the Escalator” from Monika Force (Monika)
Section 25 “The Process” from From the Hip LP ALBUM (Factory 1983)
Future Conditional “Bright Lights & Wandering” from we don't just disappear (LTM)
Martial Canterel “Ascent” from confusing outsides LP (genetic music 2005)
Vitamins for You “Luxury and Hope” from Saturday Morning Empires (intr_version)
Arthur Russell “Keeping Up” from Another Thought(Orange Mountain 1993) To Rococo Rot “Testfeld” from .cd (Kitty-yo www.force-inc.com)
Arbol “Summer and You” from Acuarela Songs 3 CD COMP
Pan American “train station” from Personal Settings CD COMP (Quatermass)
Jay Jay Johanson “Fire” from Poison CD ALBUM
Lazerboy “the day the earth caught fire” from a murder in the company of vespertine
Anna Domino “Zanna” from anna domino CD ALBUM (LTM)
Purple Confusion “Return to Nassau” from the sound of the atom splitting (Gooom)
Mobius - Plank - Neumier “Pitch Control” from zero set CD ALBUM (Captain Trip) M83 “Night (remixed by ISAN)” from Goom Tracks Vol. 2.5
Tuxedomoon Vs. DJ HELL “Luther Blisset” from Sonar 2002 CD COMP (sonarmusic)
Wilfred* “Loved Ghost” from Songs for Mum and Dad
The Village “Childhood” from "the Village" (Elefant www.elefant.com)
Languis “Far Away Days” from Unithematic CD ALBUM (Simballrec)
Francois De Roubaix “Commissaire Moulin - Indicatif” from Anthologie Vol. 1 CD ALBUM
Thick Pigeon “Silhouettes” from Crepuscule for Cafe Apres-midi (Victor Entertainment (Japan) 2001)
David Kristian “Fragmented Skyway” from Sweet Bits CD ALBUM
Future Conditional “Your love leaves me colder” from we don't just disappear (LTM)
Harmonia “sehr Kosmisch” from musik von harmonia CD ALBUM (Lilith 2006)

The act was committed (Excerpt)

Where were you? Again, it hits me like a blow to the head knocking me backward and unsettling my stomach. The work was done. The act was committed. In essence, Itself, at work and at play. My time is much too valuable for these kinds of pursuits. I fall into them much too easily. Am I always determined to suffer on this earth? Am I always bent on complaining about such inconveniences? I can’t make any accusations at this stage. I suppose I knew I didn’t want it anyway. Worthless and tragic as it is. I’m going to bed early tonight. I cannot stand the sight of other people. My sickness won’t allow it now. It flares up in my lungs and causes my dry throat to retch in pain. I hoped for a new beginning, some other side of happiness. Now that’s all gone. Such pain, such annihilation, the buildings were razed to the ground and now there’s nothing left. Life still exists of course, trying to create some semblance of a normal existence. Obeying ancient rituals to restore humanity to the scarred souls of the few survivors. The bandages aren’t ready to come off yet. The plaza is empty now. I wait for a sign and dismiss it as soon as it arrives. One cares not for such deterrence. Especially in the heart of one so young and capable of anything as yourself. As your work and its life. As it continues to breathe and reproduce within itself. My madness, my cyclical need for renewal. The unconscious debt of my forefathers. The sound of the radiator singing to my ears. I cannot listen anymore. I am called to attention. I am working. That in itself will set you free—won’t it? Where are the darkened halls, the dismantled corridors of time gone by? When will these disruptive changes occur? She waited and watched. Not making a sound. The plain and sketchy way her fingers gestured before my eyes. On days when I thought her mercy would be enough! The pleasure I took in seeing her alive and well—in my arms once again. Spotless and devoted. A chance for another conversation. We were lovers, let me make this clear, I don’t know what she saw in me but finally something connected. There is a new kind of life gestating already. I cannot sense it in this decayed state. The old wooden walls of the overly large room in which I rest free from photographs and other voices. The room is my own jailer. Its backwards comfort keeps me here on nights like this. The thin sheets of glass barely protect the broken hinges of the storm windows. They make a terribly loud rapping noise. It creates a perverse rhythm in my life. The street below is full of children coming home to play in the snow. They need neither the future nor any material possessions. They are consumed by the newness of the physical world. I shudder at them though! My mind has been plagued with its own inconsiderate thoughts and conclusions. I have never been able to see the beauty around me. What it unconsciously sets out to do is perhaps better than any reality I ever faced. I took a lover. I involved myself in the kind of noncommittal relationship that is so common nowadays. I have no need for pretense or equivocation now. History did not exist for Strindberg. He, like Corto Maltese, did not like the lifeline he’d been given, so he decided to cut his own. The force of the present and how much I have ignored it. I am not a kind, loving person at all, quite the contrary. I fight for my own existence every day of my life. Never charmed by pleasure or lust—always insisting on something more, something that isn’t right for one to feel at this age. Caught in the blue viscous liquid that is despondency.