News

“I’m Still Here,” Walter Salles’ searing drama about the life of Brazilian lawyer and activist Eunice Paiva, has triumphed at the 97th annual Academy Awards to win Best International Feature Film. Salles, along with the producers of his film, took the stage at the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood to receive the prize, as presented by Penelope Cruz.

A previous nominee for his film “Central Station” in 1998, Salles gave a short and concise speech during the ceremony, focusing on shedding light on the real history that the film spotlights and its anti-authoritarian themes. In addition, he thanked his leading lady Fernanda Torres as well as her mother Fernanda Montenegro, both of whom appear in the film playing the main character, Brazllian lawyer and activist Eunice Paiva, at different stages of her life.

“I’m so honored to receive this, and in such an extraordinary group of filmmakers,” Salles said in his acceptance speech.

Exclusive: A new musical stage adaptation of the Oscar-winning 1959 film Black Orpheus is being readied for a Broadway premiere next season, producers said today. The production will feature a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz, original music by Brazilian music icon Sergio Mendes, and direction and choreography by Sergio Trujillo, the Tony-winning choreographer of Ain’t Too Proud.

In addition to winning both the Cannes Palme d’Or and the 1959 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the 1959 film directed by Marcel Camus based on a play by Vinicius de Moraes played a seminal role in launching the international popularity of Bossa Nova music. The stage adaptation will feature both new, original music by Mendes and selections from the beloved movie score by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa and Vinicius de Moraes.

In a statement, producers Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey said, “It is our privilege to ready Black...

Tilda Swinton to attend restored screening of Peter Wollen’s 1987 UK film Friendship’s Death.

Two documentaries from Mark Cousins and restored films from Kinuyo Tanaka, Oscar Micheaux, and Orson Welles will screen in Cannes Classics, announced on Wednesday (June 23).

Cousins’ The Story Of Film: A New Generation and The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, a profile of the celebrated British producer, are among a documentary line-up that incudes Buñuel, Un Cineasta Surrealista from Javier Espada, and All About Yves Montand by Yves Jeuland.

The roster of restored narrative films includes David Lynch’s 2001 Mulholland Drive, Japanese actor-filmmaker Kinuyo Tanaka’s (pictured) The Moon Has Risen,...

Yes, sure, all the new films are exciting and sure to dominate discourse from here to January, but every year (i.e. when a pandemic doesn’t kneecap them) the Cannes Film Festival provides an equal-if-not-greater service: Cannes Classics, their mix of favorite and soon-to-be-discovered films from yesteryear.

2021’s lineup is representative of that variety, offering as it does Orson Welles and David Lynch alongside an early Raoul Peck feature (restored by Scorsese’s World Cinema Project), Tilda Swinton’s screen debut, a lesser-seen Masahiro Shinoda, and (frankly!) names that don’t ring a bell.

Take a look at the list below, with hope that these will make their way to American shores.

A Tribute To Bill Duke

The director, actor and producer, in Competition at Cannes with A Rage in Harlem in 1991, returns to the Croisette with his first film as director, presented at the Semaine de la critique...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

Alice (Josephine Mackerras)

It makes no sense. The night before saw Alice Ferrand’s (Emilie Piponnier) husband François (Martin Swabey) going out of his way to passionately make-out with her in front of their friends at a dinner party and now he won’t answer her calls. Despite his running out of the house earlier than usual without any explanation, however, there’s nothing to make her think something is wrong until a trip to the drugstore exposes a freeze on their finances. One credit card won’t work. Then another. The Atm won’t accept her sign-in and François still isn’t picking up his phone.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Marielle Heller)

It sounds almost too perfect: Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers, the beloved children’s entertainer. Of course, who else could it be, really? It is so seemingly predestined, in fact, that Hanks’s first onscreen appearance as Fred Rogers elicits knowing laughter from the audience. Yes, Tom Hanks playing Mr. Rogers looks and sounds exactly how you would imagine. Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, however, is much more than an obvious biopic. It’s not really a biopic at all. Nor is it a rehash of 2018’s much-heralded documentary profile of Fred Rogers, Won’t You Be MyNeighbor?...

In “Adrift,” young sailors in love with world travel and each other (Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin) agree to pilot a yacht across the South Pacific for $10,000. They fancy 30 days of watching sunsets. What they get is a Category 5 hurricane.

Tami Oldham Ashcraft recounted the real-life ordeal she and fiancé Richard Sharp endured in Fall 1983 in “Red Sky at Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea.” The self-published memoir was found by identical twin screenwriters Aaron and Jordan Kandell. They abandoned plans for an original maritime tale, wanting instead to adapt Ashcraft’s text, and envisioning their friend Woodley as its indefatigable heroine.

Read More: ‘Adrift’ Review: Shailene Woodley Rescues a True Life Survival Thriller from Drowning at Sea

When Woodley was 18 and filming Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” in the brothers’ native Hawaii, Jordan’s wife was the teacher hired by the studio to help...

Despite being two of the longest running institutions in cinema, the Oscars and Cannes have not always been the best of bedfellows. Only one film, 1955’s “Marty,” has won both the Palme D’Or and Best Picture. But many more films that have played on the croisette at Cannes have been nominated or won other big prizes from the Academy. These are the 16 films that both won the Palme D’Or and won an additional Oscar.

“Marty” (1955)

In the first year that Cannes started calling their top prize the Palme D’Or, the Delbert Mann drama and romance based on the Paddy Chayefsky teleplay won four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing and Best Actor for Ernest Borgnine.

“The Silent World” (1956)

Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s pioneering, underwater nature documentary beat out films from Satyajit Ray, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa and more to win the Palme, and it also took home the Best Documentary Oscar.

“Black Orpheus” (1959)

Marcel Camus’s dreamy, contemporary take on the Orpheus and Eurydice Greek myth won the Palme and the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

“La Dolce Vita” (1960)

Federico Fellini’s sensuous reverie of a film “La Dolce Vita” managed Oscar nods for Best Director and Screenplay, but only won for Best Costume Design.

“A Man and a Woman” (1966)

The Academy rewarded this French New Wave romance starring Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant with two Oscars, one for its screenplay and another for Best Foreign Language Film.

“Mash” (1970)

It’s surprising to see Cannes anoint a film as irreverent as Robert Altman’s screwball war satire “Mash,” but though the Oscars nominated it for Best Picture, the award went to another war film, “Patton.” “Mash” did pick up a win for Altman’s ingenious ensemble screenplay.

“Apocalypse Now” (1979)

Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam war masterpiece was still a work-in-progress when it screened at Cannes, and it would split the Palme with “The Tin Drum” that same year. It was nominated for eight Oscars and won two, but lost Best Picture to “Kramer vs. Kramer.”

“The Tin Drum” (1979)

After splitting the Palme with “Apocalypse Now,” “The Tin Drum” won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar with ease.

“All That Jazz” (1980)

Weirdly, Bob Fosse’s musical was nominated alongside “Apocalypse Now” at the 1979 Oscars, opening in December of that year, but it won the 1980 Cannes after cleaning up four Oscars just a month earlier.

“Missing” (1982)

Jack Lemmon won Cannes’s Best Actor prize for Costa-Gavras’s political thriller in addition to “Missing” winning the Palme. And Lemmon and co-star Sissy Spacek each scored acting nominations in addition to the film being nominated for Best Picture, but it only won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

“The Mission” (1986)

Starring Robert de Niro and Jeremy Irons as Spanish Jesuits trying to save a native American tribe, Roland Joffe’s “The Mission” won the Palme and earned seven nominations but only one Oscar win for Best Cinematography.

“Pelle the Conqueror” (1987)

The legendary Max von Sydow plays a Swedish immigrant in Denmark in this Danish film that won the Palme, the Best Foreign Language Oscar and netted Sydow his first acting nomination.

“The Piano” (1993)

Holly Hunter won the Best Actress prize at both Cannes and the Oscars for Jane Campion’s drama that won the Palme D’Or and was nominated for eight Oscars in all.

“Pulp Fiction” (1994)

Much has been written about the bombshell Quentin Tarantino set off when “Pulp Fiction” debuted at Cannes and polarized audiences by winning the Palme, not to mention the cultural rift it created when it went head to head with “Forrest Gump” at the Oscars and lost.

“The Pianist” (2002)

Winning Best Director for Roman Polanski and Best Actor for Adrien Brody, “The Pianist” was a strong favorite to win Best Picture after winning the Palme, but it lost to the musical “Chicago.” Just don’t expect a repeat from Polanski anytime soon.

“Amour” (2012)

Michael Haneke had just won his second Palme D’Or for his sobering romance about old age “Amour,” and rightfully so. The film paired French New Wave legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva and scored five Oscar nominations in all, including Best Picture, but only came away with a win for Best Foreign Language Film.

Read original story 16 Cannes Winners That Went on to Take Oscar Gold (Photos) At TheWrap...

Produced by Fabiano Gullane, Walter Salles and Globo Filmes, and unfolding to the strains of Bossa Nova, “Noah’s Ark” has closed brisk pre-sales for Edward Noeltner’s Cinema Management Group (Cmg) off a Berlin Festival launch.

Those deals reflect the status of “Noah’s Ark” – directed by Sérgio Machado (“Lower City”) and with songs and lyrics by Bossa Nova legend Vinicius de Moraes – as both one of the biggest-budgeted of current Brazilian movies and a flagship of its vibrant animation sector, which will receive a tribute at June’s Annecy Festival.

Made in what is now the long run-up to Cannes, deals also underscore Cmg’s making full use of Bordeaux’s Cartoon Movie and Hong Kong’s FilmArt to not only pre-sell “Noah’s Ark” in small-to-midsize territories – a traditional strategy – but position “Noah’s Ark” for the Cannes Festival. That tactic is likely to be copied by...

Winner of both the Academy Award for best foreign-language film and the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus (Orfeu negro) is an adaptation of the ancient Greek myth updated to the twentieth-century madness of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. With its eye-popping photography and ravishing, epochal soundtrack, Black Orpheus was a cultural event, kicking off the bossa nova craze that set hi-fis across America spinning.

Black Orpheus is available to buy now from Amazon.

To win the Criterion release of Black Orpheus and a copy of the soundtrack, just answer the following question:

Black Orpheus is a retelling of which myth? Is it:

a) Persephone and Hades

b) Odysseus and Penelope

c) Orpheus and Eurydice

Email your answer to NerdlyComps@gmail.com, making sure to include your name and address. You can also leave your answer on our Facebook page, just make sure to like...

Stars: Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, Lourdes de Oliveira, Lea Garcia | Written by Marcel Camus, Vinicius de Moraes, Jacques Viot | Directed by Marcel Camus

Made in 1959 by the French filmmaker Marcel Camus, Black Orpheus is a Portuguese-language adaptation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Here it is relocated to Rio de Janeiro, during Carnaval, which gives the impression that the city is in perennial party mode.

Orfeu (Breno Mello) is an eager young musician who happens to greet Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn) as she arrives in Rio for the first time. Both are in an awkward position. Orfeu is facing a marriage to Mira (Lourdes de Oliveira), whom he doesn’t love. (He’d rather spend his money on a guitar than a wedding ring.) Eurydice is on the run from a stalker: a man dressed as Death.

It turns out Death has followed her to Rio. Orfeu chases him off,...

Palme Thursday is A.A. Dowd’s monthly examination of a winner of the Palme D’Or, determining how well the film has held up and whether it deserved the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival.

Black Orpheus (1959)

It isn’t often that a movie commences with a perfect summary of its own appeal. But that’s exactly what Black Orpheus does. Marcel Camus’ 1959 melodrama opens on a marble statue of its mythological namesake, a tableau of Greek tragedy set to the gentle strum of an acoustic ballad. But after no more than 10 seconds (and immediately following the appearance of the title), this black-and-white image seems to shatter into a hundred star-shaped shards. They fall away to reveal the film’s next and much more illustrative image: men smiling, dancing, and playing music under the Brazilian sun. The first shot prepares you for a funeral ...

Criterion releases actor turned director Bernhard Wicki’s feature film debut The Bridge for the very first time on Region 1. Though he directed a mid-length film the year before, Why Are They Against Us?, it would be his next project, arriving in 1959, that would come to be known as the first anti-war film to come out of Germany, as well as the nation’s first post-war film to reach international recognition and critical acclaim. It would go on to win the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in the Us, and it secured an Academy Award Nomination in the same category (losing out to Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus).

The title paved the way for a short-lived English language career for Wicki, but more importantly, stood as the platform upon which the burgeoning New German Cinema auteurs would proliferate, precipitating Volker Schlondorff’s own 1966 debut, Young Torless, a much darker...

Marc Allégret: From André Gide lover to Simone Simon mentor (photo: Marc Allégret) (See previous post: "Simone Simon Remembered: Sex Kitten and Femme Fatale.") Simone Simon became a film star following the international critical and financial success of the 1934 romantic drama Lac aux Dames, directed by her self-appointed mentor – and alleged lover – Marc Allégret.[1] The son of an evangelical missionary, Marc Allégret (born on December 22, 1900, in Basel, Switzerland) was to have become a lawyer. At age 16, his life took a different path as a result of his romantic involvement – and elopement to London – with his mentor and later "adoptive uncle" André Gide (1947 Nobel Prize winner in Literature), more than 30 years his senior and married to Madeleine Rondeaux for more than two decades. In various forms – including a threesome with painter Théo Van Rysselberghe's daughter Elisabeth – the Allégret-Gide relationship remained steady until the late '20s and their trip to...

'The Way He Looks' movie: Gay teen love story is Brazil's entry for the 2015 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (photo: Fábio Audi and Ghilherme Lobo in 'The Way He Looks') In mid-September, The Way He Looks / Hoje Eu Quero Voltar Sozinho was selected as Brazil's entry for the 2015 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. Written and directed by 32-year-old São Paulo native Daniel Ribeiro, The Way He Looks (the Portuguese-language title literally means "Today I Want to Go Back Alone") won two awards at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival: the International Film Critics' Fipresci Prize for Best Film in the Panorama sidebar and the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender characters. Based on Ribeiro's 2010 short I Don't Want to Go Back Alone / Eu Não Quero Voltar Sozinho, The Way He Looks tells the story of Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo), a blind 15-year-old struggling to become...

Above: 1964 poster for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, Germany, 1920).

I’ve written a lot about the German designer Hans Hillmann in these pages and elsewhere, and the current exhibition running through September 27 at the Kemistry Gallery is a must-see if you’re in London (there are some great images of the exhibit here if you’re not), but I only recently came across the work of a peer and compatriot of Hillmann’s, Karl Oskar Blase. Born the same year as Hillmann, on March 24, 1925, and now in his late 80s, Blase was, like Hillmann, a professor at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. Art director of the German design magazine Form, Blase designed every cover of the magazine from 1957 to 1968. He is also renowned as a designer of stamps.

Throughout the 1960s Blase also designed film posters for the revival house Atlas Films (as did Hillmann). His posters are mostly a...

Prolific director George C. Wolfe and Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage are on board with producers Stephen Byrd, Alia Jones-Harvey and Paula Marie Black to recast Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus as a Broadway musical. The steamy 1960 Best Foreign Film Oscar winner, which set the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in modern-day Rio de Janeiro against the orgiastic background of carnavale, had a celebrated score by Luiz Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim that’s widely credited with launching the Bossa Nova craze in the U.S. with such classics as its theme, “Manha de Carnaval.” Rick Miramontez, a spokesman for the show, said that […]...

New York — Black Orpheus, a new musical version of the Brazilian love story made famous in Marcel Camus' 1959 screen adaptation, which won an Oscar for best foreign-language film, will have its world premiere on Broadway. While no timeline has been set for the project, Pulitzer-winning playwright Lynn Nottage is writing the book for the musical, with multiple Tony winner George C. Wolfe attached to direct. Lead producers Stephen Byrd, Alia Jones-Harvey and Paula Marie Black announced the production on Monday, adding their good-luck wishes to Brazil's World Cup team in the semifinal match against

read more...

From a zany, cameo-filled concert movie directed by Roman Coppola, a straight-up video directed by Anton Corbijn, and a full album stream set against clips from Marcel Camus' "Black Orpheus," to a total charm fest of a live performance at the YouTube Music Awards featuring a dancing Greta Gerwig, Montreal faves Arcade Fire are setting a bar which other bands have to clear. And today, they raised that bar just another inch. The band has debuted their latest video for "Afterlife," which also doubles as a short film by Emily Kai Bock. Who is she? Well, she's the helmer behind the fabulous Grimes video for "Oblivion," and clearly Arcade Fire were paying attention. Anyway, give it a look below and btw, if you were concerned about the dress code at the band's upcoming arena dates, just chill, they just want everyone to have a good time and it's "super not mandatory.

With Arcade Fire launching the live stream for their new album Reflektor against clips from Marcel Camus' "Black Orpheus," it was only a matter of time before someone else decided to match up the Montreal band's music with more classic films. And Craig J. Clark has done just that. This unofficial video for the band's "Joan Of Arc" cuts it against scenes from a trio of movies: "The Passion of Joan of Arc" directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer; "Jeanne d'Arc," directed by Georges Méliès; and "Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages," directed by Benjamin Christensen.  The result? Well, you'll just have to watch it down below and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments section. As for the band, they'll be hitting an arena near you in 2014.

It’s basically a rule at this point that if you have a big release coming out, the week prior you make it available to stream. With that, we give you Arcade Fire’s Reflektor. It was posted to YouTube in anticipation of its October 29 release. The album is set to Marcel Camus’s 1959 film Black Orpheus, but that probably won’t matter tons, as you’re obviously going to have it just play in the background while you go about your Internet life. Enjoy!Here's the track list, by when each song starts: 0:00:00 Reflektor0:07:34 We Exist0:13:17 Flashbulb Eyes0:16:00 Here Comes the Night Time 0:22:30 Normal Person0:26:53 You Already Know0:30:51 Joan of Arc0:46:22 Here Comes the Night Time II0:49:07 Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)0:55:23 It's Never Over (Hey Orpheus)1:02:02 Porno...

We can't imagine that whoever holds the rights for Marcel Camus' 1959 film "Black Orpheus" gets many requests to license clips. And we'd wager it's been even rarer that one of the biggest bands on the planet has made that call. But then again, Arcade Fire doesn't play to expectations. With the Montreal band gearing up for the release of their new album Reflektor next week, they've been on a blitz of promo, including a zany, cameo-filled concert movie directed by Roman Coppola, a straight-up video directed by Anton Corbijn, secret shows, outdoor marketing and more. And tonight comes a new track, "Afterlife," coupled with a lyric video that's nothing but clips from Marcel Camus', Cannes Palme d'Or winning, Criterion approved, 1959 classic "Black Orpheus." And full props to their taste in films, because this tale of romance against the backdrop of Carnival in Rio De Janeiro is still pretty visually arresting today,...

The one thing that immediately jumped out at me in looking over this list from Spike Lee, is the near-absence of films by black filmmakers. I counted 3 total: Charles Burnett's Killer Of Sheep, John Singleton's Boyz N The Hood, and Michael Schultz's Coolie High. Although there are a few films listed that tell stories about black people, but weren't directed by black filmmakers, like Black Orpheus, for example, which was directed by Frenchman Marcel Camus. And when I say black filmmakers, I'm not referring solely to black American filmmakers. I'm talking about the entire African Diaspora. I'd love to have seen mentions of films by iconic and notable names of filmmakers who...

Parkas, mittens and earmuffs can only do so much to starve off the imposing weight of winter. Many of us suffer, in some form or another, from seasonable depression and it’s easy to stay in bed all day instead of facing the dark and cold that comes during the winter months. Not all of us can afford vacations to warmer places, so all we can do is live vicariously through movies. So, without any further ado, here is a list of five films that will transport you to warmer lands and let you forget for a second the awful conditions of winter. What are your favourite films to help you forget the cold?

Tabu – A Story of the South Seas (F.W. Murnau, 1931)

Location: Bora Bora, Tahiti

Perhaps Murnau’s most poetic work, Tabu – A Story of the South Seas blends documentary style, Tahiti and a story of forbidden love in this late silent film.

We could say that Marcel Camus' 1959 award-winning Black Orpheus introduced the rest of the world to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; although it's probably better known for the Antônio Carlos Jobim-composed bossa nova-infused soundtrack. But I'd probably wager that most audiences outside of Brazil today will likely look to Fernando Meirelles' critically-lauded and blistering 2002 smash City Of God as their first intro to life in the favelas - the bairros africanos (African neighborhoods), where former slaves with no land ownership and no options for work, lived. Since then, it seems like a few similar films have traveled (or...

We could say that Marcel Camus' 1959 award-winning Black Orpheus introduced the rest of the world to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; although it's probably better known for the Antônio Carlos Jobim-composed bossa nova-infused soundtrack. But I'd probably wager that most audiences outside of Brazil today will likely look to Fernando Meirelles' critically-lauded and blistering 2002 smash City Of God as their first intro to life in the favelas - the bairros africanos (African neighborhoods), where former slaves with no land ownership and no options for work, lived. Since then, it seems like a few similar films have traveled (or...

Film snobs love to cite the explosive, musical, colorful and exciting opening to Marcel Camus' 1959 masterpiece Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus) as one of cinema's best celebrations of sight and sound.  Should the child audiences of today go to film school tomorrow, there may be lingering images from a different story set atop the villages overlooking Rio De Janeiro ready to give Camus a run for its centavos.

The opening sequence of Rio, the forthcoming animated feature from Blue Sky Studios, opens with an absolutely gorgeous and adorable samba-themed "Busby Berkeley in the sky" number by way of Crayola.  It is wild, it is bright, it will charm the pants off of anyone with a pulse.

It's here where we see Macaws and other tropical birds in their natural element.  (You know, dancing and singing.) Sadly, trappers arrive and cage some of our feathered friends, including a baby blue Macaw...

Have you ever wondered what are the films that inspire the next generation of visionary filmmakers? As part of our monthly Ioncinephile profile (read here), we ask the filmmaker the incredibly arduous task of identifying their top ten list of favorite films. Rashaad Ernesto Green (Gun Hill Road) was busy with Sundance and couldn't get to this portion of the Ioncinephile feature. The Battle of Algiers - Gillo Pontecorvo (1966) "This has to be one of the greatest war films ever made. You are transported into a culture and struggle, and wind up siding with a people who will stop at nothing for their freedom. It is a timeless masterpiece. Watching this film will make you think different about the present day situation in the middle east." Black Orpheus - Marcel Camus (1959) "Cinematic candy. You want to eat, sing, and dance in the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The colors and fabrics,...

Every Sunday, Film School Rejects presents a movie that was made before you were born and tells you why you should like it. This week, Old Ass Movies presents the story of two star cross’d lovers who find themselves miles and years away from their origin. A retelling of the tragic Orpheus and Eurydice tale, Black Orpheus ditches the classical Greek setting and opts instead for the rich sights and sounds of Brazil during Carnaval. It’s a beautiful story set to unending drum-beats and a madness to which everyone succumbs. Black Orpheus (1959) Directed by: Marcel Camus Starring: Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn, Lourdes de Oliveira, Lea Garcia, and Adhemar da Silva Even though Orpheus (Breno Mello), a trolley driver, is engaged to be married to the beautiful and showy Mira (Lourdes de Oliveira), he’s not exactly enthusiastic about it. Sure, she can shake her God-given talents like no other woman in the whole city of...

If you even remotely interested in black film (and if you’re not then why are you here???), then you have no excuse not to see what is, without question, one of the seminal films of black cinema, Marcel Camus’s 1959 Brazilian modern adaptation of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), which Turner Classic Movies will present this Saturday Jan. 15 at 8Pm (7Pm Central).

We have dealt with the film quite few times here on S & A for example Here and Here, so if you’ve never seen it or want to see it again, here’s a perfect opportunity. Especially since, no doubt, it’s going to be cold out that night. Why not stay in and see a great film instead?...

Criterion's December release announcement is brief, but sweet. David Cronenberg's Videodrome is coming to Blu-Ray while Guillermo Del Toro's Cronos will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray. 

 

The Videodrome Blu-Ray seems to be sourced from same master as the 2004 Criterion DVD.  Extras are largely same. Cronos is newly restored and packed with extras, including a previously unreleased short film called Geometria. Check the links in the calendar for full specifications.

Finally, as mentioned in the last Criterion Column, the DVD release of the America Lost and Found: The Bbs Story comes out on December 14th. The Blu-Ray will be released on November 23rd.

 

The Criterion Collection 2010 Release Calendar (January through December 2010, up-to-date as of September 16, 2010)

 

December 2010

 

David Cronenberg, Videodrome, Bd, 12/7/2010, Us & Canada

Guillermo del Toro, Cronos, 2-disc DVD & Bd, 12/7/2010, Us & Canada

 

November 2010

 

Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times, 2-dsc DVD & Bd, 11/16/10, Us & Canada

Charles Laughton, Night Of The Hunter, 2-disc DVD & 2-disc Bd,...

A rhythm beats nearly constantly throughout Black Orpheus, Marcel Camus’ 1959 arthouse hit. In this retelling of the Orpheus myth, the beat draws its characters along a cycle of life and death as it repeats a story with timeless resonance situated in a particular time and place. That place, unfamiliar to much of the world before Black Orpheus, is Rio de Janeiro at the height of Carnival, specifically the favelas resting high above the hills and looking down on the modern steel city below. It’s home to Breno Mello—the film’s modern Orpheus—an easygoing, guitar-strumming cable-car operator ...

DVD Playhouse—August 2010

By

Allen Gardner

Black Orpheus (Criterion) Winner of the 1959 Best Foreign Film Oscar and that same year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, Black Orpheus is a modern-day update of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice reset in 20th century Brazil during Carnival in Rio. Director Marcel Camus offers up a visual feast with some of the decade’s most ravishing color cinematography. A classic. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Archival interviews with Camus and actress Marpessa Dawn; Interviews with Brazilian cinema scholar Robert Stam, jazz historian Gary Giddins, and Brazilian author Ruy Castro; Documentary on the film; Trailer. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono.

The Last Song (Touchstone) Sentimental adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ (by Sparks and Jeff Van Wie) sentimental novel about a father and daughter attempting to repair their damaged relationship. Greg Kinnear, as the dad in question, comes off best, while tween sensation Miley Cyrus...

by Brian Darr

The Criterion Collection lives up to its name, having in the past twelve years released over five hundred DVDs and box sets, generally with the best available image and sound quality, lovingly lavish packaging and supplemental features, a body of product containing a large proportion of the most noteworthy films in world cinema history. However, for every Jean-Luc Godard or Akira Kurosawa whose filmography has been well-served by Criterion's curatorial mission, there's a whole cinematic realm in which the company falls short. Films directed by women are few and far between, as are films from Asian nations other than Japan. Nothing at all has been released from South America or Africa, unless one counts Europeans' excursions there, such as Marcel Camus' Black Orpheus and Gillo Pontocorvo's The Battle of Algiers.

Surprisingly, the entire silent era, representing over three decades of moviemaking history, has yielded only a...

Marcel Camus' 1959 film Black Orpheus is the Rosetta Stone of favela chic. The film's portrayal of what were then underexposed aspects of Brazilian culture -- Carnaval, bossa nova music, voodoo, black people -- planted an image in many people's heads that came to represent country. As revealed by The Criterion Collection's new Blu-Ray, Black Orpheus is still an absorbing and beautiful film. However, some elements of the film don't resonate as strongly as they did in1959.

Marcel Camus' film, which is derived from Vincinius de Morae's musical play Orefu De Conceição, is a take on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Here, the tale of the lovers is transferred from Greece to the favelas during Carnaval in Rio de Jainero. Orpheus (Bruno Mello) is a street car conductor whose true passion is singing and playing guitar (Orpheus was associated with the lyre). He is engaged to a...

In November, The Criterion Collection is set to release an eclectic mix of American classics with a bit of European transgression thrown in. A newly restored version of Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times is planned for DVD and Blu-Ray. Charles Laughton's stunning black-and-white noir/horror tale Night of the Hunter (1955) is also on the schedule for DVD and Blu-Ray. Lars Von Trier's Antichrist will invade home video players everywhere.

Those are great releases, but highlight of the November list is the America Lost and Found: The Bbs Story box set, which features 6 films from Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider's production company Bbs during the 60s-70s.  Titles include: Head, Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Drive He Said, The Last Picture Show, and The King Of Marvin Gardens. Think about the scope of this release for a second. This is six films by Dennis Hopper, Henry Jaglom, Jack Nicholson Bob Rafelson,...

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"The Assassin Next Door" (2009)

Directed by Danny Lerner

Released by First Look Studios

Retitled since its premiere at last year's Toronto Film Festival as "Kirot," Bond girl Olga Kurylenko is the one handling the gun in this thriller about two women -- an assassin and a grocery clerk -- desperate to leave their lot in life who hatch a plan to improve their situation and decidedly won't do the same for the men who stand in their way.

"Black Orpheus" (1959)

Directed by Marcel Camus

Released by Criterion Collection

Marcel Camus' Palme d'Or-winning Brazilian-set retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurdice is reissued by Criterion Collection on Blu-ray and DVD with a completely new set of extras including the French documentary "Looking for 'Black Orpheus'" about the film's legacy and archival interviews with Camus and actress Marpessa Dawn.

"Burning Bright...

The 1959 Marcel Camus classic Black Orpheus (Winner of both the 1960 Academy Award for best foreign-language film, and the 1959 Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or) has already been honored with the Criterion Collection treatment (in 1999); however, those who own the a copy will know just how bare it is – 1 disc with virtually no extra features; just an extended cut of the film.

Realizing their “error,” the Criterion group has just released a new and improved Black Orpheus on DVD (and Blu-Ray), loaded with several items that should both edify and entertain. The new Black Orpheus Criterion Collection release comes with 2 discs (unlike its predecessor), with special features that include, a new, restored high-definition digital transfer, archival interviews with director Marcel Camus and star actress Marpessa Dawn; new video interviews with film critics Robert Stam, Gary Giddins, and Brazilian journalist Ruy Castro; a feature-length documentary on the making of the film,...

As much as Criterion seems to love their austere period dramas, their extreme genre pushing pieces, and their black and white French coming of age films, every so often, they release, or in the case of Black Orpheus, re-release a film that takes the collection to a completely different place.

When looking at the collection as a whole, very few releases are as stand out as the 1959 Marcel Camus directed love letter to Brazil and it’s then ever growing art scene, Black Orpheus. Based on the legendary Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, takes the story, and plants it in the heart of a favela in Rio de Janeiro, during the then rarely filmed Carnaval, and follows Orfeo, a trolley conductor and aspiring musician, who is engaged to the lively and utterly breathtaking Mira. However, during Carnaval, after being chased from her home by a mysterious stalker dressed in a skeleton costume,...

DVD Links: DVD News | Release Dates | New Dvds | Reviews | RSS Feed

Dexter - The Complete Fourth Season Awww... the first season of "Dexter" I won't be reviewing. Oh well, I guess I will have to Netflix it, but I honestly can't wait. As far as television shows go (that I've actually seen) this is easily one of the best. Black Orpheus (Criterion Special Edition) This is a great movie and Criterion's Blu-ray takes full advantage of Marcel Camus's film and the colorful cinematography by Oscar-winner Jean Bourgoin (The Longest Day). Perhaps one of the things I like best about Black Orpheus is the way Orfeo is presented at the outset of the film. You know he's a lover of women and a very passionate person from the outset. It makes it easier to believe he would be so quick to fall for Eurydice. Where other films use the "quick...

(Criterion Collection) My admiration for the producers at the Criterion Collection knows no bounds: they keep topping themselves, month after month, maintaining an oasis in the DVD field even as major studios are running for cover and cutting back on titles. Their new release of Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus is a perfect example. First, we have a stunning color transfer of the sensuous and exotic film, which has never looked or sounded better. Even after half a century, it is unique—and, ironically, an example of a “one hit wonder” for director Camus. Then there are the extras, which fill a…...

The October 2010 batch of Criterion titles brings a few surprises. Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory is hitting DVD and Blu-Ray as is Ingmar Bergman's film The Magician. Criterion continues its relationship with Wes Anderson by releasing The Darjeeling Limited on Blu-Ray and DVD. Ok.

Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai is headed for Blu-Ray with a new restored high-def transfer. If the quality of Criterion's other Kurosawa Blu-Ray discs (e.g. Kagemusha, Sanjuro and Yojimbo) are any indication, it is time to ditch the DVDs. This one should look spectacular.

Finally, Nobuhiko Obayashi's House is making its way to Blu-Ray and DVD just in time for Halloween. There are a few things to note here. First, the fact that Criterion is releasing this on Blu-Ray with a restored transfer and uncompressed mono sound is kind of a surprise. This is a very good thing. The other curious thing is the extras.

Jean‑Luc Godard's masterpiece remains a startling example of the French new wave and marked the arrival of one of cinema's most influential directors

Two trailers bookend my half-a-century of writing professionally about the cinema and bracket the career of the man who is arguably the most influential moviemaker of my lifetime. Fifty years ago this month I dropped into an Oslo cinema while waiting for a midnight train and saw an unforgettable trailer for a French picture. It cut abruptly between a handsome, broken-nosed actor I'd never come across before, giant posters of Humphrey Bogart, and the familiar features of Jean Seberg, whom I knew to be an idol of French cinéastes as the protegee of Otto Preminger. Shot in high contrast monochrome, rapidly edited, interspersed with puzzling statements in white-on-black and black-on-white lettering, it was like no other trailer I'd seen, and I was captivated. Not until my...

The great 1959 Brazilian film Black Orpheus, which I recently wrote about on S & A which you can read Here is coming out in a brand spanking new restoration on Criterion in both standard and Blu-ray versions on Aug. 17.

Among the extras will be archival interviews with the director Marcel Camus and the film’s lead actress Marpessa Dawn, who was actually a native of Pittsburgh and who passed away in 2008, and new video interviews with Brazilian cinema scholar Robert Stam, jazz historian Gary Giddins and Brazilian author Ruy Castro. (Trivia: In a strange coincidence the lead actor of the film Breno Mello died only a month and a half before Dawn)...

Well here we are, another mid-month Criterion Collection New Release announcement extravaganza. A few titles that we suspected, due to rumors and various clues, and new addition to Maurice Pilat’s section of the Criterion Collection.

First off, we’re getting a re-release of a Criterion classic, Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus. This is Criterion #48, so they are keeping in line with their re-releasing older titles, with new features, transfers, and absolutely gorgeous cover art. This Black Orpheus painting is one that I would certainly buy a print of, to hang on my wall. Black Orpheus will be released on August 17th on DVD and Blu-ray

A few weeks back, we told you about how the New York Times, in their Summer DVD column, let loose the idea that Criterion was working on a collection of Josef Von Sternberg titles, and we now have a complete list of the films, along with supplemental materials and artwork.

The film is maybe overlooked now, but it’s hard to describe the sensation caused when French director Marcel Camus’s film Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro) premiered in 1959. It won the Palme d’Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film the following year, and spawned a worldwide craze for Brazilian bossa nova music. And more importantly was perhaps the first film to gain worldwide release that exposed audiences to black culture from another country in the diapora (Let alone the total shock to many people, African-Americans included, that there were actually black people in the world other than in the U.S. and Africa)

The film was a modern adaptation of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice and I remember seeing it for the first time many years ago on my local PBS station, which regularly showed foreign and British movies every week (Imagine that.

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films from Criterion

Photo: Criterion Last week in my On DVD Today column I mentioned how the folks at Criterion were clearing off their shelves and offering every item in stock at a 40% discount while supplies lasted. I would assume a majority of the folks that read the article ignored that link since it didn't have any new information on Batman, Iron Man or any other kind of man from a comic book. However, I am hoping this headline brought in the folks that may be interested in such a deal. Of course, the hour is late and the majority of the titles are now gone as the deal ends Monday, November 24, at midnight Est. When I first got the email from Criterion I shuffled over to check out a few titles I had been longing to get and had never wanted to spend the money.

Actress Marpessa Dawn, the star of 1960's Best Foreign Film Oscar Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus), has died at her home near Paris, France.

The American-born actress, who played Eurydice in the classic Brazilian movie, suffered a heart attack.

Ironically, Breno Mello, her co-star in the Marcel Camus film, which also claimed the Palme d'Or at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival in France, died in July.

Dawn, born Gypsy Marpessa Dawn Menor, worked as an actress in England before landing her role in Orfeu Negro. Her film career flopped after the Camus movie and she moved to France, where she became a nightclub singer and a governess.

Ovation TV is premiering a new Saturday night film series showcasing classic world cinema this weekend.

The series, dubbed Destination ArtHouse, will feature classic films from the past 80 years and is being presented via a special arrangement with indie film distributor Janus Films. It premieres at 9 p.m. Saturday with Federico Fellini's La Strada (1954).

Other films include Francois Truffaut's Jules and Jim (1962), Louis Malle's My Dinner With Andre (1981), Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950) and Seven Samurai (1954), Marcel Camus' Black Orpheus (1959), Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water.

All films will be presented with limited commercial interruption.