“You get something different from film. We want to be specific in our storytelling: we want it to be close-up and we want to feel the energy of the artist. That means venturing into film. It’s not cheap but it’s extremely rewarding.” - Style Weekly (Richmond)
In execution, it's sort of lame: instead of explosions, a title card is slipped in to say that the authorities foiled Project Mayhem and Tyler Durden was sent to a "lunatic asylum." And, says one source, this was probably done by the distributor, not the government's censors themselves. - Variety
Let’s call them “bizart-house movies,” for lack of a better term — unapologetically odd and original creations, led by a gifted group of rebel auteurs who don’t kowtow to popular expectations. - Variety
A digital drug for anyone with a phone, and especially young people, the TikTok app uses random reinforcement — similar to a slot machine on the Las Vegas strip — to keep users scrolling. It has changed the way Americans tell and view stories. - Salon
Many have begun fleeing Instagram... They expressed skepticism that Meta, a social-media behemoth, could develop, launch and manage a marketplace where they weren’t looking over their shoulders. - Forbes
Now that the movies being showcased at festivals might end up spending their opening weekend screening on your iPhone anyway, does it matter if the festivals that launched them happened on a bunch of laptops? - Wired
The film, a Lebanon-set adaptation of the much-remade Italian film Perfect Strangers, includes unfaithful spouses, a gay character, and a woman removing her undergarments offscreen. While one politician even called the movie "a plot to disrupt Arab society," many leading arts figures are defending it. - The Hollywood Reporter
Disney and two of her siblings are executive producers on a new documentary that "positions the entertainment company that bears their name as 'ground zero of the widening inequality in America.'" - The New York Times
The not-too-distant future, at that. "Film festivals have always struggled with accessibility issues that can be mitigated by allowing people to attend from home. So perhaps hybrid festivals are the future even in the best of times." - Wired
That's because her scenes got cut - and, after renting the movie partly based on her being in the trailer, some fans are so far from amused that they're suing. - Variety
As Sundance's virtual festival gets underway, the question hanging in the air is whether any indie film can succeed in traditional theatres. Older audiences are wary of the virus; thus, "the chances of success at the multiplex are now slimmer than ever." - Los Angeles Times
Early on, "when Almodóvar started making films, he promised himself one thing: his movies would give the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco the ultimate two-fingered salute. ... They would simply act as if he had never existed." Now, he's changed his mind. - The Guardian (UK)
