LÊ Bình Giang was educated in Film at the University of Ho Chi Minh, but he wasn’t allowed to graduate because the script for his film KFC was considered too violent by the Council of Examiners. Lê didn’t give up on his project and tried to find sponsors. He won the Film of the Future Award at the Vietnamese Autumn Meeting 2013, which helped him get started. After making several short films he finally made KFC (2016), his feature film debut, three years later.
Here are his 13 favorite Vietnamese films, in random order
1. Bi, Don’t Be Afraid
2. Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories
3. The Rebel
4. Touch (Minh Duc Nguyen, 2011)
5. Living in Fear (Bui Thac Chuyen, 2005)
6. When the Tenth Month Comes (Dang Nhat Minh, 1984)
7. Truong Ba’s Soul in Butcher’s Body (Quang Dung Nguyen, 2006)
8. Cyclo (Anh Hung Tran, 1995)
Buy...
Here are his 13 favorite Vietnamese films, in random order
1. Bi, Don’t Be Afraid
2. Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories
3. The Rebel
4. Touch (Minh Duc Nguyen, 2011)
5. Living in Fear (Bui Thac Chuyen, 2005)
6. When the Tenth Month Comes (Dang Nhat Minh, 1984)
7. Truong Ba’s Soul in Butcher’s Body (Quang Dung Nguyen, 2006)
8. Cyclo (Anh Hung Tran, 1995)
Buy...
- 10/17/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“Searching,” from director Aneesh Chaganty and starring John Cho and Debra Messing, won the audience award for North American narrative film at the 34th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The thriller will open nationally in August in theaters through Screen Gems.
The documentary “Minding the Gap,” directed by Bing Liu, won the audience award for documentary feature, and also was given the special jury prize for best director.
The festival gives out awards in both North American and international categories. For international narrative feature divisions, “In the Life of Music,” directed by Caylee So and Visal Sok, was a double winner, with both the audience award and special jury prize.
The international documentary-feature audience award was given to “Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story,” directed by Frank W. Chen.
Other winners: “Call Her Ganda,” directed by Pj Raval, grand jury prize for North American docu feature; “Anote’s Ark” from director Matthieu Rytz,...
The documentary “Minding the Gap,” directed by Bing Liu, won the audience award for documentary feature, and also was given the special jury prize for best director.
The festival gives out awards in both North American and international categories. For international narrative feature divisions, “In the Life of Music,” directed by Caylee So and Visal Sok, was a double winner, with both the audience award and special jury prize.
The international documentary-feature audience award was given to “Late Life: The Chien-Ming Wang Story,” directed by Frank W. Chen.
Other winners: “Call Her Ganda,” directed by Pj Raval, grand jury prize for North American docu feature; “Anote’s Ark” from director Matthieu Rytz,...
- 5/19/2018
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Guest reviewer Lee Broughton offers a look at writer-director Derek Nguyen’s intriguing debut feature, a finely observed supernatural gothic chiller-cum-illicit period love story, set on a French plantation in Vietnam towards the end of the First Indochina War. It’s also a spooky melodrama with a difference. As such, this well-acted, handsomely staged and stylishly shot Vietnamese-South Korean co-production is able to offset its scenes of uncanny terror and interracial romance with scenarios that pass comment on both the mechanics of colonialism and the physical violence and psychological damage that necessarily accompany the colonial process.
The Housemaid
Region B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Eureka Entertainment
2016 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 105 min. / Co Hau Gai / Street Date, 19 Feb 2018 / £12.99
Starring: Nhung Kate, Jean-Michel Richaud, Kim Xuan, Rosie Fellner, Phi Phung, Kien An, Svitlana Kovalenko.
Cinematography: Sam Chase
Film Editor: Stephane Gauger
Production Designer: Jose Mari (Joji) Pamintuan
Original Music: Jerome Leroy
Produced by Timothy Linh Bui,...
The Housemaid
Region B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Eureka Entertainment
2016 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 105 min. / Co Hau Gai / Street Date, 19 Feb 2018 / £12.99
Starring: Nhung Kate, Jean-Michel Richaud, Kim Xuan, Rosie Fellner, Phi Phung, Kien An, Svitlana Kovalenko.
Cinematography: Sam Chase
Film Editor: Stephane Gauger
Production Designer: Jose Mari (Joji) Pamintuan
Original Music: Jerome Leroy
Produced by Timothy Linh Bui,...
- 3/6/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In an industry completely regulated by the State, horror films are not exactly the norm, particularly since 2007, Vietnamese authorities have warned filmmakers against producing ghost and horror movies “with incomprehensible plots and extreme horror”. However, a few films of the genre have surfaced during the latest years, with “The Housemaid,” which became the third-highest-grossing horror film in Vietnam’s history, being one of the best samples.
Buy This Title
The film is set in 1953 Vietnam during the First Indochinese War and revolves around Linh, a docile and hardworking poor orphaned girl who comes to Sa Cat, a former rubber plantation who barely functions due to the war, seeking a housemaid job. Sebastien Laurent is a French captain and the owner of the plantation and the massive mansion, but the only ones left there seem to be Mrs Han, who runs the house, and the other two servants, Mrs. Ngo, a...
Buy This Title
The film is set in 1953 Vietnam during the First Indochinese War and revolves around Linh, a docile and hardworking poor orphaned girl who comes to Sa Cat, a former rubber plantation who barely functions due to the war, seeking a housemaid job. Sebastien Laurent is a French captain and the owner of the plantation and the massive mansion, but the only ones left there seem to be Mrs Han, who runs the house, and the other two servants, Mrs. Ngo, a...
- 1/22/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
If someone had approached me a year ago and said, "Hey Josh, we're going to throw a film at you that involves Vietnamese B-boys dancing to save a community center and you're going to love it!", I would probably have laughed in their face. Yet, here we are. Stephane Gauger's Saigon Electric is exactly the film I described above. A competitive hip hop dance crew marches its way through numerous local dance-offs and, ultimately, an official contest in order to earn the cash to save a community center from being demolished. It sounds hokey as hell, but Gauger's got a talent for imbuing even the most formulaic of ideas with real emotion and building a solid story that will have you cheering at your screen,...
- 5/24/2012
- Screen Anarchy
Following in the hallowed traditions of Flashdance, Save the Last Dance for Me, and Step Up, the new film from Stephane Gauger (The Owl and the Sparrow) and production house Chanh Phuong Films (backers of The Rebel and Clash) earns an appreciative nod for its street-level treatment of teen dance movie cliches. All the familiar elements are present: innocent small town girl in a big city, rebellious friend from the wrong side of the tracks who falls for a rich boy, a dance crew facing off against their mean-spirited rivals, evil developers threatening to take away the community center where appealing, well-behaved kids practice their dance moves. It's romance and drama and, at this point, kind of a hoary formula, but the film plays...
- 7/17/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Feature documentary prize-winner, "The House of Suh" by Irene K. Shim
As a member of the feature documentary jury for the La Asian Pacific Film Festival, Moving Pictures editor Elliot Kotek attended the awards ceremony for the 2011 installment of the festival, the 27th anniversary of the festival.
Held at the outdoor, seventh-floor courtyard of the Solair building at Western Ave and Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, Laapff continued to honor courageous programming. With previous winners including the documentary “Last Train Home” (regarding the epic human migration around the Chinese New Year) as well as narrative features such as “The Taqwacores” (about Muslim punks in Buffalo), the 2011 festival found the jurors in near-unanimous agreements for each section’s best.
The big winners for each category were “Teamwork” (Best Short), “The House of Suh” (Best Documentary) and “Living in Seduced Circumstances” (Best Narrative Feature).
Having kicked off proceedings on April 28 with...
As a member of the feature documentary jury for the La Asian Pacific Film Festival, Moving Pictures editor Elliot Kotek attended the awards ceremony for the 2011 installment of the festival, the 27th anniversary of the festival.
Held at the outdoor, seventh-floor courtyard of the Solair building at Western Ave and Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, Laapff continued to honor courageous programming. With previous winners including the documentary “Last Train Home” (regarding the epic human migration around the Chinese New Year) as well as narrative features such as “The Taqwacores” (about Muslim punks in Buffalo), the 2011 festival found the jurors in near-unanimous agreements for each section’s best.
The big winners for each category were “Teamwork” (Best Short), “The House of Suh” (Best Documentary) and “Living in Seduced Circumstances” (Best Narrative Feature).
Having kicked off proceedings on April 28 with...
- 5/6/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
Feature documentary prize-winner, "The House of Suh" by Irene K. Shim
As a member of the feature documentary jury for the La Asian Pacific Film Festival, Moving Pictures editor Elliot Kotek attended the awards ceremony for the 2011 installment of the festival, the 27th anniversary of the festival.
Held at the outdoor, seventh-floor courtyard of the Solair building at Western Ave and Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, Laapff continued to honor courageous programming. With previous winners including the documentary “Last Train Home” (regarding the epic human migration around the Chinese New Year) as well as narrative features such as “The Taqwacores” (about Muslim punks in Buffalo), the 2011 festival found the jurors in near-unanimous agreements for each section’s best.
The big winners for each category were “Teamwork” (Best Short), “The House of Suh” (Best Documentary) and “Living in Seduced Circumstances” (Best Narrative Feature).
Having kicked off proceedings on April 28 with...
As a member of the feature documentary jury for the La Asian Pacific Film Festival, Moving Pictures editor Elliot Kotek attended the awards ceremony for the 2011 installment of the festival, the 27th anniversary of the festival.
Held at the outdoor, seventh-floor courtyard of the Solair building at Western Ave and Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, Laapff continued to honor courageous programming. With previous winners including the documentary “Last Train Home” (regarding the epic human migration around the Chinese New Year) as well as narrative features such as “The Taqwacores” (about Muslim punks in Buffalo), the 2011 festival found the jurors in near-unanimous agreements for each section’s best.
The big winners for each category were “Teamwork” (Best Short), “The House of Suh” (Best Documentary) and “Living in Seduced Circumstances” (Best Narrative Feature).
Having kicked off proceedings on April 28 with...
- 5/6/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Well, here's a combination I wouldn't have predicted.
Director Stephane Gauger had a big hit on the arthouse circuit with his indie drama The Owl and the Sparrow and is now teaming with production house Chanh Phuong Films - the backers of Vietnamese action hits The Rebel and Clash - for Vietnamese hip hop dance film Saigon Electric. In production now and aiming for December release, here's how Gauger describes the project:
In my wish of telling universal stories with a global outlook and a distinctly Vietnamese point of view, the seeds of "Saigon Electric" were planted. Continuing the themes of my first narrative feature "Owl and the Sparrow", my hope is to create a visceral landscape of the hustle and bustle in modernized Vietnam. More than half of Vietnam's current population is under the age of eighteen, born after the American War. As the doors of the West have...
Director Stephane Gauger had a big hit on the arthouse circuit with his indie drama The Owl and the Sparrow and is now teaming with production house Chanh Phuong Films - the backers of Vietnamese action hits The Rebel and Clash - for Vietnamese hip hop dance film Saigon Electric. In production now and aiming for December release, here's how Gauger describes the project:
In my wish of telling universal stories with a global outlook and a distinctly Vietnamese point of view, the seeds of "Saigon Electric" were planted. Continuing the themes of my first narrative feature "Owl and the Sparrow", my hope is to create a visceral landscape of the hustle and bustle in modernized Vietnam. More than half of Vietnam's current population is under the age of eighteen, born after the American War. As the doors of the West have...
- 6/18/2010
- Screen Anarchy
'Owl and the Sparrow" is a beautifully com posed romance from Vietnam. Yes, the nation in which the Us fought a divisive war is now a budding movie powerhouse.
"Owl and the Sparrow" is directed by Vietnamese-born, American-raised director Stephane Gauger.
At the film's heart-tugging center is child actress Pham Thi Han, who provides an amazing performance as a 10-year-old girl -- wise beyond her years -- who runs off to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) to escape her wicked uncle's sweatshop.
She joins hundreds of other girls her age who pound...
"Owl and the Sparrow" is directed by Vietnamese-born, American-raised director Stephane Gauger.
At the film's heart-tugging center is child actress Pham Thi Han, who provides an amazing performance as a 10-year-old girl -- wise beyond her years -- who runs off to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) to escape her wicked uncle's sweatshop.
She joins hundreds of other girls her age who pound...
- 5/29/2009
- by By V.A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
Owl and the Sparrow (Cu va chim se se)
Directed by: Stephane Gauger
Cast: Han Thi Pham, Cat Ly, The Lu Le
Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: PG
Release Date: May 15, 2009
Plot: Thuy (Pham), a young orphan, runs away from her home in the country to go to the city. She tries to support herself, but is also helped by two kind people; a flight attendant (Li) and zookeeper (Le). Together, the three make up an unconventional family.
Who’s It For? Fans of foreign film. Probably not good for people who worry about kids on their own, though way less scary than Slumdog Millionaire.
Expectations: I didn’t have any preconceptions about this film.
Scorecard (0-10)
Actors:
Han Thi Pham as Thuy: Despite being so young, Pham gives an incredibly natural performance as Thuy, a runaway on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. Her mix of practicality and...
Directed by: Stephane Gauger
Cast: Han Thi Pham, Cat Ly, The Lu Le
Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: PG
Release Date: May 15, 2009
Plot: Thuy (Pham), a young orphan, runs away from her home in the country to go to the city. She tries to support herself, but is also helped by two kind people; a flight attendant (Li) and zookeeper (Le). Together, the three make up an unconventional family.
Who’s It For? Fans of foreign film. Probably not good for people who worry about kids on their own, though way less scary than Slumdog Millionaire.
Expectations: I didn’t have any preconceptions about this film.
Scorecard (0-10)
Actors:
Han Thi Pham as Thuy: Despite being so young, Pham gives an incredibly natural performance as Thuy, a runaway on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. Her mix of practicality and...
- 5/15/2009
- by Megan Lehar
- The Scorecard Review
We're all for getting out in the summertime, but there might not be anything more refreshing than cooling off in a movie theater... or seeing a movie in the comfort of your air-conditioned home on demand, on DVD, or online... or better yet catching a classic on the big screen at a nearby repertory theater. With literally hundreds of films to choose from this summer, we humbly present this guide to the season's most exciting offerings.
May 1
"Eldorado"
The Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy, Franise Chichy
Director: Bouli Lanners
Fest Cred: Cannes, Warsaw, Glasgow, Palm Springs,
The Gist: When Elie (Adde), a hapless young thief attempts to rob Yvan (Lanners), a 40-year-old car dealer, the two form a unlikely friendship that leads to a road trip across Belgium in this slight comedy that won the Best European Film at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes last year.
May 1
"Eldorado"
The Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy, Franise Chichy
Director: Bouli Lanners
Fest Cred: Cannes, Warsaw, Glasgow, Palm Springs,
The Gist: When Elie (Adde), a hapless young thief attempts to rob Yvan (Lanners), a 40-year-old car dealer, the two form a unlikely friendship that leads to a road trip across Belgium in this slight comedy that won the Best European Film at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes last year.
- 5/6/2009
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
Wave Releasing -- founded by Vietnamese American filmmakers Timothy Linh Bui, Stephane Gauger, Ham Tran and Wyn Tran -- will release its first film, Gauger's "Owl and the Sparrow," Friday in Los Angeles, Irvine and Westminster. Wave's focus is delivering entertainment for Vietnamese American audiences as well as mainstream indie moviegoers.
"We're at a crossroads point in indie filmmaking, and this was our way of helping to ensure that we're on the correct side as the paradigm shift occurs," Wave Releasing CEO Bui said. "Starting the company was our response (to the digital revolution) and a way for us to reclaim a strong film and storytelling legacy."
"Owl" was the Audience Award winner at the 2007 L.A. Film Festival. After its Southern California engagements, it will move on to San Francisco, Houston, Chicago and other cities.
"We're at a crossroads point in indie filmmaking, and this was our way of helping to ensure that we're on the correct side as the paradigm shift occurs," Wave Releasing CEO Bui said. "Starting the company was our response (to the digital revolution) and a way for us to reclaim a strong film and storytelling legacy."
"Owl" was the Audience Award winner at the 2007 L.A. Film Festival. After its Southern California engagements, it will move on to San Francisco, Houston, Chicago and other cities.
- 1/15/2009
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- The toast of the town is Diablo Cody and the gift she gave to Jason Reitman. Juno picks up a trio of awards and trailing with two awards each is another Fox Searchlight flick The Savages and the Cannes Julian Schnabel and his cinematographer were well rewarded for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly's aesthetic brilliance. Here is the complete list of noms and winners below. Best Feature: Juno Best Director: Julian Schnabel Best First Feature: The Lookout Best Documentary: Crazy Love Best Foreign Film: Once Best Female Lead: Ellen Page Best Male Lead: Philip Seymour Hoffman Best Supporting Female: Cate Blanchett Best Supporting Male: Chiwetel Ejiofor Best Screenplay: The Savages Best First Screenplay: Juno Best Cinematography: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly John Cassavetes Award: August Evening August Evening Writer/Director: Chris Eska Producers: Connie Hill, Jason Wehling Owl and the Sparrow Writer/Director: Stephane Gauger Producers: Nguyen Van Quan,
- 2/23/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Underrated, overlooked, and mostly unknown, I’ve decided to highlight my four favorite award sections separately from today’s lengthy list of Indie Spirit noms. Why? because a). I haven’t heard of half these films and want to further research them, b). I want to add the missing titles to the Ioncinema.com database and c). I think it’s in the best interests of indie film lovers to familiarize themselves with the budding/future talent. Commencing with the John Cassavetes award noms (the name of this section says it all) which is given to the best feature made for under $500,000; and followed by the noms for my favorite category the Someone to Watch Award and the listings for the Truer Than Fiction Award the Producers Award.August Evening is a two-time nominee thanks to the votes going to actor Pedro Castaneda. Owl and the Sparrow was actually
- 11/28/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
NEW YORK -- After departing from tradition to embrace studio pictures with its nominations last year, the Gotham Awards on Monday returned to its roots, tapping only indie and specialty films for its annual kudos.
In doing so, it tried another walk down the line between awards-season relevance and indie bona fides.
The Gothams, which are run by the industry group IFP, handed out best feature noms to the New York-centric (Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding and Killer Films/Weinstein Co.'s I'm Not There) and the specialty divisions (Fox Searchlight's The Namesake and Paramount Vantage's Into the Wild).
But notably, it gave the most noms to an ultra-indie, Craig Zobel's music-world satire Great World of Sound. In addition to best feature, the movie also landed breakthrough director and breakthrough actor spots. (Zobel shared the former with Lee Isaac Chung, Stephane Gauger, Julia Loktev and David Von Ancken; Kene Holliday was nominated for the latter along with Emile Hirsch, Ellen Page, Jess Weixler and Luisa Williams.)
The nomination slate returns the Gothams to a path some say it had abandoned last year, when it nominated two studio films, Warners' The Departed and Sony's Marie Antoinette, for best feature.
By any measure, the size of the nominated movies this year were much smaller. Last year, the top three grossers on the best feature ballot earned a collective $154 million. Of this year's three best feature noms that have been released so far, the take has been just $18 million. (With $18,000, World was responsible for roughly 0.1% of that.)
As the first awards ceremony of the season, the Gothams have tried to position themselves as an awards program that can set the agenda for the coming months while also including movies that won't get recognition from other quarters. The balance hasn't always been easy.
The choices announced Monday divided players in the biz -- based largely, it seemed, on whether those players had nominated films. While many said it reflected the proper ethos of inclusion, others say it represented an overcorrection.
"It seems like they got such a backlash from last year that they went too far the other way," said an executive at one studio.
Supporters of the choices, however, said the Gothams are upholding primary values. "There isn't a mission exactly, but there is a spirit and a deeply felt philosophy," ThinkFilm U.S. chief Mark Urman said. "The Gothams specifically have to pay some attention to the achievements that others won't pay attention to."
In a sense, the Gothams are in a no-win situation: When they choose higher-profile movies that could help establish them as a bigger player, they're criticized for losing their way; when they don't, they're criticized for being provincial.
In doing so, it tried another walk down the line between awards-season relevance and indie bona fides.
The Gothams, which are run by the industry group IFP, handed out best feature noms to the New York-centric (Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding and Killer Films/Weinstein Co.'s I'm Not There) and the specialty divisions (Fox Searchlight's The Namesake and Paramount Vantage's Into the Wild).
But notably, it gave the most noms to an ultra-indie, Craig Zobel's music-world satire Great World of Sound. In addition to best feature, the movie also landed breakthrough director and breakthrough actor spots. (Zobel shared the former with Lee Isaac Chung, Stephane Gauger, Julia Loktev and David Von Ancken; Kene Holliday was nominated for the latter along with Emile Hirsch, Ellen Page, Jess Weixler and Luisa Williams.)
The nomination slate returns the Gothams to a path some say it had abandoned last year, when it nominated two studio films, Warners' The Departed and Sony's Marie Antoinette, for best feature.
By any measure, the size of the nominated movies this year were much smaller. Last year, the top three grossers on the best feature ballot earned a collective $154 million. Of this year's three best feature noms that have been released so far, the take has been just $18 million. (With $18,000, World was responsible for roughly 0.1% of that.)
As the first awards ceremony of the season, the Gothams have tried to position themselves as an awards program that can set the agenda for the coming months while also including movies that won't get recognition from other quarters. The balance hasn't always been easy.
The choices announced Monday divided players in the biz -- based largely, it seemed, on whether those players had nominated films. While many said it reflected the proper ethos of inclusion, others say it represented an overcorrection.
"It seems like they got such a backlash from last year that they went too far the other way," said an executive at one studio.
Supporters of the choices, however, said the Gothams are upholding primary values. "There isn't a mission exactly, but there is a spirit and a deeply felt philosophy," ThinkFilm U.S. chief Mark Urman said. "The Gothams specifically have to pay some attention to the achievements that others won't pay attention to."
In a sense, the Gothams are in a no-win situation: When they choose higher-profile movies that could help establish them as a bigger player, they're criticized for losing their way; when they don't, they're criticized for being provincial.
- 10/23/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- I could have sworn that it was just yesterday that I had become livid over never receiving subscription copy of Filmmaker Magazines’ 25 New Faces of Independent Film issue. Well 2006 is history, and this year’s feature names/faces (grab yourself the summer issue or read here) includes more of the same – a list comprised of mostly filmmakers, Sundance kids and up-and-comers that we here at Ioncinema.com do speak about on occasion, but we’ll be most likely going gaga for in a couple of year’s from now. Here’s a quick rundown.+ Andy Blubaugh+ Daniel Barnz+ Azazel Jacobs+ Calvin Reeder+ Fellipe Barbosa+ Tze Chun+ Moon Molson+ Sophie Barthes+ Jennifer Venditti+ Kim Reed+ Craig ZobelCraig Zobel's directorial debut.+ Phillip Van+ Vineet Dewan+ Ronald Bronstein+ Hope Dickson Leach+ M dot Strange+ Kentucker Audley+ Georgina Lightning+ Vicente Amorim+ Alex Holdridge+ Stephane Gauger+ Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky+ Richard Goldgewicht
- 7/18/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
Stephane Gauger's Owl and the Sparrow, Greg Whiteley's Resolved and Stephen Walker's Young @ Heart took audience awards for best narrative feature, best documentary feature and best international feature, respectively, at the Los Angeles Film Festival, which concluded Sunday.
As previously announced, Chris Eska's August Evening and Jennifer Venditti's Billy the Kid were the recipients of the Target Filmmaker Award for best narrative feature and the Target Documentary Award, respectively.
The filmmakers were recognized at the closing night ceremonies, organized by Film Independent, at the Wadsworth Theatre in Westwood, where Danny Boyle's Sunshine, a Fox Searchlight release, screened as the closing night film.
Dee Rees' Pariah earned the audience award for best short film, while Joseph Kahn's Knights of Cydonia was honored with the audience award for best music video for the band Muse.
In the short film juried categories, Radu Jude's The Tube With a Hat was chosen best narrative short film, David Fenster's Wood was named best documentary short film and Fredrik Emilson's Love and War was selected best animated/experimental short film.
As previously announced, Chris Eska's August Evening and Jennifer Venditti's Billy the Kid were the recipients of the Target Filmmaker Award for best narrative feature and the Target Documentary Award, respectively.
The filmmakers were recognized at the closing night ceremonies, organized by Film Independent, at the Wadsworth Theatre in Westwood, where Danny Boyle's Sunshine, a Fox Searchlight release, screened as the closing night film.
Dee Rees' Pariah earned the audience award for best short film, while Joseph Kahn's Knights of Cydonia was honored with the audience award for best music video for the band Muse.
In the short film juried categories, Radu Jude's The Tube With a Hat was chosen best narrative short film, David Fenster's Wood was named best documentary short film and Fredrik Emilson's Love and War was selected best animated/experimental short film.
If Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal are looking to put some zip back in their careers, they'd do well to hire Lance Mungia to direct their next movies.
The fresh talent behind "Six-String Samurai" -- a sort of "Mad Max"-meets-"Monty Python" take on the post-apocalyptic, sci-fi martial arts picture -- Mungia, along with collaborator and star Jeffrey Falcon, brings a loopy kinetic energy to the screen that's tough to resist.
While the plotting may be as barren as the film's Death Valley backdrop, there's a great deal of visual creativity on a minimalist budget that bodes well for the filmmaker's future. The present, meanwhile, holds some nice cult potential.
Applying a little revisionist history, "Six-String Samurai" reworks the Cold War, contending that the bomb was indeed dropped and Russia ruled what was left of America. Among the less mutant survivors is a high-kicking Buddy Holly (Falcon), making his way through the desert en route to Lost Vegas to claim the title of King of Rock and Roll, previously held by the recently departed Elvis.
First, however, he must contend with marauding bounty hunters, the Russian Army and a tag-along orphaned kid (Justin McGuire), not to mention a big final showdown with Death (Stephane Gauger). Buddy is armed only with his trusty electric guitar and trustier samurai sword.
The bad guys keep popping up with a repetitive, video game frequency and dialogue is used sparingly, but Mungia, like "El Mariachi"'s Robert Rodriguez, deftly fuses visual elements of humor and violence to original effect.
As the bespectacled Buddy, Falcon, an American who has appeared in more than a dozen Hong Kong martial arts actioners, gets the job done without breaking a sweat or further scuffing his saddle shoes, and young McGuire uses his highly expressive face to supplement his extremely limited dialogue.
Cinematographer Kristian Bernier gets a lot of surreal mileage out of all the sand and Blue Sky, as the film's whimsical juxtapositions are neatly summed up by the music of The Red Elvises, a band that corners the market on Siberian surfer songs.
SIX-STRING SAMURAI
Palm Pictures
Director: Lance Mungia
Producers: Michael Burns & Leanna Creel
Screenwriters: Lance Mungia & Jeffrey Falcon
Cinematographer: Kristian Bernier
Production/costume designer: Jeffrey Falcon
Editor: James Frisa
Music: Brian Tyler
Casting: Ross Lacy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Buddy: Jeffrey Falcon
The Kid: Justin McGuire
Death: Stephane Gauger
Russian General: John Sakisian
Little Man: Gabrille Pimenter
Clint: Zuma Jay
Running time -- 81 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
The fresh talent behind "Six-String Samurai" -- a sort of "Mad Max"-meets-"Monty Python" take on the post-apocalyptic, sci-fi martial arts picture -- Mungia, along with collaborator and star Jeffrey Falcon, brings a loopy kinetic energy to the screen that's tough to resist.
While the plotting may be as barren as the film's Death Valley backdrop, there's a great deal of visual creativity on a minimalist budget that bodes well for the filmmaker's future. The present, meanwhile, holds some nice cult potential.
Applying a little revisionist history, "Six-String Samurai" reworks the Cold War, contending that the bomb was indeed dropped and Russia ruled what was left of America. Among the less mutant survivors is a high-kicking Buddy Holly (Falcon), making his way through the desert en route to Lost Vegas to claim the title of King of Rock and Roll, previously held by the recently departed Elvis.
First, however, he must contend with marauding bounty hunters, the Russian Army and a tag-along orphaned kid (Justin McGuire), not to mention a big final showdown with Death (Stephane Gauger). Buddy is armed only with his trusty electric guitar and trustier samurai sword.
The bad guys keep popping up with a repetitive, video game frequency and dialogue is used sparingly, but Mungia, like "El Mariachi"'s Robert Rodriguez, deftly fuses visual elements of humor and violence to original effect.
As the bespectacled Buddy, Falcon, an American who has appeared in more than a dozen Hong Kong martial arts actioners, gets the job done without breaking a sweat or further scuffing his saddle shoes, and young McGuire uses his highly expressive face to supplement his extremely limited dialogue.
Cinematographer Kristian Bernier gets a lot of surreal mileage out of all the sand and Blue Sky, as the film's whimsical juxtapositions are neatly summed up by the music of The Red Elvises, a band that corners the market on Siberian surfer songs.
SIX-STRING SAMURAI
Palm Pictures
Director: Lance Mungia
Producers: Michael Burns & Leanna Creel
Screenwriters: Lance Mungia & Jeffrey Falcon
Cinematographer: Kristian Bernier
Production/costume designer: Jeffrey Falcon
Editor: James Frisa
Music: Brian Tyler
Casting: Ross Lacy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Buddy: Jeffrey Falcon
The Kid: Justin McGuire
Death: Stephane Gauger
Russian General: John Sakisian
Little Man: Gabrille Pimenter
Clint: Zuma Jay
Running time -- 81 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 9/18/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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