Charlie Kaufman directs Robin Weigert in Synecdoche, New York
Alex Fitch talks to screenwriter Charlie Kaufman about his new film Synecdoche, New York, the challenges of directing his own script, working with Spike Jones and Michel Gondry on his previous screenplays Being John Malkovich and Human Nature and issues of post-modernism and magical realism in his work. Alex Fitch also talks to Electric Sheep editor Virginie Sélavy about Synecdoche, New York, looking at Kaufman’s depictions of the internal workings of the human mind in that film and in earlier scripts such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.(Originally broadcast 21 May 2009 on Resonance 104.4 FM)
Billed as ‘a terrifying love story’, this controversial, unjustly overlooked film by Nicolas Roeg is a dazzling, provocative and ferocious dissection of a couple’s disintegration, starring Theresa Russell and Art Garfunkel. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see this stunning film by the director of Performance and Don’t look Now on the big screen!
Helen I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP
Alex Fitch talks to the directors of two new films that take as their starting point a character walking through a landscape and twist it into unexpected directions. Bent Hamer is the director of the gentle Norwegian comedy O’Horten, which tells the tale of a recently retired train driver who gets embroiled in a series of misadventures of the kind Victor Meldrew would be proud of – including having to wear red stilettos after losing his shoes in a locker room and ending up in a car driven by a blind man. Alex Fitch also talks to Christine Molloy, one half of the filmmaking duo Desperate Optimists, about their debut feature Helen, which concerns a young woman who helps the police with their inquiry into a girl’s disappearance and starts identifying with her.
Helen is released in selected UK cinemas on May 1 O’Horten is released in selected UK cinemas on May 8
The City of Lost Children
Alex Fitch and Virginie Selavy will be interviewing Marc Caro, co-director of The City of Lost Children about his work on stage after a screening of the film at the Apollo Piccadilly on Lower Regent Street at 9pm on Friday 1 May.
On Saturday 2 May at 4:15pm at the same location, Alex Fitch is chairing a panel with Marc Caro, Richard Jobson, director of A Woman in Winter, Cory McAbee (The American Astronaut) and Gerald McMorrow (Franklyn) called The problem of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Filmmaking.
Paolo Sorrentino directs Il Divo I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP
In a special extra edition of I’m Ready for My Close-Up, heralding the start of spring, Alex Fitch and Jessica Fostekew look at two new critically acclaimed world cinema releases. Alex Fitch interviews director Christophe Van Rompaey and star Jurgen Delnaet of the new Belgian rom-com Moscow, Belgium (Aanrijding in Moscou), while Jess Fostekew talks to director Paolo Sorrentino about his new film Il Divo, which chronicles the life of former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti who has been tried for murder and for ties to the Mafia.
(N.B. this is an extra edition of IRFMCU in addition to the regular 10.30pm show)
Listen to the podcast of the interviews with Christophe Van Rompaey and Jurgen Delnaet + Paolo Sorrentino + Alex Fitch reviews the Spanish science fiction thriller Timecrimes (Los cronocrímenes) and David Warwick looks at Geoffrey Malins’s new DVD The Battle of the Somme (1916).
The spring issue of Electric Sheep focuses on Tainted Love to celebrate the release of the sweet and bloody pre-teen vampire romance Let the Right One In, with articles on incestuous cinematic siblings, Franí§ois Ozon’s tales of tortuous relationships, destructive passion in Nic Roeg’s Bad Timing, Julio Medem’s ambiguous lovers and nihilistic tenderness from Kôji Wakamatsu.
The magazine is no longer available and we are no longer published by Wallflower Press.
Also in this issue: interview with Pascal Laugier, film in Berlin from squat cinema to the Berlinale, the Polish New Wave, screen vamps, comic strip on the Watchmen film adaptation, and Ipso Facto’s top films.
First broadcast as a special episode of Resonance FM’s film show I’m Ready for My Close-Up. Alex Fitch talks to director Rex Bloomstein about his films Traitors to Hitler (1979), KZ (2006) and An Independent Mind (2008) in advance of a screening of the former at the Imperial War Museum as part of a weekend of films and talks about the 1944 bomb plot to kill Hitler (including a screening of Valkyrie starring Tom Cruise). Bloomstein talks about documenting persecution and freedom of speech on film and notions of psychogeography in the documentary process.
Alex Fitch talks to legendary B-movie actor Bruce Campbell about his new film My name is Bruce, which sees the actor directing, producing and playing a fictionalised version of himself on screen. Campbell is kidnapped by a fan and taken to the small town of Gold Lick, Oregon (pop. 333), to save the locals from an ancient Chinese demon prefaced by his own country and Western musical numbers… Campbell also talks about his career so far, his appearance in memorable films by Sam Raimi such as the Evil Dead and the Spider-Man trilogy, and his experience of dealing with fandom over the years.
5pm 20/02/09 Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com / extended (sweary!) podcast online now at www.sci-fi-london.com/audio
A Home Movie by Jeff Keen I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP
For one night only (unless we inveigle them into doing more), the team of Resonance’s long missed Sunday night show Midnight Sex Talk are reunited on air for a special episode of I’m Ready for My Close-Up…
Alex Fitch talks to Tania Glyde and Kim Morgan about the films of experimental filmmaker Jeff Keen, whose work is about to be showcased in four programmes at the BFI Southbank over the next couple of weeks and in a definitive DVD box-set. Keen’s work ranges from comic book-inspired free-for-alls featuring cameos by The Flash, The Spirit and Mickey Mouse, to vaguely erotic scenes of debauchery in squats, and apocalyptic visions in ancient quarries.
10.30pm 12/02/09, Resonance 104.4 FM (London) / streamed at www.resonancefm.com
Screenings of Keen’s work are on at the BFI Southbank on the 17, 19, 25 and 27 February 2009 – more info on the BFI website.
Listen to the podcast of the discussion of Jeff Keen’s work + Alex Fitch talks to Wajid Yaseen, the artistic director of Ear Cinema, about their touring project Late Noon Sun, which uses silent movie tropes and iconography in a haunting theatrical installation about murder and magic that combines projection and performance in an immersive 360-degree experience.
Late Noon Sun is next on at The Colchester Arts Centre on 18 February 2009. For future performances visit the Ear Cinema website for more info.
For more info, please visit the home of this podcast at www.archive.org
The Eternity Man presentation at the Locarno film festival - Julien Temple, Director; Christa Hughes, actress; Rosemary Blight, producer
In an interview recorded just before a theatrical screening of The Eternity Man at the Barbican, Alex Fitch talks to director Julien Temple about his film version of the modern opera by Dorothy Porter and Jonathan Mills. The Eternity Man tells the true story of Arthur Stace who wandered the streets of Sydney for two generations, writing the word ‘Eternity’ in chalk on a myriad of surfaces. Temple’s film vividly brings to life this modern avatar of the Wandering Jew. Temple also discusses the rest of his work from Absolute Beginners to Pandaemonium as well as the use of a combination of fact and fiction on screen.
Alex Fitch talks to screenwriter Charlie Kaufman about his new film Synecdoche, New York, the challenges of directing his own script, working with Spike Jones and Michel Gondry on his previous screenplays Being John Malkovich and Human Nature and issues of post-modernism and magical realism in his work. Alex Fitch also talks to Electric Sheep editor Virginie Sélavy about Synecdoche, New York, looking at Kaufman’s depictions of the internal workings of the human mind in that film and in earlier scripts such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.(Originally broadcast 21 May 2009 on Resonance 104.4 FM)
WEDNESDAY 6 MAY, 
