“Could you write a sustained argument on the evil nature of woman, based on all available Western sources? This was Lars von Trier’s proposition to me, a journalist and former university researcher in cultural history. It was July 2007, he was about to finish the manuscript for his [now-notorious] film Antichrist, and he needed me to go through as much material as I could and come up with all the facets of misogyny.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
More Chinese Films Withdrawn From Melbourne Fest Over Uighur Controversy
As Chinese authorities continue their furious protests over the Aug. 8 appearance of Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer at the Melbourne International Film Festival (where a documentary on her is being shown), three more Chinese-language films have been removed from the festival program. Two films had been withdrawn already, including one by Venice Film Festival winner Jia Zhangke.
How Cary Grant Created ‘Cary Grant’
“The character he created and then lived in for decades, a seemingly effortless production that was actually the result of years of practice and refinement and discipline, was an ideal of the ascendant American male (as observed by a young immigrant Cockney vaudevillian): urbane but athletic, absurdly handsome but self-effacing, a joker who could be a bit of a cad, even a little cruel, but would always do the right thing in the end.”
Britain’s First All ‘Green’ Theatre (With Walls Made Of Straw)
“North London’s Arcola Theatre is laying plans to create the UK’s first environmentally friendly arts ‘campus’, in a multimillion-pound project that will see the company’s new home constructed from straw bale.”
Ireland’s Three Opera Companies May Be Combined Into One
“Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Ireland, and Opera Theatre Company are all facing possible extinction. The Arts Council is working on a proposal that would see all three companies … cease to exist.” Instead, a single company, based in Wexford’s new €33 million opera house, “would be set up to mount productions in Dublin, run the Wexford festival, and provide small-scale productions to tour around the country.”
Struggling Iraqi Ballet School Receives Huge Gift Of Supplies
Congressman Joe Sestak “helped the Academy of International Ballet Classique [in Media, PA] send 10 large packages of ballet supplies to the Iraqi Music and Ballet School [through] the U.S. Embassy in Iraq … The Iraqi school will receive point shoes, slippers, leotards, tights, costumes and ballet CDs and DVDs.”
San Diego Museum Receives Huge Collection Of Non-Western Art
“Six months into a year-long exhibition of Oceanic art, the San Diego Museum of Art has announced a major acquisition of artworks from one of the lenders, the Sana Art Foundation. Under terms of a new alliance between the two organizations, about 900 works from Oceania, Africa and the Americas will be transferred from the foundation to the museum.”
What Was So Powerful About Ancient Shamans? (Less Than You Might Think)
“Wouldn’t it be great to be back … when there were shamans – spiritual leaders – who could plug us into ‘the realm of the magical,’ show us ‘the reality behind apparent reality,’ and thus lead us to understand ‘how the universe really works’? … What I do doubt is that these earnest, selfless spiritual leaders were any more common in the heyday of shamanism than today, or that the spiritual quest was any less corrupted by manipulation and outright charlatanism than today, or that there was a coherent philosophy of shamanism that makes more sense than the average religion of today.”
Vampirism, Catholicism And Korea (According To Park Chan-wook)
“When you consider the concept of vampirism, it is inherently part of a Western culture. And also Catholicism is also part of the Western tradition that comes into Korea. So you can say also that my film [Thirst] is about things that are coming from the outside entering in, such as this virus that enters into the priest, changing him [into a vampire]. So we’re looking at things from the exterior entering into the interior and whether our inside can accept this thing that has entered from the outside or whether it will reject it.”
A Robot Gamelan Grows In Brooklyn
“What do you get when you cross a cyborg with a set of ancient Indonesian musical instruments? GamelaTron, of course. A love for music and a fascination for robotics prompted Brooklyn men Eric Singer and Taylor Kuffner to come up with the idea to build to the world’s first fully robotic gamelan orchestra.”