new york film festival

This week we look at the 1959 Winston Castle classic horror flick "House on Haunted Hill" - Elvira's first horror movie (which she watched at 8 years old!) and one of the films curated by her for the recently released 40th Anniversary Special, which stars the one and only Vincent Price, and had a major impact on horror cinema to follow.

I also look at Elvira's 2001 feature film "Elvira's Haunted Hills" which did not have the same impact... and discuss what makes a parody film work when it is built on being "bad" and what I would have done to change it.

Lastly, the episode kicks off with some chat around the final NYFF 59 screeners:
"The Lost Daughter" directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal
"DUNE" directed by Denis Villenueve
& "Parallel Mothers" by Pedro Almodovar

Episode details found at my Instagram @ingloriousbaguettes or
https://ingloriousbaguettes.com/2021/10/13/elvira-tober-part-2-house-on-haunted-hill-1959-elviras-haunted-hills-2001/

In this episode, we feature a conversation with the legendary filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky about his recent film GUNDA.

I have been a fan of Kossakovsky’s work since one of his first films, THE BELOVS (1993), which is a portrait of simple village life, sometimes tender and sometimes harsh, captured mostly in a steady observational gaze until the last scene where we are shaken by the filmmaker’s camera work. In Kossakovsky’s latest film, GUNDA, again, Kossakovsky delivers simplicity, tenderness, and a last sequence that makes the ground shake. 

GUNDA is not the masterpiece within Kossakovsky’s body of work but a masterpiece of cinema. Experiential cinema in its purest form, GUNDA chronicles the unfiltered lives of a mother pig, a flock of chickens, and a herd of cows with intimacy. Using stark, transcendent black-and-white cinematography and the farm's ambient soundtrack, director Victor Kossakovsky invites audiences to slow down and experience life as his subjects do, taking in their world with magical patience and an otherworldly perspective. GUNDA asks us to meditate on the mystery of animal consciousness and reckon with the role humanity plays in it. 

Eka Tsotsoria moderates the conversation, where we reference the contemporary philosopher and ecologist Timothy Morton, Story of a Horse by Leo Tolstoy, and   Paulus Potter’s painting, The Young Bull.  

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

In this episode, we feature a conversation with Allison Chhorn about her film THE PLASTIC HOUSE (2020). THE PLASTIC HOUSE is a highly immersive film that occurs almost entirely inside and around her Cambodian family’s dilapidated greenhouse in South Australia. Economical yet expansive, Chhorn filters and displaces her fears about her parents’ deaths and a precarious future onto an intensely moving narrative of ritual, physical labor, and isolation.

Also referenced in this podcast is Chhorn’s Carte Blanche from Visions du Reel, which you can view here. 

Zanré Reed moderates the discussion.

For show notes, visit docsinorbit.com and be sure to follow us on social media @docsinorbit

Heading into this year’s Emmy Awards, there may have been tension between coronating beloved, long-running series and recognizing impressive, convention-bending newcomers, but in the end voters largely seemed to favor a recent crop of fresh, forward-thinking shows, including “Fleabag.”

That choice may have been because of what fans and critics were saying on social media about the programs they watch, says the Times TV editor Matt Brennan But it could also reflect that in the age of Peak TV with an ecosystem of 500 shows, it’s easier to split the sea of competitors and snap up a nomination — and a win.

The 71st Emmys signaled that the world of TV has changed, with a wide-open landscape that spans multiple platforms, says Times TV Critic Lorraine Ali.

Comedy is having a moment. But, strong limited drama series with cinematic sensibilities — like “Chernobyl” and “When The See Us” — are also real standouts..

Host Mark Olsen talks with Times TV critic Lorraine Ali (@LorraineAli), TV editor Matt Brennan (@thefilmgoer) and TV reporter Yvonne Villareal. (@villareally).

On this week’s episode, “The Reel” is also rolling out a couple of changes. Over the next few months of awards season, Olsen plans to check in with Entertainment Columnist Glenn Whipp (@GlennWhipp) in a segment we’re calling “Glenn Whipp’s Awards Minute.”

We’ll also start each episode off with a conversation on a news item from the world of culture. This week, Olsen and Ali discuss the chatter around “Joker,” and the fear from some people outside Hollywood that the film might inspire violence.