“On Cinema: Alexander Payne” at New York Film Festival

Director Alexander Payne

On October 15 the New York Film Festival presented “On Cinema: Alexander Payne,” in which the director (“Election,” “About Schmidt,” “Sideways” and the soon to be released “The Descendants”) talked about influential films in his life.  The event was sponsored by HBO, moderated by NYFF Selection Committee Chairman Richard Pena and took place in the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater.

Payne proved to be an affable, frank and intelligent subject who frequently turned Pena’s questions around, playfully shooting them back at his interviewer.  Interspersed throughout the talk, Payne showed clips from four influential films: Anthony Mann’s “The Naked Spur,” Michelangelo Antonioni’s “La Notte,” Martin Scorsese’s “Casino” and Akira Kurosawa’s “Red Beard.”  Payne also brought a 16m print of an early film by director Carroll Ballard, “The Perils of Priscilla,” a lively, imaginative short which showed the world from the point of view of an abandoned house cat.  Payne said it was one of the best movies ever made.

“Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” at New York Film Festival

(from left to right) director Bruce Sinofsky, subject Damien Echols and director Joe Berlinger.

On Monday October 10, the New York Film Festival hosted the world premiere of “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” the new documentary directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. The event took place at Alice Tully Hall.

Richard Pena, Chairman of the Selection Committee, for the festival, introduced the film by saying that this was going to be an extraordinary evening that we would not forget.  He was right.   Not only did “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory” prove to be an incredible finish to the “Paradise Lost” films, but the evening featured the first public appearance by the Memphis Three: Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin.  They were just released from prison this past August after having served nearly 20 years for a crime they did not commit.  It was mind boggling to think that just two months ago Echols was on death row, while Misskelley and Baldwin were serving life sentences, and now they were all here at Lincoln Center.  Sheila Nevins, head of HBO Documentaries, who stuck with the project for nearly 20 years, believing in the innocence of the three men said, “It was our job to keep going and going until one day they could be at the film festival at Lincoln Center.”  Following the screening, the three men, along with the filmmakers and Nevins, received a well deserved, sustained, standing ovation.

The Complete Clint Eastwood

From July 9 – 27 The Film Society of Lincoln Center will present “The Complete Clint Eastwood,” a comprehensive retrospective of all films directed by triple threat actor, director, producer, Clint Eastwood. The series will also showcase signature Eastwood performances in films directed by Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. On July 10 Eastwood himself will make a live appearance, via Skype, for a Q&A session following a screening of “A Fistful of Dollars” (1964). On July 9 critic, author and director Richard Schickel will present his documentary “The Eastwood Factor.” After the screening Schickel will sign copies of his book “Clint: A Retrospective.”