
This Friday, February 5th, Detroit techno icon Carl Craig and Berlin duo NSI will perform LIVE to two early Warhol films – Blow Job and Kiss. Buy tickets>>
Writer and filmmaker Peter Gidal wrote the following on Blow Job: "In Andy Warhol's silent black-and-white movie, Blow Job (1964), a youth is filmed as he is apparently being given the sex act named in the title. The 35-minute film is accentuated by the paucity of expression on the actor's face: we see only his head and shoulders, rigidly framed so that all off-screen space has to be imagined, or avoided. Sometimes the young actor looks bored, sometimes as if he is thinking, sometimes as if he is aware of the camera, sometimes as if he is not. Like the protagonists of other Warhol films, he is apparently left to his own devices."
And just in case you’ve never heard of them- here’s some background information on the talented artists who will perform live. (Carl Craig plays with Blow Job, nsi. with Kiss)
Carl Craig, an extremely prolific musician, is known as a leader in Detroit’s second wave of techno. With well over 200 singles and remixes under his belt, Craig’s popularity pertains to his bold tastes, experimenting with European synth music, post-punk, jazz, funk, and R&B. In an interview with Stylus Magazine, Craig reveals, “I have a bad habit of getting my hands dirty in every little thing, and I really do enjoy it.”

NSI. (non standard institute) is the brainchild of Berlin sound engineers Max Loderbauer and Tobias Freund, prominent techno producers whose careers date back to the mid-1980s. Known for their visceral take on minimalism and techno, nsi. has established itself as one of the most inventive and aurally accomplished groups.

It’s evident that whether its ballet, ballroom, meringue, or krumping, there is something beautiful and elegant about dance. And when dance collides on film, a special kind of alchemy is born on screen. That’s why we’re so excited to celebrate another year of Dance on Camera, January 29 - February 2, 2010.
To stimulate your appetite for the rarities and new work that will be on display starting this Friday, enjoy these classic dance clips:
The Film Society is thrilled to welcome back the popular annual program Dance on Camera this Friday. Below, programmer Joanna Ney offers her introduction to some of the highlights of the program.

You 'Nutcracker" nuts, yes, we had the holiday spirit and now we welcome 2010. You notice we don't have to say two thousand and ten: 2010 has a clean, pragmatic sound to it. Embrace it!
Now, Dance on Camera Festival 2010 brings tidings of innovation, diversity and daring, while honoring tradition and history.
For ballet fans
So, if you are enjoying New York City Ballet and looking ahead to American Ballet Theater in the spring, you should definitely hone in on Forty Years of One Night Stands, a fun doc about the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and its Brit beginnings in a wild,Canadian outpost. From Flin Flon to Moscow, these dancers set the dance world on fire. Catch the flame on Jan 29. And if you don't know who Marge and Gower Champion were, it's never to late to see the "other half" of the team (Gower died during a performance, put in year), Marge, the model for Disney's "Snow White" and the hippo in "Fantasia" is shown with her current dance partner, the legendary Donald Saddler. Donald turns 90 on Jan 29. Marge already hit the mark. Ballroom dancing is the theme of Keep Dancing but the larger message rings clear: Do what you love and take from life what it gives you, not what it takes away.
Film Society favorites Jia Zhangke, Ang Lee and Wong Kar-wai make a strong showing in dGenerate Films' poll of top Chinese-language films of the past decade. Below, the top ten and link to complete coverage from dGenerate Films.
1. In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-wai (28 mentions)
2. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks, Wang Bing (25)
3. Platform, Jia Zhangke (24)
4. Yi Yi, Edward Yang(23)
5. Still Life, Jia Zhangke (18)
6. Devils on the Doorstep, Jiang Wen (12)
7. Oxhide, Liu Jiayin (11)
(tie) Summer Palace, Lou Ye (11)
(tie) The World, Jia Zhangke (11)
10. Blind Shaft, Li Yang (10)
(tie) Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee (10)
Read more from dGenerate films
"'I will leave this film a changed person,' said one audience member of Saviors in the Night, a German World War II drama about the lives of German farmers harboring Jews during that country’s darkest of periods," writes Jaron Gandelman of the opening night of the New York Jewish Film Festival on the Jewish Museum blog.
"Actors Margarita Broich, Lia Hoensbroech, and Veronica Ferres, who plays Marga, spoke of the inspiration they acquired during the shooting of the film, and the constant challenges they faced recounting the horrors of their country’s past. 'My grandparents could survive the War because of farmers,' recalled Ms. Hoensbroech, 'which presented a great challenge and an honor to take part in this film.'"
Read the whole post on the Jewish Museum blog
See the schedule for the New York Jewish Film Festival and buy tickets
Can art respond to, or even make sense of, suffering? This was just one of the thorny questions raised at a panel this past Sunday at the Center for Jewish History called "Imagination and Catastrophe: Art and the Aftermath of Genocide." The symposium featured filmmakers Atom Egoyan, poet Peter Balakian, novelist Marcie Hershman, critic R. Clifton Spargo, and was moderated by Donna Lee-Frieze, a scholar of genocide. It's the first of four panels planed at the center to focus on genocide, human rights issues and culture.

From l to r: R. Clifton Spargo, Marcie Hershman, Atom Egoyan and Peter Balakian
As practicing artists, many of the panelists explored their own challenges in terms of grappling with the enormity of suffering on a mass scale. If the Holocaust represents the negation of culture, noted critic Spargo, then we might conclude that it would be impossible for art to bring the divide between the extremity of the experience and the transcendent distillation of experience that art seeks to create. "If you were bearing true witness, you wouldn't be able to tell the story," echoed Egoyan, which led into another provocative issue, namely, should artists try to tackle history's darkest chapters?
The New York Jewish Film Festival presents an extraordinary range of films from 14 different countries, including eye-opening documentaries, brand-new dramas with stars like Emily Watson, true historical stories and even an animated film!
Need help navigating the selection? This week, the filmlinc blog will be bringing you several program guides centering on different aspects of the program. Today, we're looking at some of the festival's most exciting and eclectic selections...the boundary breakers:

A true story told in clay? That's Mary and Max, the new animated film from Oscar-winner Adam Elliot. It's the unlikely, but utterly charming story of the correspondence between a chubby, lonely eight-year-old girl in Melbourne, and a 44-year-old, severely obese New Yorker with Asperger’s Syndrome. Featuring the voices of Eric Bana, Toni Colette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Dame Edna.
The New York Jewish Film Festival presents an extraordinary range of films from 14 different countries, including eye-opening documentaries, brand-new dramas with stars like Emily Watson, true historical stories and even an animated film!
Need help navigating the selection? This week, the filmlinc blog will be bringing you several program guides centering on different aspects of the program. Today, we're looking at documentaries:

The Jazz Baroness tells the extraordinary untold story of a Rothschild heiress and her relationship with jazz great Thelonius Monk, featuring illuminating interviews with Quincy Jones, Sonny Rollins and Clint Eastwood.
Everyone's faced a "test of faith" at some point in their lives, but the subjects of Leap of Faith confront stark and dramatic choices while negotiating their conversion to the Orthodox Jewish faith. Subjects include Messianic Jews in Colorado, a youngster whose bat mitzvah is challenged by a Jewish high school and a motivated Trinidadian nanny in New York.
Carl Craig and nsi. perform LIVE this Friday!
This Friday, February 5th, Detroit techno icon Carl Craig and Berlin duo NSI will perform LIVE to two early Warhol films – Blow Job and Kiss. Buy tickets>>
Writer and filmmaker Peter Gidal wrote the following on Blow Job: "In Andy Warhol's silent black-and-white movie, Blow Job (1964), a youth is filmed as he is apparently being given the sex act named in the title. The 35-minute film is accentuated by the paucity of expression on the actor's face: we see only his head and shoulders, rigidly framed so that all off-screen space has to be imagined, or avoided. Sometimes the young actor looks bored, sometimes as if he is thinking, sometimes as if he is aware of the camera, sometimes as if he is not. Like the protagonists of other Warhol films, he is apparently left to his own devices."
And just in case you’ve never heard of them- here’s some background information on the talented artists who will perform live. (Carl Craig plays with Blow Job, nsi. with Kiss)
NSI. (non standard institute) is the brainchild of Berlin sound engineers Max Loderbauer and Tobias Freund, prominent techno producers whose careers date back to the mid-1980s. Known for their visceral take on minimalism and techno, nsi. has established itself as one of the most inventive and aurally accomplished groups.