Terrorism versus activism in Oscar nominated documentary. The wind-up magic of Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo.” Tinker Tailor Author Screenwriter. Wim Wenders’s “Pina.” Antonio Banderas is Puss in Boots. Oscar contender “Undefeated.” Paradise lost; freedom found. Oscar nominated documentary director goes to Hell and back.
Terrorism versus activism in Oscar nominated documentary
Documentary filmmaker, Marshall Curry, is back with “If a Tree Falls: A Story of The Earth Liberation Front.” This is Curry’s third offering after the critically acclaimed “Street Fight,” and “Racing Dreams,” soon to be a feature film from Dreamworks.
In this film, Curry and co-director Sam Cullman tell the story of the largest cell of the Earth Liberation Front or ELF, an organization that engages in guerilla warfare against targets they deem to be environmental offenders. The group has been known to torch SUV’s and an entire apartment complex in San Diego, leading the FBI to label them the number one domestic terror threat in the United States.
“If A Tree Falls” tells the story of the rise and fall of ELF using never-before-seen archival footage and explores the heyday of eco-terrorism before 9-11 came along and changed the contours of the terrorism debate forever.
Guests:
Marshall Curry, co-director, “If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front.”
Sam Cullman, co-director, “If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front.”
The wind-up magic of Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo”
Martin Scorsese has already made himself a legend in the world of film, directing such notable movies as “Taxi Driver,” “Goodfellas,” “Raging Bull” and “Mean Streets.” In 2007, Scorsese received the Academy Award for Best Director for “The Departed,” which also won Best Picture that year. Scorsese’s most recent effort, however, takes a turn from the world of gangsters, violence and crime and focuses on the promise of adventure and the power of imagination.
In Hugo, a boy who has been orphaned after his father dies in a fire must fend for himself while living off stolen food in a train station. Meanwhile, he attempts to repair a broken automaton, which was a project of his father’s. It isn’t until Hugo meets a girl named Isabelle, who coincidentally has a key which fits into the automaton, that Hugo gets it to work and discovers its true purpose. The film is in 3-D, and Scorsese has received the Best Director Golden Globe for his work on the film. It is nominated for eleven Academy Awards this year, including Best Director and Best Picture.
WEIGH IN:
Why did Scorsese decide to focus on this particular story? How does the 3-D technology affect and enhance the overall work? What were your favorite moments of “Hugo,” and why do you think it’s getting such a strong critical reception?
Guest:
Martin Scorcese, Academy Award nominee for best director for the film HUGO
Tinker Tailor Author Screenwriter
Peter Straughan has said that the project of adapting the Cold War thriller by iconic author John le Carré began “in a state of fear.” Le Carré is a revered writer who has elevated the spy genre into literature, and his fans are legion. In fact, the work that Straughan and his screenwriter wife, the late Bridget O’Connor, were asked to tackle had already been made into a successful 1979 BBC miniseries, which was hailed as a masterpiece.
The very idea of meeting Le Carré – let alone transferring his less than heroic hero, George Smiley, and his menacingly beige world to the screen – was intimidating. But Straughan found the author to be everything an adaptor could hope for – generous, supportive, inventive, and far less precious about fidelity to the novel than the screenwriters expected.
Straughan, who has written screenplays for “The Debt” and “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” among others, describes the process of adapting stories to film as “a kind of foster parenting.” He joins Larry to talk about the year-long process of writing the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.”
Guest:
Peter Straughan, screenwriter for the movie “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.”
Wim Wenders’s “Pina”
German director Wim Wenders and choreographer Pina Bausch talked often of making a dance film together. Such a movie would have been the creative culmination of their friendship, which lasted over twenty years. Tragically, however, this was not to be, as Bausch died suddenly in 2009, while preparations for shooting said film were still being made. However, Wenders realized that even though he couldn’t make a film with Bausch, he could make one for her.
In “Pina,” Wenders filmed members of Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal performing choreographies he and Bausch chose together. This footage was supplemented with images and audio files of her life. Furthermore, capitalizing on advances in digital 3D technology, Wenders was able to capture the elastic nature of Bausch’s work, as well as its dramatic range of emotional expression.
WEIGH IN:
What was Wenders trying to convey specifically through the choreographies he chose? What is so fascinating about Bausch’s work? How does the use of 3D enhance the film? Will this lead to a trend in moviemaking?
Guest:
Wim Wenders, director of “Pina,” also an author, photographer, playwright and producer
Antonio Banderas is Puss in Boots
Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 84th Academy Awards, "Puss in Boots" is a computer-animated, action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Chris Miller who also directed "Shrek the Third" in 2007.
The executive producer is Guillermo del Toro, "Puss in Boots" stars Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. The film is a spinoff prequel to the Shrek franchise and it follows the character Puss in Boots in his adventures before his first appearance in "Shrek 2" in 2004.
Accompanied by his sidekicks, Humpty Dumpty and Kitty Softpaws, Puss is pitted against Jack and Jill, two murderous outlaws who possess magical beans that promise great fortune. The film opened to very positive reviews and grossed over $516 million as of February 2012. It was released in Digital 3D.
Guest:
Antonio Banderas, Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer. Antonio Banderas voiced the English, Spanish and Italian versions of Puss in Boots, the fictional cat and a supporting character in the Shrek film series, as well as the primary protagonist of the 2011 spin-off prequel Puss in Boots.
Oscar contender “Undefeated”
Each of the Oscar-nominated documentaries has spirit, passion and heart. In the film “Undefeated” the emotion plays out on the field of an underdog high school football team.
The Tigers, from an underdog town in Tennessee, were founded in 1899 at Manassas High, but never turned that longevity into success ... never ever won a play-off game. It got so bad, spirit-wise and money-wise, the team started selling game appearances to teams across the state who wanted to score an easy win.
Enter Coach Bill Courtnay, the man with the patience and fortitude to take individual players and turn them into a team. If you liked the popular television series "Friday Night Lights," you have to see “Undefeated.”
WEIGH IN:
What motivates a volunteer coach to dedicate himself to a seemingly hopeless football program? How do the realities of North Memphis affect the Tigers? What makes “Undefeated” a top doc this year?
Guests:
T.J. Martin, Director/Editor/Director of Photography
Dan Lindsay, Director/Editor/Director of Photography
Paradise lost; freedom found
In May of 1993, three eight year-old boys were found brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. A month later three teenage boys, Jessie Misskelley, Jr., Jason Baldwin and Damien Echols stood accused of the crime and within a year all three were convicted and one was sentenced to death.
The trial and its aftermath made national headlines as the police work and the trial were roundly criticized. This is the third documentary that filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky have made about the boys who became known as the “West Memphis Three.” Their first came just a few years after the trial in 1996, the second in 2000.
This final installment follows the story of Misskelley, Baldwin and Echol’s release from prison after spending 18 years behind bars. Bizarrely, under the terms of their release, all three had to plead guilty to the crimes they say they never committed. We’ll talk to Berlinger and Sonofsky about what it’s like to follow a story for nearly two decades and discuss the controversies surrounding their Oscar nomination.
Guests:
Joe Berlinger, co-director, "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
Bruce Sinofsky, co-director, "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"
Oscar nominated documentary director goes to Hell and Back
The Oscar nominated documentary “Hell and Back Again” follows Sergeant Nathan Harris as he’s sent deep into enemy territory in Afghanistan in 2009, and is injured there by Taliban fighters. When he leaves the war-torn country, he tries to acclimate back to life in North Carolina.
Photojournalist-turned-documentary filmmaker Danfung Dennis’s film clearly illustrates the violence and horror of war, as well as the sadness and devastation the wars have wrought on the lives of the people who are fighting them.
When we see Harris back home in north Carolina he’s crippled by flashbacks, heavily medicated, battling addiction and his long-suffering wife is trying hard to figure out who her husband is after so many years fighting overseas. According to critics the film is human, dignified and stunningly shot with a photographer’s eye towards color and clarity.
Guest:
Danfung Dennis, Director of “Hell and Back Again”; Photojournalist who spent years chronicling the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan