Jan 27th 2009 Basel Cinema Roundup

Comment - The Cultural World has gone so tame and homogenous lately, what with the ubiquitous spread of websites, blogs, micro-blogs and twitter. This is not increasing our individuality but diminishing it. However, I recently video-taped off the box, one of the most important films of the 20th Century, David W. Griffiths Intolerance about the competing forces of hate, intolerance, love and charity, spectacular and truly marvelous. A silent film from 1916 restored to HD quality.

Orange Cinema - Off this year, 2009 - The Munster this summer has its ceiling plastered so all the building work prevents Orange Cinema from setting up on the square. Although the ‘Cinerent Open air’ organizers looked around for an alternative Cinema venue, they could not find a suitable venue that could maintain the amazing atmosphere provided by the Munsterplatz. So the management decided to have a one year pause in their open air cinema event calendar.

Kurz & Knapp launches its short film event on Saturday 7th February doors open 21:00 in Neues Kino Basel. An eclectic mix of national and international short films, with the chance to meet other cineastes and discuss film over a drinks at the bar! Check out Kurz & Knapp's website under: http://www.kurzundknapp.ch/ Neues Kino is on Kylbeckstrasse 247, take Tram 8 direction Kleinhünigen to 'Ciba' http://neueskinobasel.ch/ Please tell your friends It would be great if you could forward this mail to anyone you know who loves film!

Basel Box Office Hits

Revolutionary Road, (di Caprio /Winslet relationship drama Dir.Sam Mendes. Australia (Kidman/ Jackman Adventure in the Outback. Saw V Splatter movie, a gruesome Jigsaw puzzle played to detective Hoffmann's rules. Seven Pounds, Will Smith Melodrama. Madagascar2 Animation. Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Dir.Woody Allen,(Cruz, Johanssen, Badem, Patricia Clarkson.

Premiere's

BOLT, Kids Animation about a superhero dog

Changeling, Dir, Clint Eastwood, Angelina Jolie. Slum Dog Millionaire, Love Story, - based on an Indian TV version of the show "Who wants to be a Millionaire". Valkyrie, thriller based on the true story of an attempted assassination of Hitler

Smallest Drive-in Cinema Attempt - Organizers of a film festival planned to stage what they believe was the world's smallest drive in cinema - on a car ferry. The 1950's film called "The Maggie" was shown on the ferry which runs between Cromarty and Nigg in the Highlands of Scotland. Tickets for all four passengers were sold out for the screening. The Organizers, Dave Newman of the Cromarty Film Festival and ferry owner John Henderson teamed up for the one-off event last November.

What's on Now and Expected Soon? Werner Herzog is a clever old film visionary and perhaps a lunatic, but he's what we need these days and right now his latest film called Encounters at the end of the World takes us even more deeper into a curious yet arguably beautiful world, this we have to realize. Look out for a British film called Unrelated dissecting the mores of the holidaying upper-middle class with horrible accuracy. Appalling teenagers, ghastly parents disporting themselves in the Italian countryside.

The best film last year or best film ever made slipped in an out of the cinemas without notice it was Man on a Wire. I also read in the papers that Has Wojciech made a film called The Saragossa Manuscript, highly acclaimed by Martin Scorcese and a favourite film of Bunuel's. I need to hunt it down.

Swiss Cinema did not fair so well in 2008. Local, home-grown Swiss films have a difficult time in Switzerland. With only 4 percent market share. Local productions have no chance against the great volume of internationally produced films.

About 15 million film-goers sat before the screens this year but only 400'000 watched a Swiss film according to the Swiss department of culture. Film 2008 goes to the digital animations such as Kung Fu Panda and Wall -E. (Rarely does an animated feature film win high awards. However the Los Angeles group of film critics gave Wall-E the thumbs up as the best film of 2008). In the top five category for the best film went to the French comedy Bienvenu chez les Ch'tis.