Dr. Fred Pollock and wife Carol on right with crowd
Dr. Fred Pollock, president of the WV Jewish Film Festival, with the assistance of manager Mike Tawney, presented an outstanding program of two new Jewish-themed films at The Park Place Stadium Theaters last night. Fred counted about 250 for the first film and 160 for the second.
Film Comment magazine recently published a list of the top films of the decade. Charleston film expert has is own list which is below. I am still working on my own. Read the rest of this entry »
Dr. Fred Pollock, president of the WV Jewish Film Festival, has announced that on Sunday, January 24th at 3 PM, his group will be presenting the “a Jewish Comedy Mid-Winter Double Feature Afternoon Matinee Special” that starts with the hit new Jewish documentary, “Yoo, Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg”. The film has been showing around the country to large audiences. It comes from Aviva Kempner, award-winning maker of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg. Read the rest of this entry »
Robert Gates bringing his DVDs in to SCM LaBelle Theater
Robert Gates has been making his own independent films in West Virginia longer than anyone, starting with Buffalo Creek in 1972. He made his first complete film in 1977 with “In Memory of the Land and People,” still considered the best documentary ever made about stripmining. He has also won awards for his short experimental film, “Communication from Weber” that traveled the British Isles, and has made many more films including two of the first films on the effects of MTR - “All Shaken Up” and “Mucked.” Last night, despite the chilling weather, about 75 people including Ken Hechler attended the local premieres of his two newest films, “Celebrating 40 Years - The West Virginia Highland Conservancy” and “Buffalo Creek.” He finished with the world DVD premiere of his classic “Morris Brothers Old-Time Music Festival”.(1972-released in 1980)
(Charleston, WV, December 4, 2009)The South Charleston Museum will begin its 2010 West Virginia Film Series on Saturday, January 9th at 7 PM with three films by West Virginia’s leading independent filmmaker, Robert Gates. The three films will all be local premieres. He will introduce the film and answer questions afterwards. The three films are – “Celebrating 40 Years – The West Virginia Highland Conservancy,” “Buffalo Creek Disaster,” and the world DVD premiere of “Morris Family Old Time Music Festival.”- Admission is $4. Read the rest of this entry »
Andrew Sarris I believe at his typewriter
Bullfrog Films of Oley, Pa. is the distributor “For the Love of Movies - The Story of American Film Criticism,” a senational new film about the history of American cinema and American film critics. Given that many publications, including this one, The Charleston Gazette, no longer pays its reporters to review films, relying on bloggers like myself, the endangered world of “official” film criticism has spawned a thousand web film critics including myself. This new documentay is a must-see for anyone who loves films, and has enjoyed reading the serious film criticism that once was so important in American cinema. Read the rest of this entry »
Dr. Fred Pollock with Charleston basketball legend Nemo Nearman at summer Jewish film night 2009
Dr. Fred Pollock is known for leading the WV Jewish Film Festival. He has now also made a nice YouTube about a recent trip to visit his daughter in Peru who is doing medical research. He wrote me, “I made the video on imovie on my MacBook from photos.” The two males in the film are his sons Joe and Gab. But he was glad to get home…..”I agree with you and the famous movie line, “Toto, there’s no place like home”.” Check out the video here.
In other news from Holler Presents, Scott McClanahan , an author/filmmaker, has a new book of short stories out from Six Gallery Press (in Pittsburgh) called STORIES II — the first one came out earlier this year. Read the rest of this entry »
In “Coal Country - Rising Up Against Mountaintop Removal Mining,”(Sierra Club Books), Shirley Stewart Burns, Mari-Lynn Evans and Silas House have done an exceptional job editing many essays by the leading opponents of mountaintop removal mining. This is the perfect companion book to the great film by Mari-Lynn Evans that I have called “the “Harlan County, USA” of the 21st century. Read the rest of this entry »
“Psychotronic” is a special term to me since I had the premiere of WV’s most famous psychotronic film, “Teenage Strangler” way back around 1990 at the St. Albans Public Library under the direction of Yvonne Farley. In the current issue of my former publication, Graffiti, Tony Rutherford, who does a good job covering Huntington-related films, has posted a story listing some psychotronic films and other WV films. I wish that he had included the two films on Gray Barker - “Whispers from Space” and “Shades of Gray.” Richard Bartram cablecast “Teenage” a while ago and is making a nice film about the making of WV’s first indie feature.
