35TH MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL SHOWCASES HBO'S VICE WITH TIM CLANCY

EMMY-WINNING VICE WEEKLY DOCUMENTARIES CONFRONT POWERFUL ISSUES

BY DWIGHT CASIMERE

HBO VICE CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER AND SHOW RUNNER TIM CLANCY AND MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING JAIE LAPLANTE

TIM CLANCY Q. AND A. AT THE HBO VICE SCREENING AT THE MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL
(BELOW) SCENES FROM THREE VICE SHORT SUBJECTS: THE FUTURE OF FIREARMS, CHINA'S GHOST TOWNS AND ASSADS-SYRIA

BY DWIGHT CASIMERE

MIAMI-The 35th Miami Film Festival featured an evening dedicated to the hard-hitting HBO documentary series Vice. The non-conventional narrative series, featuring cutting edge short documentary films that explore some of the more unsettling subjects in today's headlines. Co-Executive Producer and Show Runner Tim Clancy sat withe film festival executive director Jaie Laplante to discuss the series and three hand-picked episodes screened that evening; China's Ghost Towns, The Future of Firearms and Assad's Syria.

Each of the short films went behind the scenes to explore that, at times, more unsettling aspects of their subject matter. For example, The Future of Firearms deals extensively with the recruitment and organizing of pre-teen and teen-aged sharp shooters who are avid gun users and marksmen who are sponsored by gun manufacturers. They even wear vests, jackets and other gear emblazoned with company logos, much like those of Nascar drivers. The film also explains how the gun lobby uses the current hysteria over gun control to further their cause and increase gun sales. The most disturbing segment was one fled on the South Side of Chicago featured an illegal gun dealer, his face disguised with a mask, explaining how almost anyone can find an illegal gun anywhere, just ask around! He also said that even legal gun owners are contributing to the problem of illegal gun sales by selling their guns on the street just for the expediency of some quick cash or to just get rid of an unwanted weapon.
Through five seasons at HBO, the Emmy-winning Vice Weekly has produced impactful short-form documentaries on key issues affecting our world – and discovering extraordinary people focused on sustainable solutions to seemingly impossible problems.

On a lighter note, the HBO Vice screening was followed by a party hosted by Stella Artois and featuring ribs, tacos, pulled pork Cuban sliders and Asian specialties from an array of local food trucks at The Wharf, Miami's newest outdoor venue.

 Dwight Casimere with Yvonne and Yvette Rodriguez of the film Lainegra at the HBO VICE Party

 The Wharf, Miami's newest outdoor party venue

Faces in the crowd at HBO VICW Night at The Wharf

 Former Chicago Bear Running Back Thomas Q. Jones, star of the film A VIOLENT MAN with Dwight Casimere  and the film's director Matthew Berkowitz and the film's co-star Denise Richards

 Celebrity photographer Jayme Gershen and friend

 Yvonne and Yvette Rodriquez of the film LATINEGRA enjoying The Wharf HBO Vice bash

Dwight Casimere at The Wharf HBO VICE night

35th MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL: PAUL SCHRADER'S "FIRST REFORMED"

'TAXI DRIVER' SCREENWRITER'S LATEST FILM SEES ETHAN HAWKE
AS A MINISTER STRUGGLING WITH HIS CONVICTIONS

 Dwight Casimere at the 35th Miami Film Festival Media Center at The Standard Miami Beach

 First Reformed Director Paul Schrader

Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried star in First Reformed


by Dwight Casimere

MIAMI BEACH--Screenwriter and Director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, American Gigolo) told an audience at the 35th Miami Film Festival that he was determined to do what he called a "quiet" project that was a complete departure from the many game-changing hits he's written directed over the years, the least of which was his maiden endeavor, the ground-breaking Taxi Driver. "I wanted to go back to my religious roots, deep into Calvinism, in the culture in which I was raised," he said of First Reformed, the Ethan Hawke starring vehicle in which the actor portrays an ex military chaplain turned pastor of a small, upstate New York tourist church, with virtually no members. The church is overseen as the step-child of a mega-church, presided over by a friendly, yet somewhat officious leader played with brilliant deftness by Cedric the Entertainer. This actor is highly underutilized as he shows considerable acting chops at balancing the bifurcated personality of his character. Hawke meets his spiritual Waterloo in the person of the super devout, pregnant Mary (Amanda Seyfried) whose perennially depressed husband Michael (Philip Ettinger) is hell-bent on having her abort her already too-far advanced pregnancy so he devote his full attention to his magical passion to save the world from environmental apocalypse.  Mary wants the Reverend to counsel Michael and bring talk him down off the ledge, which we quickly learn is an exercise in futility. It doesn't take much of a Sherlock to figure which was this thing is going. The Reverend gets drawn further into Mary's pollyanna and he is drawn like a moth to the flame of activism sparked by Michael's  zealous but truncated mission. Complicating it all is the fact that Cedric is attempted to keep the Reverends from going off the rails before the celebration of the church's 250th anniversary to be attended by the Governor and, more importantly, the corporate sponsors (read environment-destroying money grabbers) who feed Cedric The Entertainer's coffers.


First Reformed is the very antithesis of everything Schrader has ever done. "There are some elements of Taxi Driver in it, particularly in the ending. What I really wanted to do was create a film which is almost completely devoid of any action, but is driven almost by what doesn't happen. My thought was that by depriving the audience of the usual plot devices that they expect, they will get further drawn into the film."

First Reformed accomplishes all of this and more with stunning capability. It leaves you wondering about the limits of faith and the need to supplant blind faith with bold action and the healing effect of the power of love.

NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC GIVES SNEAK PEEK OF ASIAN TOUR WITH BRAHMS PIANO CONCERTO NO.1 WITH YUJA WANG

MUSIC DIRECTOR-DESIGNATE JAAP VAN ZWEDEN TUNES UP FOR HIS FIRST ASIAN TOUR WITH THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC

Photo: Chris Lee

by Dwight Casimere

NEW YORK-The excitement in the audience was palpable at David Geffen Hall in Lincoln Center when New York Philharmonic Music Director-Designate Jaap van Zweden took to the podium with the Beijing-born  soloist Yuja Wang to lead the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1. It was a scintillating performance and most apropriate as the orchestra was on the eve of its first Asian tour under its new leader. 

The svelte virtuoso quickly lived up to her reputation as one of the most electrifying performers on the concert stage today. Her velocity-defying octave trills in the opening movement showed off her phenomenal dexterity as did her emotive playing in the Adagio. Maestro van Zweden elicited a lush sound from the violins in the opening theme. Wang's  towering technique  then melded into the delightful rhythms expressed in the Hungarian Dance themes that drove the final movement to its thundering climax. Wang obliged the audience's effusive applause with a pair of encores; Mendelssohn's Song Without Words and in F sharp minor and Brahm's Intermezzo in C sharp minor.

Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 allowed the orchestra to stretch out and show its true mettle under Maestro van Zweden's firm hand. The Prokofiev showed the orchestra's superior capability and  dynamic range with van Zweden nimbly navigating the orchestra through the composer's contrasting passages. Soaring violins followed by sonorous cellos and majestic brass with solid percussion urging the entire ensemble to the exciting conclusion.

If this concert was any indication,  audiences in Beijing Kyoto, Tokyo, Nagaya and Taipei are enjoying a thrilling encounter with the New York Philharmonic during this week's tour. 

Monday, April 2 at 7:30 the orchestra returns to Brooklyn's National Sawdust for a Co-presentation of CONTACT! At National Sawdust with host Esa-Pekka Salonen. The orchestra returns to David Geffen Hall Wednesday, April 4 at 9:45 am for an Open Rehearsal with Guest Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen at the podium for a program of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with virtuoso Benjamin Grosvenor at the keyboard, followed by Beethoven's thunderous Eroica Symphony to be performed at 7:30pm Wednesday evening and again Thursday and Friday at 7:30pm and 8pm respectively. Visit nyphil.org for tickets and information.

35th MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL EXPLORES ISSUES OF RACIAL IDENTITY, IMMIGRATION, WOMEN IN MENTAL TURMOIL

LATINEGRAS: LOVE THE SKIN YOU'RE IN PREMIERES AT 35TH MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL

Film Explores Identity Crisis Faced by Black Women of Latin Culture

Dwight Casimere with Yvonne and Yvette Rodriguez of Latinegras

The cast of LATINEGRAS: Love The Skin You're In with Director/Producer Omilani Alarcon (center-left)


by Dwight Casimere

Latinegras:Love The Skin You're In, a documentary film produced and
directed by poet, singer and filmmaker Omilani Alarcon, is a
heartfelt, poetic journey of self-discovery concerning the identity
crisis suffered by black women who are of Latin heritage. In lyrical
words, and stunningly in-your-face cinematography, Omilani acts as
both on-camera presenter and behind-the-scenes narrator, interweaving
the personal, revealing testimonies of about a dozen women from
various locations within the Latin and Afro-Latin diaspora: Puerto
Rico, Guatamala, the Dominican Republic, Peru,  Panama, and New York,
all expressing their continuing pain of identity. Broken down into
segments; Ghosts of Our Past, which charts the history of slavery from
the Middle Passage to the New World, The Politics of Blackness, which
recounts the establishment of the legal structuring of modern slavery
through the Louisiana Purchase and the Missouri Compromise, the One
Drop Rule, in which blackness is defined by the presence of one eighth
to one thirty-second of black blood in any person's genealogy,
Questions of Complexion and Skin Tone and the filmmakers own final
descent into self-confrontation in a final healing, almost Baptismal
journey to her own roots in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The film is brought
to its conclusion amidst the catastrophe of Hurricane Maria, yet, the
filmmaker finds that even in this calamity, there is reason for hope
and the promise of a new beginning. Latinegras: Love The Skin You're In
is targeted at a very specific audience, yet its message of universal
acceptance and hope is a lesson that applies to us all.

Yvonne and Yvette Rodriguez

35th MIAMI FILM FESTIVAL TACKLES RACIAL IDENTITY, IMMIGRATION WOES AND RELIGIOUS PHOBIAS

MIAMI FEST FEATURES TRIBUTE TO A FRENCH ACTING ICON AND HOSTS OSCAR-WINNING GREATS

by Dwight Casimere

The cast of Latinegras: Love The Skin You're In at its premiere with director/producer
Alimony Alarcon (center-left)

by Dwight Casimere

The 35th Miami Film Festival March 9-18 plays host to a dazzling array of international stars and directors and features films that tackle such issues as racial identity among women who are both black and Latina, the struggles of suburban mothers on the brink of mental breakdown and the tribulations of a young Mexican American couple coping with the changing landscape of US immigration laws while trying to preserve their fledgling marriage. Four-time Oscar nominated writer, director and producer Jason Reitman premiered his newest film Tully on Opening Night, with Oscar winners actress Charlize Theron and screenwriter Diablo Cody.  France's Oscar-winning national treasure  Isabelle Huppert,  is the subject of a Tribute Screening of her latest film Souvenir, at which she will receive the festival's Precious Gem-Icon Award and Spain's greatest living filmmaker Carlos Saura will receive the Precious Gem-Master Award at a screening of the new documentary on his career and family life, Saura(s).

Also featured was the directorial debut from two-time Academy Award-nominated Beninese-American actor Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) which takes us on a personal journey of spiritual reclamation. Demonized by Christianity, scarred by colonialism and crudely misrepresented in Hollywood movies, we in the West know nothing about voodoo. It is time to tell the story from an African perspective.

With In Search of Voodoo, Hounsou returns to his West African birthplace to visit sacred sites, witness rituals and interview scholars, adepts and politicians, who provide an accessible survey of voodoo’s rich history and reliance on nature as a guiding force in the lives of its practitioners.

The festival features 148 films of all genres from 50 countries including three for the first time in the festival's Official Selection category from Benin, Georgia and Swaziland. The festival wraps up with the Award's Night screening of Curro Velázquez’s smash hit Spanish comedy Holy Goalie (Que baje Dios y lo vea), with star Alain Hernández in attendance. The Miami Dade College 35th Miami Film Festival continues through March 18.