Movies Til Dawn

Dig the above photo--a lovely grouping capturing literally ALL of us who attended at Deauville. The handsome little boy is my son, Lorenzo De Felitta. The beautiful little girl belongs to our executive producer Militun Gatsby. This was taken the night of our premiere. Click here for some AP wire images of our opening night. I'm having trouble locating the French press on our movie--is it because the language eludes me? If anyone can turn up reviews or feature pieces (and I know they exist) I'd love to have the links forwarded to me... And finally--mega-bigtime thanks to the indespensible (and mysteriously named) JC--a faithful reader who turns up stuff that eludes even I, the Phillip Marlowe of Youtube. CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR PRESS CONFERENCE. Yes, I agree JC: too short and the French translations a bit long. But we were in the midst of a heavy press day so the the somewhat abortive end came as something of a relief. Most importantly, this video captures the professional show-bi...

"City Island" got another big-time ovation at our screening at Deauville and plenty of nice French press (those three words don't always go together--the French can be nasty when the mood strikes them). I'm sharing some photos that I took and a few on-line links as they become available. Cheers... Photo call at Deauville--Andy Garcia and Dominik Garcia-Lorido... Going to dinner with Andy Garcia...   Subscribe in a reader

As I write this, a bunch of no doubt sleep-encrusted, wine-soaked, coffee-seeking, ashtray-reeking journalists are sitting down to watch "City Island" at the ungodly French hour of nine AM. This is our press screening--the screening that will decide, one way or the other, how the film will be reviewed critically in this most critical of cinema-obsessed countries. Am I worried? No. Why, you ask? Because, thanks to you youtube, I just found the goddamned niftiest bit of period footage of this lovely French beach resort, showing the place in 1936 in beautiful black and white which appears to have been struck from an original nitrate print of the footage (you'll see how sharp the quality is). It's coverage of the first Deauville Grand Prix auto race--was there a second, a third?--and included in its short one minute length is a genuine auto fatality. An Italian, of all things, is the victim of the deadly crash--and I believe it happens just a few feet from the hotel I...

In answer to a comment asking what's going on in Paris with the movie? NOTHING! Just hanging here. And as far as comment two goes, are you kidding? Leave technology behind? If a tree falls in the forest and there's nobody there...right? Well, if a blogger travels and fails to post...same thing. You dig? Paris in the 1930's awaits. My suggestion for the following ten minute video of hypnotic views of the city from a lost time: go to full screen for the viewing, uncork a good bottle of wine and slap on some Charles Trenet. Glance away from the screen as often as you glance toward it. Act only half-interested--in other words, act French. Paris is its own best imitation of itself--you can't call the truth a cliche and every cliche about Paris is true. Cheers, baby...   Subscribe in a reader

A full day in Paris and tonight, after a lustrous (luscious? lushy?) dinner, I come home to my hotel room and start searching YT for the Paris stock footage. There is so much that I'll just throw up a sampler every day or so as a tribute to the city that is quickly becoming my second favorite (NYC first, natch). Now dig this: though labeled "Paris in the 20's", I think this footage is more like at the dawn of the twenties--even, say the late teens. A few repeat watchings of it reveal soldiers still in uniform (which makes it like 1918 or shortly thereafter), horses and carriages in abundance on the streets and men wearing...are you ready? BOATERS. Yes, back when straw hats weren't period costume gear, people actually wore them to look hip and up to date. And here those people are, long dead, lives and trials and tribulations all flushed away by the toilet of time...and yet, thanks to the miracle of film (largely, like aviation, a French invention that the French s...

Tomorrow I leave for Europe. "City Island" will screen at Deauville on September 11th. (Later in September we'll screen in a festival in Rio and in October at the festival in Ghent, Belgium). Andy Garcia is, along with Harrison Ford, this years Major American star at the festival--there's a tribute to him, a dinner, screenings of his other movies all of which finally climaxes with a screening of "City Island". I'm deeply thrilled by all of it--Deauville has always been my favorite film festival. My first experience with the high-flying international film festival circuit came when my first feature, "Cafe Society", was selected to be part of the Cannes Film Festival's "Director's Fortnight" in 1995. I had turned thirty, made my first film and gotten into Cannes. Whoopee. A goal/mission/dream accomplished. Alas, Cannes wasn't quite the lovefest of art, music an la friggin' vie that I'd always hoped it would be. Loud,...