Monthly Archives: July 2017

Bamseom Pirates Seoul Infernoby Jung Yoon-Suk (image courtesy M-Line Distribution)

The Last Waltz, Martin Scorseses quintessential concert film chronicling the last show of the 70s rock group The Band, begins with text declaring across the screen: This film should be played loud. In the decades following the 1976 classic, this advice found its way into the beginning of countless music films. Most recently, the spirit of the message traveled across the globe to South Korea in Jung Yoon-Suks documentary Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno (2017), the story of the college punk duo Bamseom Pirates and their struggles with government censorship. But the onscreen statement near the beginning of Jungs film skews in a more political direction, notifying the viewer, The sounds of the film were left unbalanced to help you experience the imbalances in Korean society. In the background, we hear the Pirates aggressive, discordant music.

As a bellwether of whats to come, the statement works twofold. First, it prepares the viewer for an on-the-ground look at the politics and class conflicts of contemporary South Korea. Second, like the rest of the movie, it presents an endlessly compelling subject in a clodding, inelegant manner.

The film, which is playing at the New York Asian Film Festival at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, revolves around the arrest of the bands producer and manager Park Junggeun. He is said to have violated the countrys nebulous National Security Laws after posting tweets that were seen as praising the enemy. These tweets, including Dear leader, please buy me some chocolate and Kim Jong-Il is Car Sex, show how vague and easily manipulable the laws are. The messages are shared on-screen in front of images of Park dressed in costumes goofing off with friends, making it even clearer that Park is joking. However, South Korean culture seems to treat any expression of dissent comical or not as aiding the enemy.

Watching the Pirates at work is a riveting experience. Sarcasm and irony infuse everything they do especially their lyrics. In some songs, they seemingly, wholeheartedly endorse North Korean Communists, with choruses like All Hail Kim Jong-Il! But we recognize this stance is a farce in moments where the band discusses its almost nonexistent politics. Having spent his young life firmly on the south side of the DMZ, the drummer of the band, Kwon Yung-man, admits at one point, Honestly I know almost nothing about North Korea. The musicians scream slogans praising their countrys enemies just to provoke the powers that be.

Despite efforts to mirror the bands slapdash aesthetic, the film unfortunately follows a fairly consistent formal structure that keeps it from being engaging. A protest ensues around the privatization of Seoul University and a Korea-US free trade agreement. Then the band Yung-man and bassist Jang Sung-geon performs at the protest, offering a set of their signature punk/metal fusion and nonsense banter. The handheld cinematography that fills most of the film is a visually unspectacular means of chronicling these happenings, and Kwons tendency to tell the camera exactly what the band is doing instead of simply showing it drags the story on.

More interesting is Jungs repurposing of newscasts that intrude on the bands story, giving cultural context for the society that yielded the Pirates. A story about a 1994 meeting between North and South Korean officials, where the Communist representative warns that his country can turn their countries into an inferno if provoked, offers context for the tense political climate on both sides of the DMZ; this anecdote also explains the origins for the name of the Pirates debut album Seoul Inferno, which is excerpted throughout the film. Later in the film, as Park is on-trial, Jung appropriates propaganda from the era, where in a staged conversation two men and two women discuss their thoughts on war with the north. One of them declares, If certain elements within the South cause turmoil when the North attacks, they will pay dearly for their mistakes. Jungs appropriation of this footage paints a vivid portrait of the social consensus allowing the crackdown on Park, which ends in a 10-month jail sentence and two years probation.

Following the delivery of the verdict, however, Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno fails to end on a note acknowledging this very emotional moment. The viewer is treated to shots of the pirates riding in cars through the city at night, a middle-aged man asleep on public transportation, and cats, as well as scenes of the band recording screams, moans, claps, belches, and the whir of power tools. The film suffers for not making a final statement regarding the censorship imposed on artists in South Korea. The fault lies with the filmmaker and not the artists, whose dadaist sensibilities are the reason to watch this documentary.

Bamseom Pirates Seoul Infernois playingat the New York Asian Film Festival at the Walter Reade Theater, Film Society of Lincoln Center (165 W 65th St, Upper West Side, Manhattan) on Tuesday, July 11.

More here:
A Korean Punk Band's Struggles with Censorship - Hyperallergic

The Bolshoi Ballet has denied bowing to a controversial Russian law banning "homosexual propaganda" after it cancelled a new production about Rudolf Nureyev three days before the premiere.

The long-anticipated production had been due to open on Tuesday but was called off at the weekend amid speculation that authorities had balked at its depiction of Nureyev's love life.

Vladimir Urin, the theater's director general, said on Monday that he had cancelled the ballet about the Soviet dancer-turned-defector because rehearsals showed it was not ready.

"The ballet was not good," he said, saying it had been postponed rather than cancelled and would open in May next year instead.

Earlier the Tass news agency cited a culture ministry source saying Vladimir Medinsky, Russia's minister of culture, cancelled the production because he feared it broke a controversial law banning the promotion of homosexuality to minors.

Mr Medinsky's ministry confirmed he had spoken to the director, but denied issuing a "ban."

"Yes there was a long conversation with Urin," Irina Kaznacheeva, a spokeswoman for the culture ministry said in a statement. "But a ban is the not the ministry's working style."

Rudolf Nuryev was one of the most celebrated ballet dancers of his generation. In 1961 he became was one of the first acclaimed Soviet artists to defect to the West, where he had successfulcareer - and a turbulent love life including a string of gay relationships - until his death in 1993.

Read more from the original source:
Bolshoi Ballet denies bowing to censorship over canceled Rudolf Nureyev show - Telegraph.co.uk

Banners at the Moscow Theater ushered in the Golden Apricot International Film Festival

2 LGBT-Themed Films at the Center of Controversy YEREVANOpening ceremonies for the 14th annual Golden Apricot International Film Festival were held Sunday, kicking off this years festival amid controversy stemming from the organizers decision to cancel an off-competition screening of 40 films showcasing work of filmmakers from around the world, with some accusing organizers of censorship.

Filmmakers who had submitted their work to be screened in an off-competition program entitled, Armenians: Internal And External Views, were informed Friday through an email from Golden Apricot organizers that the screening of the entire slate of films was cancelled, without elaborating on a reason for this decision.

Filmmaker Hrayr Eulmessekian, whose film Vah Oshagan: Between Acts, was to have been screened during Armenians: Internal And External Views received the email, which he shared on his Facebook page.

We want to inform you that Armenians: Internal And External Views non-competition program is completely cancelled. We apologize for any inconveniences, said the email received by Eulmessekian and the other filmmakers whose works were to be screened.

The decision has also baffled Beirut-based filmmaker Nigol Bezjian whose documentary, Temple of Light, centering on the closure of the Melkonian School in Cyprus, was to have been screened during the program.

The film is about shutting down of the Melkonian School and now the film is shut [down] in Yerevan, Bezjian told Asbarez through Facebook Messenger, pointing to the irony of the situation.

At the same time, activists took to social media to voice their anger at the cancelation, with some claiming that two LGBT-themed films, which were part of the programs slate were at the heart of the decision to cancel the entire program.

A documentary, Listen to Me: Untold Stories beyond Hatred and Apricot Groves a fiction film featuring LGBT characters were originally included in the Armenians: Internal And External Views lineup.

Armenias Cinematographers Union said that due to the passing of the groups former director, Rouben Gevorgyants on June 23, the group was in mourning and would not screen any films. The group had said earlier that the two LGBT-themed films would have to be removed and threatened to cancel the entire showcase of 40 films.

Throughout the weekend social media sites were abuzz with allegations and finger pointing and conclusions that the Golden Apricot organizers caved in to archaic approaches toward LGBT people and cancelled the entire slate.

The organizers are doing themselves a disservice by not clearly articulating the impetus for the cancelations. Asbarezs email inquiry to the organizers of the festival remains unanswered.

Canadian Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan and his actress and activist wife Arsine Khanjian posted an announcement on Facebook decrying the decision to cancel the slate of films. They also argue that the best way to honor a late cinematographer is to ensure that the medium continues to flourish and proliferate.

We are very concerned about the censorship by the Union of Cinematographers and the following decision to cancel an entire programming by the Golden Apricot Film Festival. Atom was President of the Festival for almost ten years and its dismaying to see a festival that we both proudly advocated for within the international film community in the name of films and filmmakers that spoke of such urgent human rights issues can be suppressed, especially when these ideas need to be discussed and brought to light, said the announcement by the two Diasporan artists.

Surely there is no better way to honour the spirit of an important Armenian filmmaker, Rouben Gevorgyants, than by making sure new films from Armenian voices can be seen and shared. We have never heard of a program of new films being cancelled to commemorate a cineastes death as a sign of mourning and respect! This claim seems, therefore, quite preposterous. We urge the Festival to review this outlandish decision. We urge the Festival to present this programme of thought-provoking work which reflects the true diversity of voices present in Armenia today and the Diaspora alike, added the announcement.

The festival kicked off on Sunday with the traditional blessing of the apricots, a fruit indigenous to Armenia, and continued with the unveiling of stars of directors Frunze Dovlatyan, Yuri Yerznkyan and cinematographer Sergey Israelyan at Charles Aznavour Square in Yerevan.

Welcoming remarks were delivered by founding director of the festival Harutyun Khachatryan and Ralph Yirikian, the General Manager of VivaCell-MTS, which is the general partner of the festival.

After the introduction of the jury and the competition program, the festivals opening film, Khaspush by Hamo Beknazaryan, was screened.

According to the organizers, this year, the annual film festival, founded in 2004, received 1,100 film submissions from 96 countries. Organizers selected 47 films to compete in three main categories: International Feature Competition (12 films), International Documentary Competition (16 films) and Armenian Panorama National Competition (19 films).

See original here:
Golden Apricot Festival Kicks Off Amid Censorship Allegations - Asbarez Armenian News

'Lipstick Under My Burkha' director Alankrita Shrivastava said film censorship needs to be bid a goodbye. Her debut feature film was caught in a tussle with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) which deemed it too lady-oriented to see the light of the day. But when the makers approached the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), they got a green signal. Talking about the issue, Shrivastava said, "We are reaching a crisis point. We have to decide, as citizens of India in 2017, whether we want to claim our freedom and live in a free and democratic country or do we want to live with this guardianship."

"I think time is up on censorship and we need to bid it a proper and clear goodbye. We need to get into a process which is much more matter of fact in certification."

"Censorship is not something new in India. We have been living with censorship for decades. Censorship is coming to sharp focus now, because there are many more independent films being made which are more international in nature."

"As a citizen of a free and democratic country, I also want the freedom to be able to make whatever I like because I see people from other free countries making whatever they like."

'Lipstick Under My Burkha' to release on July 28

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Konkona Sen Sharma strikes a pose during a photo shoot, held at Intop Studio, Jogeshwari in Mumbai on July 08, 2017.

Aahana Kumra looks gorgeous during a photo shoot, held at Intop Studio, Jogeshwari in Mumbai on July 08, 2017.

Ratna Pathak Shah during a photo shoot, held at Intop Studio, Jogeshwari in Mumbai on July 08, 2017.

Plabita Borthakur is all smiles during a photo shoot, held at Intop Studio, Jogeshwari in Mumbai on July 08, 2017.

(L-R) Plabita Borthakur, Konkona Sen Sharma, Alankrita Shrivastava, Ratna Pathak Shah and Aahana Kumra during a photo shoot, held at Intop Studio, Jogeshwari in Mumbai on July 08, 2017.

Konkona Sen Sharma strikes a pose during a photo shoot, held at Intop Studio, Jogeshwari in Mumbai on July 08, 2017.

Aahana Kumra looks gorgeous during a photo shoot, held at Intop Studio, Jogeshwari in Mumbai on July 08, 2017.

Ratna Pathak Shah during a photo shoot, held at Intop Studio, Jogeshwari in Mumbai on July 08, 2017.

Plabita Borthakur is all smiles during a photo shoot, held at Intop Studio, Jogeshwari in Mumbai on July 08, 2017.

(L-R) Plabita Borthakur, Konkona Sen Sharma, Alankrita Shrivastava, Ratna Pathak Shah and Aahana Kumra during a photo shoot, held at Intop Studio, Jogeshwari in Mumbai on July 08, 2017.

Read more:
Alankrita Shrivastava: It's time to bid goodbye to censorship - Times of India