Independent Cinema

I’m making sure the windows are locked tonight. Three consecutive films I viewed at the Los Angeles Film Festival, June 10-18, dealt with tying people up. Not in a nice way, but at least in two cases, a funny way. 'Caught' tells the tale of a teen having an affair with a married man who is kidnapped by the man’s wife and, among other things, tied up. In 'Shevenge', three BFFs fantasize about how to punish men, which involves tying them up. In 'Old Tricks', a burglar learns that you should never try to steal from a retired magician and escape artist. They’re kind of hard to tie up.

With "Set Fire to the Stars," filmmaker Andy Goddard has constructed a layered film that is clear and intentionally muted.

When news reports of Kurt Cobain's suicide came out, the world was in shock and then settled back to thinking it was another of example of a rocker living fast, dying young and leaving a good looking corpse. Only in Cobain's case it wasn't so good looking; a shotgun blast to the head killed him. Or was it? After the case was closed by the Seattle Police Department another investigator who had information pieced together details and information that he had that the police didn't want to see. His conclusions are explosive and may result in re-investigating Kurt Cobain's death, this time as a homicide.

Without doubt, the escapades of Allan Karlsson and his adventitious group of friends, will leave audiences reflecting on what it really means to grow old while attempting to retain the most valuable of all possible possessions.

I think there’s a lot of smart people who have seen what is being fought and won in the food movement and they are channeling that progress into what’s been taking place in the fashion industry.

Did you purchase a piece of clothing today or yesterday? Do you know that 1 in 6 people work in the fashion industry? Do you know that only 3% of the workers are in the US? Before Andrew Morgan made this film, he probably knew as much as you do about how clothes are made. We don't source our clothes, but maybe we should. This is a vital topic because every piece of clothing we wear is made by human hands and many of the workers go through a lot to make them.

Blogcritics' interview with Director Cosima Spender, who has has created an amazing documentary of the iconic Palio of Siena, the oldest and one of the most crazy and exciting horse races in the world.

On his way to Cannes, actor-producer-writer-director Ron Hanks takes a moment to speak to Blogcritics about his latest ventures!

The Palio, the phenomenal horse race which has been held every summer since 1238 in Siena, Italy is indescribable in its beauty, its corruptions and its excitement. The Palio's culture and the strategies necessary to understand in order to win the race have been like following a dark passage into the arcane unknown, until now.

When mysterious suicides bring an inspector and his daughter Sara to the town of Bridgend, Wales, there is no respite for the father and daughter. Both caught up in the evil atmospheres of the town and the surrounding dark forests. Sara becomes estranged from her father and the inspector grows more tyrannical as the situation moves from bad to worse. There is no explanation why teens are killing themselves and everyone wonders who will be next.