…

The youngest child of the celebrated British actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, Ms. Redgrave grew up in the shadow of her sister, Vanessa, and her brother, Corin, and never acquired Vanessa’s aura of stardom. But as both a deft comedian and a commanding dramatic actress she carved out a varied career…

In the last two decades, she started on a new professional path as a writer. At her death she was at work on a solo show, her fourth play to draw on her family history.

…

There more about the actress in THIS article on the New York Times – some interesting things about the family as well.

See Lynn Redgrave’s filmography HERE.

The sisters (producers/directors) run Off Center Media, a production company that produces documentaries exposing injustice in the criminal justice system. The interview covers such questions as…

What were your goals for this film? How can film carry on the legacy of social change that was crucial to your father’s life? As filmmakers and daughters, when did you decide you were ready to tackle such a personal story on film?

The sister touch on the power of art to bring social change…definitely an interesting read. Thought-provoking.

Read the interview HERE.

(RRCA isn’t endorsing any particular view represented in this article…just presenting good stories and resources to benefit the membership.)

In a brief chapter about perfectionism, she offers this – helpful to writers, visual artists, actors, musicians, chefs…whatever your art form!

“Prefectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life…I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.

Besides, perfectionism will ruin your writing, blocking inventiveness and playfulness and life force…Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter is wonderfully fertile ground…Tidiness suggests that something is as good as it’s going to get. Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation, while writing needs to breathe and move.

. . .

What people somehow (inadvertently, I’m sure) forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here – and, by extension, what we’re supposed to be writing.”

Learn more about (or buy!) the book HERE.

Read more about the film HERE.

View a slideshow of the project HERE.

…

Marla’s father, an amateur painter, describes how Marla watches him paint, wants to help, and is given her own canvas and supplies. A friend asks to hang Marla’s pictures in his coffee shop and is surprised when people ask to buy them. A local newspaper reporter, Elizabeth Cohen, writes a piece about Marla, after first asking her parents if they really want her to do so. Cohen’s story is picked up by the New York Times, and Marla becomes a media celebrity, with appearances on television and shows at galleries in New York and Los Angeles. Sales of her work earn over $300,000.”
(Thank you for the info, Wikipedia)

Read more about the film HERE.

Watch a theatrical trailer for the film HERE.

In literature, regionalism or local color fiction refers to fiction or poetry that focuses on specific features – including characters, dialects, customs, history, and topography – of a particular region. Since the region may be a recreation or reflection of the author’s own, there is often nostalgia and sentimentality in the writing.

In film, Local Color is…a movie. A really good movie. One I’d think almost any artist would enjoy. Here’s the theatrical trailer:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNagBpfpB70]

Learn more about the film HERE.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyRAHKTy6hI]

“The greatest cultural accomplishments in history have never been the result of the brainstorms of marketing men, corporate focus groups, or any homogenized methods; they have always happened organically. More often than not, these manifestations have been the result of a few like-minded people coming together to create something new and original for no other purposethan a common love of doing it. In the 1990s, a loose-knit group of American artists and creators, many just out of their teens, began their careers in just such a way. Influenced by the popular underground youth subcultures of the day, such as skateboarding, graffiti, street fashion and independent music, artists like Shepard Fairey, Mark Gonzales, Spike Jonze, Margaret Kilgallen, Mike Mills, Barry McGee, Phil Frost, Chris Johanson, Harmony Korine, and Ed Templeton began to create art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Many had no formal training and almost no conception of the inner workings of the art world. They learned their crafts through practice, trial and error, and good old-fashioned innovation. Not since the Beat Generation have we seen a group of creative individuals with such a unified aesthetic sense and varied cultural facets. The world of art has been greatly affected by their accomplishments as have the worlds of fashion, music, literature, film, and, ironically, athletics. Over the years, the group has matured, and many have become more establishment-oriented; but no matter, their independent spirit has remained steadfast. The story of the Beautiful Losers will be a retrospective celebration of this spirit.”

Speak.

The internet movie database summarizes the film this way: “After a blurred trauma over the summer, Melinda enters high school a selective mute. Struggling with school, friends, and family, she tells the dark tale of her experiences, and why she has chosen not to speak.”

That doesn’t quite cut it.

A large part of Melinda’s recovery was found in her freshman art class where her teacher had each student draw a slip of paper out of a makeshift bucket. The word written on that slip of paper was assigned to the student for the whole school year – every peice of artwork they created had to be an expression of that one word.

Melinda’s word was “tree”. And the healing begins…

At one point her art teacher says that fear and anger…and other strong emotions…can be the driving force behind the art.

I haven’t read the book…YET…but the movie is excellent and I highly recommend it.

Find out more about the book HERE.

Find out more about the movie HERE and HERE.

Sundance, under new leadership, is trying to tilt risky.

The programmers of the Sundance Film Festival on Wednesday announced a schedule of competition films that at least in their view, reflect no particular current in independent cinema except one: the artier the better. “We really tried to hunker down and make some hard decisions,” said John Cooper, the festival’s new director. “We tried not to be wishy-washy about what is independent, which I know has been a criticism in the past. We weren’t going to be swayed by the marketability of a film.”

…

But as independent film boomed over the last decade, the festival at times showed a willingness to give premiere slots as favors to studios or put too much emphasis on advance buzz from sales agents and scouts when making selections. Mr. Cooper, along with Sundance’s founder, Robert Redford, is trying to address such criticism and show that the festival is not rigid in its thinking.

…

A swing toward art over commerce is perhaps inevitable given the market. Over the last two years studios have folded specialty divisions (Warner Independent, Paramount Vantage) or scaled them back drastically (Miramax). Outside the studio system, financing has become extremely difficult to obtain due to the credit crisis and recession.

(Read the full article HERE)

.   .   .   .   .

Cormac McCarthy has written more than a dozen novels, several screenplays, two plays, two short stories, countless drafts, letters and more — and nearly every one of them was tapped out on a portable Olivetti manual typewriter he bought in a Knoxville, Tenn., pawnshop around 1963 for $50…

Mr. McCarthy is known for being taciturn, particularly about his writing. He came to realize that not only his working method but even his tools are puzzling to a younger generation…

He remembers one summer when some graduate students were visiting the Santa Fe Institute. “I was in my office clacking away,” he said. “One student peered in and said: ‘Excuse me. What is that?’ ”

Read the full artice HERE.