film

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• SOURCE: NPR
  1/23/2023
  

  The Real Story of "Casablanca" Was the Refugees

  At its 80th anniversary, it's appropriate to honor the classic film by focusing on the waves of Europeans fleeing Nazi persecution and working to fight back. 

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• 1/15/2023
  

  Teach the History Behind "Emancipation" with the Primary Sources

  by Alan J. Singer

  Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith's "Emancipation" has rediscovered the life of an enslaved man variously called Peter or Gordon, who had been made famous through an 1863 photograph. Here's how history teachers can use the primary records of his life to accompany the film. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/2/2023
  

  Croatian Filmmaker Seeks to Polish Image of Late Leader by Casting... Kevin Spacey?

  Franjo Tudjman, whose post-Yugoslavia brand of ethnonationalism has been harshly criticized, remains a favorite of the Croatian right. It's unclear how casting Kevin Spacey to play him will help polish his image, however. 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
  12/18/2022
  

  How "Till" Stands out Among Civil Rights Films

  "Till" shows that it is no longer possible for a movie about the civil rights era to put historical Black characters in the shadow of white protagonists. 

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• SOURCE: The Hub
  10/27/2022
  

  Koritha Mitchell Discusses Representation of Racist Violence and "Till"

  Prof. Mitchell and host Karen Hunter discuss who the audience is for "Till" and whether movies about lynching are needed today. 

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• SOURCE: Columbia News
  8/13/2022
  

  A Columbia Prof. Fact-Checked the New Vietnam-Era Film "The Greatest Beer Run Ever"

  Although it tells the story of American protagonists, Prof. Lien-Hang Nguyen worked with the producers to ensure accuracy and avoid stereotyping in the depiction of Vietnamese characters in the film; she susggests that there are many more Vietnamese stories to tell. 

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• SOURCE: The New Yorker
  9/16/2022
  

  How True is the History in "The Woman King"?

  "'The Woman King' chooses to make resistance to slavery its moral compass, then misrepresents a kingdom that trafficked tens of thousands as a vanguard in the struggle against it."

• 
• SOURCE: Slate
  9/16/2022
  

  "The Woman King" Softens Truths of the Slave Trade

  by Ana Lucia Araujo

  The film has a delicate task: showing the involvement of the Kingdom of Dahomey in selling other Africans to European slave traders without feeding narratives that blame Africans for the slave trade. It largely sidesteps this history instead. 

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• SOURCE: SF Gate
  9/14/2022
  

  A Forgotten 1972 Planning Experiment Made "Star Wars" Possible

  The modeling and filming techniques that brought the attack on the Death Star to life were developed by planners using miniature cityscapes to help people experience possible urban environments before building them in real life. 

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• SOURCE: New Statesman
  8/17/2022
  

  Sarah Churchwell on the Lies of "Gone With the Wind"

  by Adam Hochshild

  Does a 500 page book on the historical distortions of the novel and film seem like beating a dead horse? What if the horse is still alive and threatening to trample people? 

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• SOURCE: Los Angeles Review of Books
  7/20/2022
  

  The Method is the Main Character: A Conversation with Isaac Butler

  by Lauren Goldenberg

  Isaac Butler has recently published an acclaimed book on the rise of the method school of acting and its origins with Konstantin Stanislavski's "system" of training the inner creative life of actors.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  6/9/2022
  

  "All the President's Men": From Misguided Buddy Flick to Iconic Political Thriller

  Hollywood's original plan for the film based on Woodward and Bernstein's book was light on substance and heavy on macho hijinks. How would Watergate be remembered if the script weren't changed? 

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• 6/12/2022
  

  Top-Gunning for Empire

  by Scott Laderman

  "Top Gun: Maverick" is ressurecting the theatergoing experience. Will it do the same for American enthusiasm for the imperial ambitions it represents? 

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• SOURCE: Vox
  5/27/2022
  

  "Top Gun: Maverick" Latest Chapter in Love Affair Between Hollywood and Pentagon

  Despite its characterization as liberal and cosmopolitan, the film industry has eagerly embraced the military in the pursuit of box office. 

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian
  4/22/2022
  

  The History Behind "The Northman"

  by David M. Perry and Matthew Gabriele

  The new epic has been billed as the most historically accurate Viking epic to play on screen, but it's accuracy comes from its effort to capture the subjective nature of Norse spirituality and supernatural belief and the narrative forms recognized by medieval audiences.

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• 4/17/2022
  

  This Failed Blockbuster Killed Old Hollywood (and Maybe John Wayne, Too)

  by Ryan Uytdewilligen

  When John Wayne played Genghis Khan in a disastrous Howard Hughes production, it helped to kill RKO studios. Did it also expose the cast and crew to deadly nuclear fallout? 

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• 4/10/2022
  

  After 50 Years, "The Godfather" Still Has Fresh Lessons For Us

  by Sam Ben-Meir

  Francis Ford Coppola couldn't have anticipated the Trump presidency and its aftermath, but his 1972 masterpiece nevertheless helps uns to understand it. 

• 
• SOURCE: Boston Review
  3/7/2022
  

  West Side Story and the Tragedy of Progressive Hollywood

  by Éric Morales-Franceschini

  Critical debates about the "West Side Story" remake focus on representation, but ignore the politics of Puerto Rico. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  3/1/2022
  

  Dana Stevens: How Buster Keaton Revolutionized the Film Industry

  In her new book "Camera Man" Stevens shows how Keaton's career connected to the changes shaking up entertainment and society. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Bulwark
  2/21/2022
  

  Spielberg was the Director Lincoln Deserved

  The director, with writer Tony Kushner and star Daniel Day-Lewis, nailed the idea of Lincoln as an imperfect leader nevertheless "fitted to the times we were born into," in a film that holds up after ten years.