For a Thai film scholar graduated from UK uni, this is blissful: I co-edited a dossier for @Screen_Journal with @philippalovatt. 'Tracing the Anthropocene in SE Asian film & artists’ moving image' includes works by @mayadadol Olivia Khoo & Kiu-wai Chu
https://t.co/3IS8m7TWjA
Many reviews of 9 Temples to Heaven compare it to Apichatpong W., noting its slowness and repetitive structure. As a Thai film critic, I want to point out that Sompot studied with James Benning, and that context reveals the film’s roots in structural + observational cinema.
As James Gray’s Paper Tiger is currently in premiere at Cannes, here’s a throwback to this legendary clip. It permanently changed my perspective on the movie industry.
Carl Theodor Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928) was released in Paris, France, only 6 months after it was released in Denmark. This was due to the fact that the French Nationalists were offended because Dreyer was neither French nor Catholic. They were also upset by the rumour that an American Actress, Lillian Gish was cast as Joan in the movie.
Under the orders of the Archbishop of Paris and government censors, Carl Theodor Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928), received numerous cuts & Dreyer had no control over it. The only negative of Dreyer's version was destroyed in a fire at the UFA Studios in Berlin.
Dreyer then had to stitch together the movie using alternate and unused takes. Unfortunately, that cut too was destroyed in a fire at the French Studio where it was kept. Over the next 40 years a few different truncated versions of the movie surfaced much to Dreyer's dismay.
In 1981, a miracle occurred. When a janitor at the Dikemark Hospital mental institution was cleaning out a store cupboard, he found three film canisters labelled 'The Passion of Joan of Arc'.
These were sent to the Norwegian Film Institute, where they sat unopened for three years before finally being examined. Inside, they found Dreyer’s original 1928 cut, pre-government and religious censorship, fully intact.
("‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’: the silent masterpiece destroyed in a fire (twice)", Sam Kemp, Farout Magazine, 2023)
P.S: On this day, 98 years ago, "The Passion of Joan of Arc" (1928) was released in Denmark.
#NicoleKidman says she learned the news of her mother’s death just moments before winning best actress at the 2024 Venice Film Festival for “Babygirl”:
“I was about to go out on stage, and I found out that my mother had passed. I went right back to my room in Venice, was getting into bed, and I was completely devastated.”
Kidman went on to describe a “harrowing” attempt to leave Venice in the middle of the night to be with her family, navigating the canals in the dark before ultimately turning back.
“I remember getting into a boat in the canal, literally at night, trying to find my way to the airport, and then turning around going, ‘I can’t even do this,’” she said. “Then I went back to bed. And I was alone. My husband wasn’t there, my children weren’t there. I was there to win an award, which should’ve been a beautiful thing. That there is the contrast of life.”
https://t.co/4gUr42z8OI
Prior to the release of "Rabid" (1977), David Cronenberg was asked to vacate the house by his Landlady because she thought he made p0rn0gr@phic movies.
After reading an article in the newspaper that included some "Nastier bits" of a review of "Shivers" (1975) written by Robert Fulford, the landlady was convinced that Cronenberg was a director who made "That" sort of movies. When Cronenberg asked her "what sort is "That" sort?", she replied "The p0rn0gr@phic sort".
Cronenberg tried to make her understand that he made "Horror" movies but she was convinced that the newspaper "The Global and Mail" would not print a misleading article & it had clearly stated "Shivers" was obscene.
Moreover, she didn't want to be associated with a p0rn0gr@phic actress like Marilyn Chambers. She told him that she had been working quietly against p0rn0gr@phy with a league of women for many years. She also added that it was nothing "personal" and asked him to vacate the house within the end of the night.
Cronenberg told the landlady that it was in fact very personal, and that he was very personally insulted, and that he will personally approach the Human Rights Commission before leaving. But 10 minutes after the Landlady left, Cronenberg arranged to occupy the house opposite to the Landlady's which had been up for sale for some weeks. He bought the house a few days later.
Three days before he shifted to the new home, City Zoning inspector visited his house as there had been an anonymous complaint filed against him for "Photographing and developing of p0rn0gr@phic motion picture films for public sale". He said to the inspector that he knew who filed the complaint and allowed him to search. The inspector did not find anything incriminating.
Three months later, David Cronenberg wrote an article in "The Globe and Mail" (The Same paper that was the catalyst for the whole situation) about the whole situation.
P.S: On this day, 49 years ago, "Rabid" (1977) was released in the USA and Canada.
Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez responds to Trump :
"23 years ago, U.S govt dragged us into a war with Iraq, A war said to fight to eliminate Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons and bring democracy
But NO nuclear weapon was found in Iraq"
You can't fool us twice !! BRUTAL !!
An Iranian man left this comment on my YouTube channel. This is without a doubt the single best explanation of the reality facing Iranian people today👇
"As an Iranian, I can tell you the situation is no longer just political—it's existential. We are trapped between two collapsing structures: one internal, one external. On one hand, we face a deeply dysfunctional government, led by the Supreme Leader and the Islamic Republic’s unelected institutions.
Decades of economic mismanagement, suppression of dissent, and brutal ideological control have alienated multiple generations. No one believes in reform anymore—because every attempt has either been co-opted or crushed. But here's the paradox: We are also terrified of regime collapse—because we've watched the aftermath of Western intervention in countries like Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. Each was promised freedom; each descended into chaos, civil war, or foreign occupation.
So no, we don't trust the U.S. or Israel. Not because we support our regime—but because we know how imperial powers treat ‘liberated’ nations in the Middle East.
Freedom, in their language, often means vacuum, fire, and permanent instability. Right now, many Iranians live with three truths at once: The Islamic Republic is morally and politically bankrupt. The alternatives offered by foreign actors are not liberation—they’re collapse.
A bad government is survivable. No government is not. We are not silent because we agree. We are cautious because we’ve learned—too well—what happens when superpowers decide to "help." In a sentence: Iran is a nation held hostage by its own regime, but haunted by the fate of its neighbors. We are stuck in a house we hate, surrounded by fires we fear more."
when he grows, punch will not be alone or frightened because he will have found his place within their hierarchy and will have settled in. the issue with him going viral is how many people are anthropomorphising him and finding him cute because of his reliance on humans #tbh