I first heard about documentary filmmaker, Hao Wu, shortly after seeing an episode of Frontline, entitled ”The Tank Man.” {Note: Anyone with a mild interest in China’s government or what really happened in Tiananmen Square (think of citizens armed with rocks versus military grade bullets being fired at them and you’re just barely hitting the tip of the iceberg) should make it a point to locate a copy of this edition of Frontline}. Needless to say, after seeing this episode, the plight of Hao Wu took on a much more sinister tone than it normally would have. You see, Hao Wu has been “detained”/”under house arrest” for the past 5 months and the Beijing Public Security Bureau has spent that entire time refusing to explain what he had been arrested for. I feared we would never find out and we would never hear anything more of Hao Wu. Fortunately, I was wrong. Hao Wu has been released.
To read more about the case, click here.
So, it seems some Italian filmmakers have taken their cellphones and made an entire documentary with them. I have to admit, the thought of carrying only a cellphone is appealing when I flash back to all the things that I had to lug around for my own documentary. LOL. Click here to read about it.
I am definitely going to have to keep my eye out for this documentary. If anyone has a passion for film, it's Tareq al-Hussein.
Hi all!
Last December I filmed an interview with my father (James Giles) for Michael Dean. LA-based, Michael Dean, is currently making a documentary about the author Hubert Selby, Jr. His film will be out this year. Mr. Dean has a very entertaining mailing list that I subscribe to. In the lastest edition, he posted a link to a story his hometown newspaper had run about him. I wanted to send a shout out and congratulations to him for that. So, congratulations Michael! You're a great person to film for and I wish you nothing but the best!
Also, please check out Squitten Pix. This is Mr. Dean's company.
This is from TV Guide's website today. In the meantime, I would definitely recommend watching the movie Fidel. This movie came out in 2002 and was directed by David Attwood and written by Stephen Tolkin. I am far from a history buff (so I don't know exactly how accurate it was), but I thought it gave a good picture of Cuba and how Fidel rose to power.
FIDEL FOUND: Oliver Stone's newly overhauled HBO documentary about Fidel Castro will finally see the light of day on April 14. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Looking for Fidel replaces an earlier version, titled Comandante, which apparently failed to address a recent crackdown on Cuban dissidents.
I've read a lot of great reviews about this documentary. I plan to check it out soon. In the meantime, this was posted today on The Internet Movie Database.
Friedman Victims Ask Oscar Voters To Shun Documentary
Two men who were among 13 persons who accused Jesse Friedman of sexually molesting them as boys have written an open letter to Oscars voters, asking them not to vote for Andrew Jarecki's documentary Capturing The Friedmans. "If this film does win an Oscar, it will be won at the expense of silencing the plaintive voices of abused children once again," the two men, now in their 20s, wrote in a letter that was sent to the Associated Press. Jarecki, the founder of MovieFone, personally financed the movie, which has won numerous awards, including the documentary grand prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival. Critics of the film, who include Abbey Boklan, the judge in the case, and Joyanna Silberg, a child psychologist, have claimed that the film presents the erroneous impression that Jesse Friedman, now 34, and his father, who died in prison in 1995, were railroaded by authorities. Jarecki denies that Capturing the Friedmans is "an advocacy film."