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A Review: Prayer for a Perfect Season by Julia Knobloch
Aptly timed, Marc Levin’s new documentary about a high school basketball team premiered at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema in Manhattan, prior to airing on HBO Sports this October 25th at 9 p.m. ET.
In Prayer for a Perfect Season, award-winning documentary filmmaker Levin returned to his home state to chronicle the 2010-2011 season of the St. Patrick’s Celtics of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The Celtic’s aim is to win the national championship, and the film’s finale unfolds during the last decisive match against their long-time rivals from St. Anthony High School in Jersey City.
But the feature-length documentary – crafted in solid, tried and tested television manner (a familiar mix of establishing shots, explanatory inserts, archive footage, situational sequences, and seated interviews with sports journalists and other authorities) – accounts for more than just the journal of a high school basketball team. The triumphs and tragedies of sport are merely the backdrop for a decisive chapter in the lives of the films’ protagonists.
Veteran coach Kevin Boyle and his stars Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Derrick Gordon (both now freshmen at Kentucky and Western Kentucky, respectively), are portrayed as they traverse an emotionally-challenging year, especially on the personal level. Boyle needs to decide whether to leave St. Patrick and head for a better paying job in Florida. Kidd-Gilchrist struggles with his uncle’s sudden and premature death. (His father was shot dead when Michael was just a toddler.) And Gordon has a hard time coming to terms with his twin brother’s incarceration in a youth correctional facility. All this while St. Patrick High itself fights for survival in times of daunting insolvency, and the overall decline of Catholic school programs nationwide.
At the end of the not-too-perfect season, each protagonist – coach, players, their friends and loved-ones alike – has completed a hero’s journey. St. Patrick will not be the same as everyone sets out for the next chapters of their lives, ready to confront the triumphs and tragedies that inevitably await them.
Interview with Josué Jaramillo, Director, Tatián (la casa en el árbol) by Steffie Kinglake
t21: What inspired you to make Tatián?
JJ: I was inspired by my father who died when he was quite young.
t21: What was the biggest obstacle making it?
JJ: At first it was just college work without really thinking about the budget, which for a student is always little. I think one of the biggest obstacles was finding a committed, responsible team who were passionate about making animation. To do stop motion you need a lot of time and patience…
t21: Favorite or most unexpected response to the film?
JJ: Silence and tears.
t21: What do you want viewers to take away from the film?
JJ: Love for a father who is no longer here.
t21: Can you share with us a bit about the process of creating the characters?
JJ: The main character is based on me, but I have studied the son of a friend who I really appreciate. The name “Tatian” is after him, as his is Sebastian and for short we call him Tatian. For the development of the father figure, I studied the pictures of my father and mother. But I have to confess that there was not much time to create a personality. But his hair was an achievement - looks great.
t21: Has the film been used in school or educational settings?
JJ: At some schools in my city it has been shown to students.
t21: What are some of the earliest memories you have of being in a garden or in open fields?
JJ: Ummm, yes, I have a particular one. My father had a fairly large coffee plantation. I rode on horseback with my mother and sister. I was once with my father on the horse, and my mother was with my sister. She cried because she wanted to be on my father’s horse, and the solution was to mount all three on the horse – my sister, my father and me. The horse drank water from a well and followed the course. I was not even three-years-old, but the few memories I have of my father are treasures that I keep in my memory and heart.
t21: If I was not a filmmaker, I would be a _____?
JJ: Star painter, carpenter, crazy doctor, I do not know …
t21: The biggest global problem today?
JJ: Distance and traffic in Bogota.
t21: Last song that was stuck in your head?
JJ: “”Where is My Mind” by The Pixies.
t21: Last book you read?
JJ: The Catcher in Rye, by J. D. Salinger
t21: Boat, train or plane?
JJ: Depends on the destination. But I want a boat to go to an island to rest from work.
t21: Last meal you made?
JJ: Spaghetti with chorizo.
t21: Latest obsession?
JJ: Sex.
t21: Source of inspiration?
JJ: Sex.
t21: Personal motto?
JJ: I want to change the world.
t21: Whom would you love to work with?
JJ: Tim Burton, Michael Gondry, Leonardo da Vinci.
t21: Ten-year goal?
JJ: Change the world or at least the one closest to me.
t21: Your next or current project?
JJ: I don’t have the name completely determined, but it will almost definitely be called Alejandro. It is a stop motion on the environment and how to change the world.
t21: Your question for Telegraph21?
JJ: If you have thought about changing the world, how would you do it?
t21: I think about it every day. There are many ways to go about it, but I think implementing conflict resolution and peace-building workshops in schools for children of all ages all around the world is one way. Ensuring better distribution of resources so those most in need can eat, drink water, have a home, and access to health care and education. Stop of depletion of the rain forest and pollution of the water sources world wide, stop the manufacturing of nuclear weapons . . . my list could go on and on.
Interview with Benjamin Wigley, Director of Award-winning short PS Your Mystery Sender.
t21: What inspired you to make PS Your Mystery Sender?
BW: I was inspired to make the film when the Scottish Documentary Institute came to give a talk about their documentary scheme, which had a theme of surprise, when I noticed that Paul had been receiving these objects when he posted a picture on his blog. I knew this was a great story and could see the opportunity to make a very visual film. So the next and biggest hurdle was to get him on board.
t21: Favorite/most unexpected response to the film?
BW: My favorite response from an audience is that people like the poetry and the creative visual sequences. This is essentially where I was trying to experiment and develop a style in a documentary that is fresh and somewhat unique to me as a filmmaker. So some might be adverse to my approach and therefore I like it when people compliment those parts of the film.
t21: What was the biggest obstacle making it?
BW: Managing to get Paul on board could be seen as being the biggest obstacle, although he accepted quite quickly. But I went to a lot of effort to make him want to be on board with the project. I built a cereal box design, which had a surprise inside - this was a DVD of a trailer I cut together with footage from films I liked and a handwritten letter on a photo of a rose. I also placed the flyer in the box so he understood the scheme, and some real cereal. Then I wrapped it up with string and stuck stamps all over the cereal box and posted it. He phoned me two days later and said yes.
t21: What do you want viewers to take away from the film?
BW: To let yourself believe that there is still a little magic left in the world.
t21: What was your favorite piece of mail he received?
BW: I suppose the red watering can is one of the most iconic, but the two odd water skis are great and how on earth did they send the massive red trailer from overseas without a parcel?
Trompe L’oeil came about during a short film class I was taking. A friend I was taking the class with, Mike DeBrosse, gave me a premise about a home inspector trying to inspect a mime’s imaginary house, and the situations that could come out of that setup. –Filmmaker, Tyson James Dale
” I was inspired to make the film when the Scottish Documentary Institute came to give a talk about their documentary scheme, which had a theme of surprise, when I noticed that Paul had been receiving these objects when he posted a picture on his blog. I knew this was a great story and could see the opportunity to make a very visual film.” – Benjamin Wigley, Director
“This problem – lack of access to painkillers – is really under the radar. It affects millions, but unlike HIV or malaria, you don’t hear about it as a global public health issue. It’s been hiding in the shadows.” Peter Klein, Director
“I would simply like people to enjoy watching the creative process of such different artists. And to think about how each culture influences the work of each artist through humanity’s oldest technique of … painting on the wall and making murals.” Pilar Pérez Solano, Director
“I really wanted to look into African revolutionary movements of the 1960s and 70s … I was fascinated by how poor, uneducated and colonized populations managed to rise and impose their desire for freedom on powerful colonial empires.” Jihan El-Tahri
“I want the viewer to appreciate the aesthetic qualities and understand more fully what the art of photography is all about.” –Filmmaker ,Cheryl Dunn
The House of Suh was awarded the Best Documentary/Audience Award at the Philadelphia Asian Film Festival, the Grand Jury Prize at the San Diego Asian Film Festival, and the Investigation Discovery Award for Excellence in Journalism at the 2010 Hamptons International Film Festival.
