Interviews with directors and artists

Film director Prasanna Vithanage discusses Paradise with the WSWS

Sat, 14 Sep 2024 02:57:01 GMT

The mass anti-government agitation in Sri Lanka “was the result of real class differences in our society, the divisions between the haves and the have nots” – Prasanna Vithanage

Interview with Hany Abu-Assad, Palestinian filmmaker (Paradise Now, Omar): “Gaza is the Bastille of our day … a lot is going to change”

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 03:09:06 GMT

One of his most accomplished works is Omar, a 2013 film about a young Palestinian baker (Adam Bakri) who becomes involved in complex political and moral matters.

Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage denounces Israeli genocide in Gaza

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 04:42:19 GMT

“I strongly denounce state-sponsored witch-hunt and prosecution against artists and activists who have come forward against Israel’s genocide.”

Roger Stahl discusses Theaters of War: How the Pentagon and CIA Took Hollywood with WSWS

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 22:03:56 GMT

Department of Defense interventions into American entertainment media is to “get people acclimated to the presence of military personnel, military bases, military operations, and weapons… normalizing the presence of the military in almost every aspect of life.”

An interview with Nadav Lapid, director of Ahed’s Knee: “One of the characteristics of sick societies … is that they don’t give you any good choices”

Fri, 18 Mar 2022 00:15:06 GMT

The WSWS recently spoke to filmmaker Nadav Lapid, director of Ahed’s Knee, on a video call.

An interview with Bryan Wizemann, writer-director of You Mean Everything to Me: “There’s another ‘underserved’ population … and that’s people without money”

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 01:50:05 GMT

Wizemann’s You Mean Everything to Me follows a young woman, Cassandra (Morgan Saylor), who, faced with homelessness, comes under the spell of a local DJ, Nathan (Ben Rosenfield).

Sri Lankan poet Ahnaf Jazeem jailed under anti-terror laws speaks with the WSWS

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 04:43:34 GMT

The notorious Counter Terrorism and Investigation Department arrested Jazeem in May 2020, claiming that his poetry promoted extremism and falsely accused him of teaching extremism to his students.

Director Andrew Levitas discusses Minamata and its creative underpinnings

Sat, 19 Feb 2022 03:03:54 GMT

Last week director, producer, painter and sculptor Andrew Levitas spoke with the World Socialist Web Site about his dramatic feature Minamata, featuring Johnny Depp as world-famous photographer W. Eugene Smith.

A conversation with literary scholar and biographer Jonathan Bate about Shakespeare and “the empowering possibilities that I’ve always believed that literature has”

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 00:42:36 GMT

Jonathan Bate is a prominent British literary scholar, historian and biographer who has written extensively about Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature, Romanticism, contemporary poetry and theatre history.

A comment on the Iranian film, Mermaid, and an interview with writer-director Saber Mostafapour: “Cinema is nothing without reality”

Sun, 09 Jan 2022 23:12:01 GMT

A number of recent Iranian short films stand out not simply for their aesthetic quality, but also for their realistic approach and the seriousness with which they treat the problems of wide layers of the population.

A conversation with film historian and critic Joseph McBride, author of Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge—Wilder helped “lead America out of its puritanical isolation and xenophobia”

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 05:07:42 GMT

The WSWS spoke recently to Joseph McBride, film historian, biographer and academic, about his new work, Billy Wilder: Dancing on the Edge .

An interview with veteran Australian actor, director John Bell: Eliminating Shakespeare is “like having a part of your brain removed”

Tue, 14 Dec 2021 01:29:49 GMT

Bell is one of Australia’s most illustrious theatre personalities. He founded the Bell Shakespeare theatre company in 1990.

Kevin Eugene Smith, son of famed photojournalist, discusses MGM’s burying of Minamata

Sat, 09 Oct 2021 03:17:07 GMT

The following interview is with Kevin Eugene Smith, a lawyer, former television producer and journalist, and manager of the photographic estate of his father, W. Eugene Smith.

Acclaimed photographer Stephen Dupont denounces MGM’s “burying” of Minamata in North America

Sat, 25 Sep 2021 02:54:44 GMT

“MGM is not just punishing Depp but everyone else, the other actors, the director, the cinematographer, writers, all those involved,” says W. Eugene Smith award winner.

A conversation with Chuko Esiri, writer and co-director of This Is My Desire (Eyimofe), a remarkable Nigerian film

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 23:23:26 GMT

Presented at the San Francisco International Film Festival in April, This Is My Desire opened in movie theaters in the US and Canada in July and August.

A conversation with director Lisa Rovner about Sisters with Transistors

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 01:50:29 GMT

The World Socialist Web Site talks with the filmmaker about her documentary on 20th century electronic music.

An interview with Mohamedou Ould Salahi, detained and tortured by the US military, CIA

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 03:40:08 GMT

Salahi, now living in Mauritania, was kind enough to answer a number of questions by email recently.

A conversation with Ísold Uggadóttir, director of And Breathe Normally

Sat, 06 Feb 2021 01:01:32 GMT

In December, we reviewed a film from Iceland, And Breathe Normally, directed by Ísold Uggadóttir, that spoke revealingly and movingly to problems that exist all over the planet. We recently spoke to the filmmaker.

Interview with Charles Baxter, author of The Sun Collective

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 02:59:21 GMT

The WSWS recently spoke to novelist Charles Baxter, author of The Sun Collective and other works.

“Any return to ‘normality’ is a long way off”: Musicians and technicians speak to the WSWS

Thu, 26 Nov 2020 23:33:09 GMT

Several British artists and performance technicians spoke to the World Socialist Web Site about the impact of the pandemic on them and their work.

Sri Lankan artists discuss COVID-19 and its impact on their creative work, living conditions

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 01:35:29 GMT

Musical performances, theatre, film and teledrama production, book exhibitions and similar activities have almost entirely come to a halt. Kapila Kumara Kalinga and Malaka Devapriya spoke to the WSWS about the situation.

A conversation with musician, producer Fabrizio Grossi about the pandemic and its impact: “Short of a global revolution, I don’t see a solution”

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 03:14:43 GMT

Fabrizio Grossi is a veteran bassist, producer and music consultant, sometimes referred to in the media as “legendary.”

A conversation with Rick Poynor, author of David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 03:41:43 GMT

In mid-October, we reviewed a significant new work, David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian, by Rick Poynor, a writer in the UK on graphic design and visual communication. The WSWS recently spoke to Poynor.

On the brink: A photographic examination of social cleansing in London

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 22:48:59 GMT

“My aim is to focus on existing council properties that have been neglected due to the lack of maintenance. It’s imperative to showcase the decay of these buildings as it’s been a deliberate strategy to run them down.”—photographic artist Sarah Douglas

76 Days: The drama of the Wuhan lockdown

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 05:00:00 GMT

This year’s event presented some 60 feature films, a sharp decline from the more than 330 screened in 2019, with the festival organizers forecasting a 50 percent decline in revenue throughout 2020.

An interview with Michael Fitzgerald, producer of Waiting for the Barbarians

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 05:00:00 GMT

Fitzgerald has a history in movies extending back to the late 1970s. He first produced two films with John Huston, Wise Blood (1979) and Under the Volcano (1984).

Waiting for the Barbarians: “You are an obscene torturer. You deserve to be hanged!”

Wed, 02 Sep 2020 05:00:00 GMT

Based on the 1980 novel by South Africa-born writer J.M. Coetzee, with also—importantly—a screenplay by Coetzee, the film is set on the remote outskirts of a fictional (or composite) “Empire” sometime apparently in the 19th century.

Classical musicians discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Wed, 06 May 2020 05:00:00 GMT

There is increasing uncertainty about when live concert performances will resume, a demonstration of how culture is threatened by the criminal policy of malign neglect.

South Indian film directors discuss coronavirus impact on local movie industry

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 05:00:00 GMT

The Modi government’s sudden three-week lockdown abruptly brought the film industry to a halt and rendered thousands of daily wage workers jobless overnight.

A conversation with Mark Harris, director of Black & Privileged

Sat, 11 Apr 2020 05:00:00 GMT

The World Socialist Web Site spoke last week to the Chicago-based director and discussed issues related to his recent film.

An interview with Vanessa Lapa, director of Speer Goes to Hollywood: “We have to take the danger of rewriting history very seriously.”

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 05:00:00 GMT

The WSWS spoke to Vanessa Lapa, whose film documents the career of Hitler’s favorite architect, Albert Speer, and dispels the mythology that still surrounds him.

Interview with film historian Joseph McBride: For Kirk Douglas, life was “like a war—you have to fight all the time”

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 05:00:00 GMT

The WSWS spoke last week to Joseph McBride, film historian and educator, and the author of more than 20 books, including a valuable biography of Kirk Douglas.

Interview with international model Andreja Pejic: “I think standing behind Assange and Manning is where we should all be”

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 05:00:00 GMT

The WSWS spoke with Andreja Pejic about the campaign to free Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning and broader political issues.

An interview with film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum: “I’m trying to do something aesthetic through criticism”

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 05:00:00 GMT

The WSWS recently spoke to Jonathan Rosenbaum, the longtime film critic for the Chicago Reader and author of numerous books on filmmaking.

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Fri, 20 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Veteran photojournalist Tim Page discusses his “21” exhibition

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 05:00:00 GMT

The “21” exhibition is just a small sample of the diverse and humane character of Page’s work.

Detroit rapper GmacCash supports striking autoworkers

Sat, 21 Sep 2019 05:00:00 GMT

The former autoworker spoke to the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter about life in the auto plants and why he supports the striking workers.

An interview with Hind Meddeb, director of Paris Stalingrad: “It’s not a film about refugees, it’s a film about human beings”

Wed, 11 Sep 2019 05:00:00 GMT

The documentary focuses on the plight of asylum seekers on the streets of the French capital

An interview with historian Brenda Wineapple, author of books on Emily Dickinson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Brenda Wineapple has written a number of intriguing books, including White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson; Hawthorne: A Life; and The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation.

A conversation with actor Malcolm McDowell: “Once you erode freedoms like this, and artistic thought, where are we as a civilized society?”

Thu, 01 Aug 2019 05:00:00 GMT

The WSWS spoke to veteran actor Malcolm McDowell about the decision by Bowling Green State University to remove actress Lillian Gish’s name from its film theater because of her role in D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915).

An interview with veteran French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier about actress Lillian Gish and director D. W. Griffith

Sat, 20 Jul 2019 05:00:00 GMT

French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier (Round Midnight, Coup de Torchon, Life and Nothing But, It All Starts Today, In the Electric Mist) is one of the most admirable figures in cinema over the past 45 years.

A conversation with Mike Kaplan, the producer of The Whales of August (1987), Lillian Gish’s final film

Sat, 06 Jul 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Kaplan helped organize the petition urging Bowling Green State University to restore the names of famed actresses Dorothy and Lillian Gish to its film theater.

A conversation with Todd Tarbox, editor of Marching Song

Tue, 02 Jul 2019 05:00:00 GMT

David Walsh spoke recently with Todd Tarbox, who has edited and overseen the publication of Marching Song, a play co-written by Orson Welles in 1932 about the abolitionist John Brown.

San Francisco School Board votes to destroy left-wing murals they claim are “racist” and “white supremacist”

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 05:00:00 GMT

On Tuesday evening, the San Francisco Unified School Board voted unanimously to destroy or cover over the historic 1936 “Life of George Washington Murals” at a district high school. The vote is a reactionary decision that marks a new stage in the censorship drive that began last December.

As negotiations hit impasse, Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians continue strike and free concerts

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 05:00:00 GMT

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra management reiterated its demand that musicians give up their traditional pensions and also canceled concerts through the end of April.

An interview with Mike Leigh, director of Peterloo: “You don’t run out of steam if what you do…is to literally hold the mirror up to nature”

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 05:00:00 GMT

The WSWS spoke to British filmmaker Mike Leigh during the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018.

Icebox: The US government locks up children

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 05:00:00 GMT

Icebox focuses on a 12-year-old Honduran boy, Oscar (Anthony Gonzalez), forced by gang activity to flee his home country and head for the US, where an uncle lives.

An interview with director Daniel Sawka and actors from Icebox: “As inequality grows, there’s always scapegoating of immigrants”

Thu, 04 Oct 2018 05:00:00 GMT

The WSWS spoke to the director of Icebox and several actors about the question of immigration and the Trump administration policies.

An interview with Mike Leigh, director of Peterloo: “You don’t run out of steam if what you do … is to literally hold the mirror up to nature”

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 05:00:00 GMT

The WSWS spoke to British filmmaker Mike Leigh in Toronto.

An interview with Mexican documentarian Juan Francisco Urrusti, director of In Exile: A Family Film

Mon, 02 Jul 2018 05:00:00 GMT

The WSWS spoke recently with the director of In Exile: A Family Film, a film about the Spanish Civil War and its consequences.