The rise of digital film, replacing celluloid film, has been seen as a threat to the art of movies. Theorist and filmmaker Francisco Ricardo considers whether this tension makes sense for film at all..
No Comments on Thoughts on Digital Film’s EvolutionToday, 23 March, we remember Adrienne Chamberlin, heroic soul who bravely enabled the flight of many projects with her superhuman devotion and intelligence. Here are some clips that she either filmed or was caught in. Enjoy it, and honor a kind person in your midst today! https://youtu.be/oKgfgyVrwC0
No Comments on Remembering Adrienne Chamberlin through her lensFrancisco remembers Richard Burton, one of the greatest actors of the last century, able to recite Shakespeare backward, who arose from grinding poverty in Wales to the heights of fame both on the London stage and the Hollywood screen, and who died at age 58, full of talent, but also of lusts for fame and for alcohol.
No Comments on The Commanding, Demanding, Self-Reprimanding Richard BurtonDriving to the Academy for the Oscar nominated documentary selections for this year, Francisco learns that Karl Lagerfeld, of whose life and work he was a scholar, passed away. Here is Francisco’s impromptu appreciation of the person and his unique impact on others. Karl was more than an icon, he was the last modernist in fashion.
No Comments on The Departure of Karl LagerfeldFrancisco’s ringside analysis of the circus as a metaphor for film, discussing Federico Fellini’s quasi-documentary, “The Clowns” alongside Wim Wenders’s “Wings of Desire” and other works. Nostalgia fills the fate of this world, “All the circuses have become stages,” claims a retired clown, characters, like so many others, left in an empty sadness. Has cultural film followed this fate?
No Comments on Circus as Film / Circus in Film / Film as CircusLooking at a summary of current scientific thinking on creativity, Francisco finds important flaws in methods and approaches that narrowly study the mystery of what it means to create.
No Comments on How Science Misunderstands CreativityFrancisco discusses the short, virtuosic life of Swedish DJ Avicii, and “Avicii: True Stories”, a revealing documentary shot over five years and across more than forty countries.
No Comments on Avicii: A Portrait in Life, Music, and Film.Film’s great age has passed, but it has been preserved in VHS, DVD’s, Blu-Ray, and lately streaming platforms. But like VHS and DVDs, streaming can die — and much more suddenly. Francisco reveals that the solution to cultural preservation of the moving image has been with us all along.
No Comments on Film, UnstruckIn this compelling autobiographical video, Francisco Ricardo describes his childhood and his family members’ experience with Castro’s Cuba and their difficult exodus from Cuba. The video includes ethereal music, personal narration, and images from Cuba:
No Comments on Francisco Ricardo Speaks About His Childhood in Cuba
From the art and film world of author, director, and musician Francisco Ricardo, Ph.D.
Two Epiphanies May 15, 2019