For any film lover, buff or critic, we all know that 1939 was largely considered to be the greatest year for film releases. When we think of that year, most people usually think of The Wizard of Oz or Gone with the Wind. However, there is another film that proves to be a classic but doesn’t get the credit that it deserves. That film is Gunga Din. The film starred Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as three hapless soldiers of the British Indian Army.Β
Throughout Nic Cage ‘s prolific career, he has yet to do many westerns.Β
From the minds of Trevor Frost and Melissa Lesh, Prime Video’s new documentary Wildcat takes viewers on an emotional journey of healing, through the raising of a baby ocelot. It tells the story of Harry Turner, a young British soldier struggling with severe depression and PTSD after returning from war in Afghanistan, on a journey into the Peruvian amazon. Once there, he meets Samantha Zwicker, a conservationist running a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center. The two share a heartfelt passion for wanting to care for orphaned animals, and when they rescue a one-month-old ocelot, new meaning is brought to all of their lives. The true and inspiring story was brought to life through Zwicker and Turner personally documenting the process, which brings about a more unique format for the documentary. It feels as if you’re right next to them, experiencing the sites and new beginnings just as they are.
2022 was a risky year for films
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to check out Avatar The Way of Water, presented in Dolby Vision 3D, which was James Cameron’s personal preference on how to screen the film.
Last week, The Knockturnal attended the premiere of Babylon held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with a lot of the cast and crew in attendance as well.
Get ready to glimpse the life of the iconic Whitney βthe voiceβ Houston in Tristar Pictures’ highly anticipated film, βI Wanna Dance With Somebody!β
Sanjna Selva called her debut documentary a product of translation. She wrote, directed, produced, and edited the short documentary βCall Me Anytime, Iβm Not Leaving the Houseβ (2023). Two days after Russia invaded Ukraine, two sisters connected via Facetime. One sister, Lesyba Verba, lived in Brooklyn as an artist and performer. The other sister, Odessa, lived in Ukraine. The film tackled subjects of family, love, national identity, and the impermanence of home. Recently, the New York State Film Festival featured the documentary. The film will premiere in PBSβs collection of POV Shorts.
Selva is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her career began as associate producer on the Sundance-supported feature, βSilent Beautyβ (2022). Her films have screened at Woodstock Film Festival, DCTVβs Firehouse Cinema, and Indie Memphis Film Festival. Internationally, film festivals in France, Ukraine, and Romania have screened her work. She has received awards for best audience and short documentary. Read the interview transcript below regarding βCall Me Anytime, Iβm Not Leaving the House.β
The Knockturnal: First, tell me a bit about your short film.
Sanjna Selva: Yeah, so, βCall Me Anytime, Iβm Not Leaving the Houseβ is a short film with a long title. Itβs largely about the war in Ukraine told from the first days of the war breaking out. Itβs entirely told through the frame of a single
relationship between two separated sisters. One sister is based in Brooklyn, New York and the other sister has just entered a bunker in Odessa, Ukraine with the two children. Itβs about their first phone call to each other at the moment that the war starts.Β
The Knockturnal: Wow, thatβs really interesting. My next question is: have you ever done any video projects before? If so, what are they?
Sanjna Selva: Yeah, Iβve worked in documentary for the past four years. This is my debut film. Itβs my first film that Iβve ever directed, produced, shot, and edited that I released to the world. I worked mainly as a producer on other peopleβs films, mostly feature documentaries. They span multiple subjects. The first film that I worked on was also released this year. Itβs kind of nice to have both films that Iβve worked on released the same year. Itβs come full circle. But, the first documentary is really shot in the South. It’s about our directorsβ experience going through childhood sexual abuse. It unnerves the culture of silencing in the South amiss caste-like churches. Thereβs been a number of projects that Iβve worked on, but this film is necessary.Β
The Knockturnal: Okay. I think that your short film was in the New York State Film Festival.
Sanjna Selva: It was, yes.
The Knockturnal: Okay, so what was the process like?
Sanjna Selva: My process in getting my film out was very different than the typical process. The creative team usually meets after you finish your film. Then, you pick your editor. You get it colored and sound-corrected. You apply to lots of different festivals with it. You try to look for a distributor like Netflix or PBS. Mine is the opposite. I made this film in grad school and my professors were essentially my co-producers. It got acquired by PBS when it was in the rough cut stages. PBS signed off early and became my distributor. Thatβs how I prepared the funding to get it finished and submitted to festivals. Because I have PBS as a distributor, it helped give me the ambition to apply to lots of festivals. So, the process of New York City was [the film festivals’} last stop on its circuit, which is nice. I can come back to the city and screen it where it was made. Essentially, I shot the film mostly out of Brooklyn. Yeah, it was a great experience.
The Knockturnal: Okay. What challenges arose in the documentary-making process? How did you overcome them?
Sanjna Selva: Thatβs a good question. The biggest challenge is that this film is entirely in Russian and Ukrainianβ two languages that I donβt speak at all. So, I shot the film entirely with the two characters speaking in Russian and Ukrainian to each other, not knowing what was going on. The film was discovered and realized through language translation. It was hard and scary to go in not knowing what you were doing. [It’s hard to] trust that their story would be powerful and genuinely conceived despite language, that people would be able to connect with it. Ultimately, that’s what the film is about. Itβs about the first phase of the war in Ukraine. Itβs also about two sisters whoβve been separated and thatβs even more of a personal story.Β It was challenging to only work with material in a different language, especially because I was the editor. I relied so much on my two translators. My primary translator, who translated all of the Russian, is one of my best friends. She did the project for me because she was witnessing what was happening in the Ukraine. As a Russian person in the U.S. wanting to help, she was able to find solace and help in her own little way. It takes triple the amount of time to work on translated material.
The Knockturnal: Okay. What has become your favorite part of the documentary process?Β
Sanjna Selva: I think itβs the part that happens with all of my films. I become close to the protagonists and the characters. I think thatβs my approach to filmmaking. I never go in without building trust in the characters. I never go without informing everyone of the process. It’s important that they have a say and feel listened to. Iβm able to form a connection and share a journey with these people. I can pursue their growth too. Our time together hasnβt ended just because I finished shooting the film. Thatβs kind of a relationship that Iβve gained from. [Talking about “Call Me Anytime.”] Itβs been nice to see them go through some recent joys in their life. This is post the traumatic phone call we initially filmed almost a year ago. The film was shot back in February.Β
The Knockturnal: What do you hope viewers will get from watching the documentary?
Sanjna Selva: I hope viewers will enter the conversation. Iβve never been separated from my family due to conflict. I do live apart from my family. [The film] made me miss home a lot. It made me think about what I would do if my home-country was war-stricken. I would pick up the phone and call my loved ones immediately. I hope that people are able to see themselves in the conversation between these two loving sisters. I hope that people are able to think about other topics. I tried to tell anyone that the film is about Ukraine. At the start of the war, Ukraine got a lot of media attention. Thatβs primarily because it is a war in a western country. There are other stories though. Stories of loved ones separated by conflict exist outside of the western world that don’t receive the same media attention. I hope that people can think about and know itβs a universal story of conflict in the west.
The Knockturnal: Okay. Thank you. What advice would you give to someone just starting out in video production, directing, or making their first documentary?
Sanjna Selva: I feel like Iβm so fresh in the process. I would say ‘go out if you have an idea.’ This idea came to me and I could kind of see the film so clearly. If that happens to you and you want to make something, go out and just do it. Do not listen to anyone who has anything else to say. Just push through it and hold your ideas strong in yourself. I couldβve never thought that my film wouldβve ended up on national TV just through a single, simple idea. Also, surround yourself with good community and friendships.Β I worked on this film with some of my closest friends. I experienced such joy supporting, making art, and working with my friends. I couldnβt imagine I would have finished [the film] without people. You are never an island. No film is made with an island. Community is really, really important. So, if you see someone whose work you really admire, reach out to them. See if you can collaborate with people. Itβs always super important in doing whatever you want to work on.
The Knockturnal: Okay. Thank you so much for joining me today. It was a pleasure talking to you.
Sanjna Selva: Yeah, thank you so much!
Yoshimitsu Morita is one of the most versatile directors to come out of Japan.
Cinema is dying. Itβs hard to believe given the glut of options we have being released every week on the myriad of streaming services that lay themselves at our feet for a mere pittance, but itβs something I ungraciously believe. A body without a soul is nothing more than a corpse and a movie without a point is no different. A lot of the movies Iβve seen in the past couple of years have had nothing to say and if a movie has no voice, then it has very little point in existing. But every so often, there is a flicker of life in the midst of every ashen pile that reminds you even embers may burn again.Β BabylonΒ is one such flicker and Damien Chazelle is the perpetrator of this.
First and foremost, this film is not a love story or even a drama as Chazelle has done in the past. Rather, itβs an epic, which I would categorize as a genre all on its own. I couldnβt help but laugh to myself seeing one being made today after I, along with the other great film writers at the Knockturnal, discussed this topic on one of our more recent podcast episodes. An epic is an old style of making movies, filled with grand shots and numerous plot lines, but with an overarching theme. These are films that have incredible scope and often span years, acting like literal novels come to life. Each scene is less a fluid story and more a highly connected and interrelated series of vignettes that epitomizes the central theme and often time period.Β BabylonΒ is very much so an epic which follows the lives of different characters during the late 1920s in Hollywood as the industry moved from silent films and the raucous age of the roaring 20s into the slowly sterilized but pioneering golden age of film which began with the onset of βtalkiesβ, films with sound.
Babylon essentially opens on a large, off the rails party filled with every form of debauchery you could imagine, as well as you few you didnβt. The music is bombastic, the setting is ostentatious, the attire of the party goers is shocking to say the least, and their behavior is purely a degeneration of social norms. In fact, the scene itself is loud in every single way you can imagine, aside from the dialogue, which is almost unintelligible. At first, I thought this was a shortcoming of the sound mixing team when I realized that this was the point. Drowning out the sound of dialogue is the pure spectacle of the moment. Not to mention the fact that Chazelle is such an adept storyteller that even without understanding whatβs being said at all moments, itβs clear whatβs taking place. This opening act spans the first thirty or so minutes of the runtime but it perfectly exemplifies the spirit of the film and the silent era: itβs one large party thatβs hit its peak, but itβs on its way to a downturn.
Itβs beautiful and is not unlike the rest of the film which carries on for another 150 minutes to a total runtime of three hours, which sounds like a lot, but itβs not. Most movies I find myself watching today are so slow and poorly placed that Iβd rather repeat a year of high school than finish the sleepy mess I was watching. Iβve seen movies this year with the usual 120-minute runtime that were 90 minutes too long. And yet, Babylon almost feels rushed at 3 hours. I actually wish it was 4 hours. The only flaw I could find in this movie is that because it tells the stories of so many different characters, there are scenes which arenβt given enough time to breathe and there are no scenes that I would cut. That and the fact that writing dialogue has never been Chazelleβs strong suit.
This is an interesting review to write. Iβve been a writer for nearly seven years and in that time I donβt believe Iβve reviewed a single epic. It takes me back to my days in film class and learning why John Fordβs How Green Was My Valleywas a masterpiece, even though it never really quite clicked for me. Looking back, I was too young and unbothered to understand the depth of that movie, but today I can appreciate the beauty of it. Babylon is much the same in that I donβt believe this film will receive the audience reaction it deserves. Honestly, Iβm not even sure itβll receive the critical praise itβs rightly owed. Itβs a bold step that seeks to revive something from the past that most have decided to leave in the grave it found itself in. However, Chazelle has shown that once again in this film that he has in the past, anything old and underappreciated, like the genre of musicals, can still work if under the watchful hand of an extremely talented auteur. That is what Chazelle is now, by the way. With this film, I feel the argument is more than clear cut than ever that he is a true auteur, one who can tackle and navigate the choppy waters of the most under-appreciated and overlooked genres. Looking at this film as a standalone piece of work may seem like an almost experimental test of what a movie can be. A take on an old format. However, consider this in the work of everything Chazelle has done and it makes for an incredibly interesting piece to the creative psyche he portrays so well in his work.
I believe it was the director Howard Hawkes that once said that a good movie is one with a few good scenes and no bad ones. By that definition, Chazelle has certainly made a good movie and I feel itβs the best scale to grade this product by. Itβs a piece of cinema for cinema lovers, but sadly, Iβm not sure a regular audience member would enjoy this. I certainly donβt see a regular movie goer like my Dad going to a theater and saying it was time well spent. Movies of this style are ones that require an acquired taste, made specifically for the movie goer with a developed palate in the pursuit of something more that regular run of the mill production wonβt provide. It saddens me to say that. I remember hearing people laugh at what may be one of the most tragic and heartfelt scenes of the film and thinking to myself that this is not going to be appreciated by movie goers and probably not even by critics. In time this film will get the critical praise it deserves, but it may go as a misunderstood masterpiece from an era where Hollywood had a creative drought.
Babylon will be in theaters on December 23rd, 2022, and I sincerely hope that against all odds that itβs a smash hit.