2014, a busy year in my world, seems to have passed in a about a half-hour or less, and now 2015 is at the door. Here's what my crystal ball predicts may be in store for me on the classic film front in the new year...
Film Noir
Noir City 13 (the 13th annual film noir festival) in San Francisco is set to begin on January 16th and run through the 25th. This year's theme is 'Til Death do us Part and 25 noir/near-noir/noirish films "depicting the darker side of marriage" will screen at the city's historic Castro Theatre. Check the full program here to find out what's on the bill for San Francisco - and get a glimpse of what films will screen at Noir City events in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and elsewhere later in 2015. This entertaining promotional trailer - made earlier this year - will show you what the Noir festival is all about:
Film Series at the Symphony
In June the San Francisco Symphony announced a new season series, its second, of film screenings. The films presented are shown with scores performed live by the symphony. Having attended the symphony's presentations of Casablanca and Vertigo, I can tell you it's an amazing experience.
In just two weeks, on January 10, the symphony will introduce the U.S. premiere of Francis Coppola's The Godfather, Part I with live orchestral accompaniment. To watch Coppola's great masterpiece once again and to hear Nino Rota's magnificent score performed by the San Francisco symphony is an experience I wouldn't miss.
For more information on the San Francisco Symphony's 2014/2015 film series, click here.
TCM Film Festival 2015
Spanning four days, March 26 - 29, and held "in the heart of Hollywood," this year's ultimate classic film festival will focus on History According to Hollywood. Through this theme the festival aims to "explore how cinema has shaped how we view, and remember, history." Everything there is to know about the event can be found here.
The 2014 festival was one of the highlights of my year, far exceeding very high expectations. There were the films - many of them recent restorations, the stars-in-person (Maureen O'Hara, Shirley Jones, Kim Novak, Jerry Lewis), Club TCM, where countless special events were held, and the classic film community itself, people from all over the world who deeply love and know the classics. It was wonderfully overwhelming. TCMFF, I discovered, is more than an annual event, it's an annual pilgrimage.
Comic-Con 2015, July 9 - 12
Comic-Con International 2015
Honestly, until a year or so ago I had no idea what "Comic-Con" was other than some sort of comic book-related convention. And since I haven't read a comic book for a few decades, I paid little attention. However...
I recently learned that writer/director/producer Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, The Devil's Backbone), a Comic-Con favorite, will be in San Diego this summer to promote his upcoming thriller, Crimson Peak. The film, described as "half turn-of-the-century romance, half Gothic nightmare" is inspired in part, they say, by classics like Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) and Jack Clayton's The Innocents (1961), two genre favorites of my own. Del Toro's new dark, sexy tale of terror stars some of the very best actors of a new generation - and it's rumored they'll be at Comic-Con with him: Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska and Jessica Chastain. The film is scheduled for release in October 2015.
Comic-Con sells out instantaneously so I may miss out, but even if I do, I'll be closely following reports on the event and news about Del Toro's enthusiastically awaited Crimson Peak.
The Blog
Plans for other posts-in-the-works here at Reel Life for 2015 are a little more sketchy, though I'm toying with changing the blog's name to Reel Happiness (what do you think?). I'm hoping to do a series on film composers and to finally follow up with a second installment in the Roman à clef series I began in March with All About Eve...and Margo (much gratitude and many thanks to Classic Movie Blog Assn. members for voting it a CiMBA Award for "best drama review" this year). I'm also in the early planning stages with my friend and much-admired fellow blogger Christian Esquevin of Silver Screen Modes on a blogathon we'll be co-hosting sometime in the new year.