TAKING BACK THE GROOVE

SBIFF 2024

With Director: Celia Aniskovich

By Emmanuel Itier

Taking Back the Groove reintroduces the world to Bronx-born ’80s disco superstar Richie Weeks. A writer, singer, and producer who was compared to Quincy Jones at his height, Richie created quintessential New York Disco and performed in the likes of Studio 54 and Paradise Garage, all while maintaining day jobs as a postal worker and bricklayer. His mega-hit Rock Your World made it to #1 on the dance charts in the ’80s and has since become a landmark song in the field of disco and house music.  Maverick director Celia Aniskovich managed the “tour de force” to bring forth the fight for this artist to gain back what was due to him but also to bring into the limelight the fight from so many other artists versus the big companies who exploited them beyond belief. The time of the Revolution is here, and, thanks to Ms Aniskovich, creators can now regain hope that justice will come to their rescue. Just before heading to Santa Barbara, I was lucky enough to have an inspiring conversation with director Celic Aniskovich.

Q: How did this film come together?

Celia: Actually, it’s a funny story. It was all about reconnecting with an older friend from high school. His brother is a big fan of electronic music and music in general. Somewhat he knew Richie Weeks and he was telling me how incredible he was and would I want to meet with him because he thoughts there was an incredible story about him. And I was blown away by Richie when I met him and even, so he is 79. Actually, I think he is more like 25! He has so much life and so many stories within himself. Also, this film was made during the writer’ strike and it is also an important message in this regard. It’s about, for all artists, to reclaim what is yours.

Q: Tell me about the various challenges you faced making this film?

Celia: One challenge was to be able to make a decision about the tracks, the songs we wanted to use from Richie because he has such a huge catalog of songs to choose from. And of course there were the thousands of emails between Jerome Derradji, a music producer and who was fighting for Richie, and BMG. Also, because it was a short documentary, it wasn’t so easy to sell the story in such a short amount of time, barely 32 minutes all together. Also, it was challenging to show the struggle but to show that at the end there is a happy ending. It was amazing to have him performed at the end and to honor his hard work and what he went through.

Q: At the end, what is this film truly about, what is the takeaway?

Celia: I think it’s all about re-affirming that artist have a right to control the rights of what they create. There is a need for conversation and a real call for action that people who create some art retain the control of it and the revenues coming from it. It’s people life and we can allow that it is controlled by the matrix and some algorithm at the end. These artists deserve to benefit from their hard work.

Q: Do you see yourself change from doing such a “political” movie like this one?

Celia: It’s rare you create a movie that you feel can provoke a real change, but I feel that with this movie it might the start of some really incredible change in the music industry, among other industries. I really hope this movie create some sort of synergy, so things change for all the artists out there whose art is controlled by entities who are not respe

Interview by Emmanuel Itier:
With Director: Lisa D’Apolito for SHARI AND LAMB CHOP.

Television star Shari Lewis broke nw ground in the 50’s and 60’s with her ventriloquism and beloved puppet: ‘Lamb Chop’. Now, director Lisa D’Apolito, who brought us the brilliant ‘Love, Gilda’, is bringing for a very emotional portrait of Lisa and now she truly revolutionized children tv shows. This film brought tears to my eyes as it reminded be the purity and the humanity, we all are touched by as young children. Then we grow up and the ugliness of the world forces us to grow up and build an emotional mental amor to protect us from various abuses. Bless Lisa D’Apolito for resurrecting in us the faith we can, again, be a child, and live with hopes and dreams. And thanks to Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop for making these hopes and dreams become a reality.

Q: What was the idea behind this film, how did it come together?

Lisa: I love films about entertainers. I always look for characters who are brilliant but who are not necessarily known by the big audience out there. I knew who Shari and her ‘Lamb Chop’ puppet were but I didn’t know anything in details about them. I’m part of that generation who was in between the tv shows from the 60’s and from the 90’s. Shari was on may talk shows; therefore, I had an idea of who she was. Legendary Gene Wilder, with whom I worked on my previous film, ‘Love, Gilda’, approached me to put together a documentary about Shari and Lamb Chop. I agreed at once. It felt right doing this film and it made me feel happy doing so, like bringing back some types of happy memories. When I think of ‘Lamb Chop’ I think of something happy. This project really felt right from the beginning.

Q: What did you discover about Shari that really surprised you and how it inspired you?

Lisa: Her immense talent impressed me and inspired me. She wasn’t just a children performer and a ventriloquist. I had no idea she was from New York City and that her father was a famous magician. Shari grew up in a very magical environment and that environment created the Shari Lewis she became.

Q: Tell me about the various challenges you faced making this film?

Lisa: The biggest challenge was about to really know who Shari was. She was very careful and guarded when she gave interviews so I had to figure who she truly was. It took lots of digging to find materials, footages, where Shari wasn’t performing and where I could find out about the real woman behind the name. Also, Todd, her assistant has saved so much footage and boxes of stuffs in his garage. And so we were able to keep digging. We even found one “cassette” about her last performance where she sings that song “hello, goodbye”. This finding was golden. So the main challenge was to find this unique material any filmmaker needs to find to put together the movie he/she is trying to achieve.

Q: What do you think this truly about? What is the take away?

Lisa: It’s all about never give up! Keep going and hope your dreams come together. Shari was struggling many years before she became successful. Her goal was always to get on television, and it took many years to achieve this goal. And then, after Saturday Night Live she struggled another 30 years before getting back on television with ‘Lamb Chop’. She always believed in herself. She always believed children should believe in themselves. If you persevere, things do work

ELECTRA

With Bahraini - American director: Hala Matar.

The story revolves around a journalist who travels to Rome for an interview with a renowned musician, only to be drawn into an unexpected invitation that sets off a thrilling adventure filled with mystery and surprises.

Maria Bakalova and Abigail Cowen shine so brightly in this travel movie following two women going to interview a famous musician, played by Jack Fathing. The brilliant director, Hala Matar, who had done several successful short, is signing her first feature with ‘Electra’. And we can be sure this won’t be her last. Her talent is solid, and it emerges from this film: a thrilling romantic savor that will put you on an emotional edge.

Let Hala Matar reveal her vision for this film and what it is truly about.

Q: What inspired you to do this film? How did it come together?

Hala: I have to confess I love Italian cinema and I have been highly influenced by Italian movies. It wasn’t easy to come up with my first feature script. It took some time to complete it. The idea came from a location that became available and I decided to create a movie around this location. For my first feature I wanted to make something manageable and easy to film. One main location was ideal for this reason. Also, we all stayed there, and it was a lot of fun.

Q: Since it’s your first movie, tell me about the various challenges you had to face?

Hala: The biggest challenge was the 14 days of shooting. This was quite stressful and surreal. Lots of directors face this time challenge and I did face it for sure. Also, because we shot in Italy, we only had 9 hours shoot day. In America you can go easily to 12 hours shoot day. So, this was quite challenging to get all the shots I needed, each day. Thanks Good I had such a talented team of people and I think I got what I needed at the end.

Q: What is this film truly about for you?

Hala: It’s really about honesty and being truthful in relationships. It’s also about unresolved truth, unresolved business. If it’s unresolved it can torture you, in your mind. It really tortures you until it’s resolved. And of course it’s also about how it can affect other people. One theme is about opened relationship and some people are fine about it. But you truly don’t know how it can affect the other party involved. Finally, it’s also a movie about “standing up for yourself”. Somewhat it’s about women empowerment!

Q: What does come to the Santa Barbara film festival means to you?

Hala: I’m very grateful and honored to be here. I am very curious to see the film with an audience and how they react, especially because this is my first feature. I hope people get interested with my film.

By Emmanuel Itier in Santa Barbara

After the disappearance of his girlfriend, a foreigner man lost in a hostile land becomes the main suspect and his desperate research for her turns into a fight to stay alive.
Directed by Giovanni Fumu Written by Giovanni Fumu, Maximilian Selim Starring Jang Seong-beom, Lim Young-joo, Chris Carlson, Tony Denman...

Rarely did I see such a captivating and mesmerizing movie! ‘ABROAD’, directed by Giovani Fumu ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14234720 ) is simply a fantastic “tour de force” that will captivate your emotions and your intelligence. I wouldn’t want to let you know what it is truly about, instead, I will let director Giovani Fumu share his vision and convince you this is a “must see” movie when it comes to a theatre near you.

Q: What was the inspiration with creating this film? What were you trying to achieve with ABROAD?

Giovani: This is a co-production with Southern Korea because I have an experience working with this country as I know a company in Korea that has offices there and in the USA.  I spent time in Korea as I directed several commercials over there. I also shot over there a short, ‘Good News’ in 2016 that was in the Venice film festival. It was such an amazing experience and I wanted to re-do something like this. I was the only non-Korean speaking person on the set when I did this short, and it was a fantastic experience. So, the idea came that for ABROAD, I wanted to take Korean actors out of their comfort zone and invite them to film in the USA, where I reside. I live in New York. I, myself, have been living in Paris and then in the USA so I wanted to share this experience with actors and see how they would react if they were thrown into a different environment and a different culture. I thought that such actor put in this situation would have some fears that could affect in mind. I started writing this story with my producer, Maximilian Selim. He is from Minnesota where we filmed ABROAD and after he showed me interesting locations. And so, it all came together. Here we are now!

Q: What various challenges did you face with this film?

Giovani: It’s an independent movie and we had many issues. The first one I can think about was the complication to get the working visa for the main Korean actor who took forever. We were already in production when we got that visa and therefore, I didn’t have much rehearsal time with my actor. Because of this delay we had to redo the shooting schedule and make sure we first shot scene without this character. So, this was a challenge with schedule and re-arrange everything, from locations to the actor being finally available. Also, it was challenging for Jang Sung-Bum who plays the lead, not to be able to speak and understand that well English. It was a tough challenge for him. Thank God to my Korean friend and producer, Kimbo Kim, we were able to have my lead actor communicate with him and make sure that everything, eventually, was going to work out. And it did! It was easier for the female lead, Youngjoo Lim, as she had travelled to the US and her English is quite solid. Another challenge is that the nights where short when we filmed this movie. And it does take place mainly at night. It was challenging to keep the pace and get all the shots we needed, each night of filming. We ended up shooting this movie in 21 days: quite amazing! And very tight.

Q: What is truly