Welcome to the Shakalaka! blog. This blog is all about passion. I admire people that are passionate about what they do and I like to write about this. I know I am passionate about what I do and I hope to spread that passion. I hope some of my posts can actually make a difference. Maybe that is just wishful thinking. But hey, I'm not going to stand around when I get a chance to try...
Oscar fever is rising... "Our" Bullhead is nominated in the "Best foreign language film" category. More often than not the movies in this category are not box office successes in the United States. It is quite a challenge to promote a foreign language movie to an audience that already has a huge array of movies to choose from. What does your typical American moviegoer do when he hears strange sounds that apparently are a language? Right... Go see a different movie. The creators of the Bullhead trailer have understood this and created the trailer below. The movie is great. AP wrote: "Take a chance and you will be rewarded with a work of nightmarish force that is unforgettable." They are very right. And we are keeping our fingers crossed for the Oscars...
This weekend an article caught my eye in the newspaper. It was about a new music project by a young multi-artist called Liesa Van der Aa. I'm sorry to have to admit this is the first time I heard or read anything about her, but the article was fascinating and her vision and story even more so. Someone like Liesa must already have caught the eye of more than one major label and yet... she chose to release the album herself. Maybe it is because her project is very niche or maybe it is a very deliberate choice. Maybe that would be a good question to ask her. I checked out her web site and my fascination grew further... For every song on the album she asked a different artist to create "something", not your typical TMF type video, but 10 works of art. Add to this participation of one of my favorite photographers, Marc Lagrange, and I think Liesa now has an extra fan for life. Here's the link to her web site and below is Marc's video. Enjoy.
A post on the Holstee blog made me curious about this project. I went to the web site to check it out. The only conclusion to be drawn is that just like anybody out here can now publish words and music, creating a HD movie is now also possible for anyone. Project Yosemite is such a movie project. Two enthusiastic people, Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty, created an extreme version of what is known as a timelapse. The video below shows you Yosemite like you've never seen...
Last week I attended a presentation about trends that would be hitting us in 2012. The speaker used keywords to point out the trends. During the presentation the speaker showed the Wikipedia blackout as an example to protest against online piracy... Right... Think again. SOPA stands for "Stop Online Piracy Act" and the blackout was a protest against the SOPA, not a protest against piracy. Copying music is nothing new. Copying probably laid the foundations for companies like Maxell and many others. On the Domino Project blog Seth Godin writes very rightly about changing business models and changing industries. That is what it is about. And yes, it does look like SOPA will not become effective in the States. Click here to read Seth's blog post.
Yes. I was one of those people who sat at the holiday pool 3 years in a row with a Stieg Larsson book... His story grabbed me from page one. Over part 2 and 3 the tension did not disappear. It grew and as each piece of the Salander puzzle fell into place, you really got close to the characters. Then came the Swedish movies. Personally I really liked part 1, but parts 2 and 3 kind of disappointed me. And then came the US remake. The choice of director was appealing and David Fincher's choice to keep the movie dark and film on location in Sweden attracted me enough to go live the story a third time. For an American movie it does go quite far in setting, darkness and even the sex scenes are not exactly what the American movie audience is used to. I saw the young girls next to me squirm more than once. The story is not a pretty one. Parents, do keep those young ones close. Fincher does a great job. But... the Swedish movies by Niels Arden Oplev were just the tad darker and got closer. In both cases choices have to be made when reducing a large book to a 159 minute movie (which is already longer than your standard 90 minute flick). Maybe somebody will get the idea to create a mini series. Hmm... now... there's an idea... Conclusion: if you haven't seen Men who hate Women, you will thoroughly enjoy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. If you have... go see Bullhead. You'll like that one too!
In 2008 I went to see the new Mayumana show in Madrid. I was in the city for three days and on my way to one of the meetings, I picked up a leaflet of a show I did not know: Loft. The flyer attracted me and I had a free night so I went to see the show. The show blew my mind. It was a wonderful, never seen before combination of acrobatics, poetry and incredible performers. I had just met Les 7 Doigts de la Main. I was so amazed that a few days later I was in London to see another one of their productions. It was totally different from Loft. Another supreme combination of hyper talented acrobats, song, dance and poetry. Not even half way the first half of the show the whole audience was on its feet, cheering the actors on. It was... well... unique... I wanted to promote this show in Belgium... but it became so popular in London that plans for Belgium had to be postponed. Now they are big in America, playing to a full house every night in New York City. And now... yes... I can finally announce that TRACES is coming to Belgium. The first ever production of Traces has just gone on sale. After Oostende, the cast is going to France, so be sure to get tickets. Oh... and if my words don't convince you, take a look at the trailer below, I'm sure that will... For tickets, click here :-)
Interesting story in De Standaard yesterday. Michaël Roskam has created one of the best movies of 2011. No doubt! It's called Rundskop and chances are that by now you have heard of it. Only, if you don't live in Belgium you might know it as Bullhead, the English title of the same movie with Matthias Schoenaerts in a lead that puts him in the league of extraordinary actors. The reason why you have heard of it, is not because the movie is a hit at your local movie theatre. It is because one person has been working incredibly hard to show the movie to the right people. Her name is Tatiana Detlofson and she works for Mediaplanpr. She has been creating a huge buzz, with the help of Michaël, of course. He has been running from one interview to another to promote the movie. But still Tatiana cannot rest... not until the final nominees for Best Foreign Film are announced tomorrow. Yes, Bullhead has some infamous fans, like Mark Johnson, who heads the Academy's Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee and Charlize Theron, who really insists on attending one of the screenings. Whatever the result. Bullhead is a must see movie and keep your eye on Michaël Roskam and Matthias Schoenaerts! And what does the newspaper discuss today... Whether it is a Flemish movie or a Belgian movie. Please people... Can't you just enjoy the movie?
UPDATE 18 January - Bullhead is now on the shortlist :-)
