In the Variety Lounge, presented by Film AlUla at the Red Sea Film Festival, Variety‘s executive editor of film and media Tatiana Siegel moderated a conversation with Baz…
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
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Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
In the Variety Lounge, presented by Film AlUla at the Red Sea Film Festival, Variety‘s executive editor of film and media Tatiana Siegel moderated a conversation with Baz Luhrmann, president of the jury at RSIFF and Shivani Pandya Malhotra, the managing director of RSIFF.
The “Elvis” director spoke to the importance of paying attention to stories from around the globe: “In a world in which politics and other solutions increasingly fail us, it’s so important, maybe more important than ever, to make sure that the voices of storytellers are heard. Voices that are diverse, and from different countries and different places.”
As president of the jury, Luhrmann cannot speak on specific films he’s seen so far at RSIFF; however, he expressed how impressed he is with the work showcased at this year’s festival.
“I absolutely can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, I have been astounded by what I’ve seen,” he said.
Siegel asked Malhotra what she believes is the biggest misconception about the Saudi film industry.
“People are always wondering about the women in the industry here,” Malhotra shared. “That’s been one big misconception that people have had. And when they’ve come in, I think everybody’s pleasantly surprised. I have a lot of women working with me. I’d say about 70% of the workforce are all women. The filmmakers are going out and wanting to make a statement. This is true of the Arab world, you will find that there are more women film directors in the Arab world than there are internationally.”
Siegel also asked about the future of the film industry following a year of great conflict in Hollywood.
Luhrmann said, “If you look at the film industry, you’ve got this cross fertilization, this smashing together of a completely new model of distribution. You’ve got streaming, cinemas, and so on, so forth. However, I think when things do that, it creates energy. Look when television came in, people went like, ‘Right, that’s it, cinema’s over.’ Well actually, movies just got bigger. And they got more theatrical … You know, doom and gloom — and then comes Barbenheimer.”
Luhrmann continued to emphasize how powerful it is that storytelling can create a sense of proximity to real life stories that audiences might otherwise feel removed from.
“[Storytelling] makes something that might be going on that is reported upon, or clickedbaited upon, or talked about around round tables as if it’s a mechanical thing, storytellers humanize. They actually show the people and not just the people, but the hearts of the people. The feelings of a family, the emotion … shows just that all life is precious. Everyone’s pain is equal. And that is the most important thing that storytellers can do right now.”
Watch the full conversation above.