sundance

Paris is Burning on Broadway

Paper Magazine is reporting that the legendary gay documentary PARIS IS BURNING, Jennie Livingston’s look into the world of voguing and ball culture, may see light of day on Broadway. And that fact that PRECIOUS film director Lee Daniels is attached to the project makes me even more excited. The subject matter needs someone like [...]

Looking, and not looking in Lee Daniels’ PRECIOUS

Lee Daniels wants you to look. He wants you to look at the horrific abuse in the personal history of his protagonist, Precious Jones. As an audience member, I wanted to look too. In fact, I think one reason people have flocked to this film involves the extremely human desire to stare in the face what is most repulsive, most sick and most grotesque – about as bad as you can imagine it — in human domestic familial life. And he’s got it here – it’s a home-based horror show.

But Lee Daniels also conspires so that you may not look. Oddly, and a little unnervingly, at a few points in the film Daniels actually takes the act of looking away.

A Night that was Worth the Hype

Maybe because I’d already been to so many Sundance parties, or because I couldn’t imagine the Racquet Club as an awards hall, or because I’m allergic to hype—whatever the reason, I was skeptical about the closing night ceremony.

Festival Updates Interview: Lee Daniels’ PUSH

With sheer audacity and utter authenticity, director Lee Daniels tackles PUSH: BASED ON THE NOVEL BY SAPPHIRE and creates an unforgettable film that sets a new standard for cinema of its kind. Watch the Interview after the jump…

PUSH: Suicide and Incest at Sundance

PUSH, starring Lenny Kravitz and Mo’Nique Lee Daniels is anxious but not anxious. He’s been to the Festival before, as producer of the 2004 film THE WOODSMAN, the Kevin Bacon film about a pedophile that is what they call in the industry “a tough sell.” This year he’s got PUSH, another harrowing story about an [...]

Lee Daniels

Producer and Director Lee Daniels weighs in on the ten election questions… 1. What’s your favorite political movie? I have two. One is a documentary by Shola Lynch titled CHISHOLM 72; UNBOUGHT AND UNBOSSED. It’s a bio on Shirley Chisholm. The other is Oliver Hirschbiegel’s THE DOWNFALL. 2. What role do you feel art plays [...]