Before directing “Wonder Boys” and “8 Mile,” Curtis Hanson won an Oscar for his screenplay “L.A. Confidential,” a film he also directed. In 1999, he became the chairman of the UCLA Film and Television Archive, where he created the “Movie That Inspired Me” series in which celebrities present and talk about movies special to them. […]
Author Archives: Howard Ho
Alumna, student’s works reflect Asian identities
UCLA’s film school allows its filmmakers to tell whatever stories they like, and more often than not, this leads to personal filmmaking. In the case of UCLA alumna Vivian Umino, her short film “Ill Repair” is actually about two older men, but maintains that it’s still about her. The men are second-generation Japanese-Americans, also known […]
“˜Sin Uncensored’ shows 1930s liberalism
Classic films often get dated from their conservative definitions of morality and prejudices. But this doesn’t necessarily apply to all things old. “We’re talking about 1933, and there’s a nymphomaniac from Brentwood who’s also a kleptomaniac and a sexual deviant,” said UCLA Film and Television Archive programmer Mimi Brody regarding the film “Bloody Money.” That […]
“˜Manic’ representative of reality
“Manic” joins a tradition of films about mental institutions, such as 1975’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” But sometimes these films give the wrong impression of what actual mental health care is like. “Institutional treatment has changed dramatically from the time that (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”) was made so that there’s very […]
Film professor’s influence to pause, not end
Cinematography Professor William McDonald wears many hats. He’s been vice chairman of production in the UCLA Department of Film and Television for five years as well as the head of cinematography for those same five years, and he’s sat on the graduate student council for the past three years. When McDonald got Kodak to underwrite […]
UCLA Live feels budget squeeze
UCLA Performing Arts Director David Sefton takes a while on the phone before he can talk. He wishes he were at the South by Southwest Festival in Texas at the moment, but he’s stuck in his office looking at his budget for the 2003-2004 season. That’s why he’s on the phone for so long with […]
UCLA Archive hopes Fields retrospective will spark a revival
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, a film craze hit the college audience. No, it wasn’t “2001: A Space Odyssey.” It was a revival of films by the comedian W.C. Fields. “I was in junior high and high school towards the tail end of that,” said David Pendleton, programmer for the UCLA Film and […]