Tony Frere Movies
- 2009
Joey Arias is a singer and performance artist whose shows mix music, sexual ambiguity and over-the top visuals. Arias arrived in New York just as the downtown performance scene of the late 1970's was reaching its peak, and as he started making a name for himself he met Basil Twist, a talented puppeteer who was looking to expand his work in new ways. Arias and Twist became a team, and as they fused their complimentary creative visions Twist's remarkable creations gave a new life to Arias's ideas. Arias and Twist found an enthusiastic supporter in David Bowie and became stars on the New York underground scene alongside figures like Divine, Klaus Nomi and John Sex. But when AIDS swept through New York City in the Eighties, much of the creative community that helped inspire and support Arias and Twist was wiped out, leaving them in limbo until they enjoyed new success as members of the Cirque du Soleil troupe and revived their cabaret act for successful international engagements. In Arias With A Twist: The Docufantasy, filmmaker Bobby Sheehan celebrates the creative partnership between these two offbeat visionaries and charts the course of their career from the 1970's to the 21st Century, using interviews, archival footage and new performances to tell the tale. Arias With A Twist was an official selection at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- 2008
Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond were two of the best and most influential cinematographers working in Hollywood in the Sixties and Seventies; between them, they worked with the likes of Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Brian DePalma, John Boorman, Peter Bogdanovich, Hal Ashby, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Paul Mazursky, helping shape the look of some of the most vital films of the decade and showing new ways to balance beauty and realism on screen. Surprisingly, these two master cameramen were not professional rivals, but close friends who came to the United States in 1957, fleeing their native Hungary after Soviet troops rolled into the country to put down a people's revolution (which the young cinematographers helped document with newsreel cameras). After cutting their teeth in the United States shooting a variety of low-budget projects, Kovacs enjoyed a commercial breakthrough when he shot Easy Rider in 1969, and Zsigmond made his name a few years later with McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Deliverance; the two remained close friends and colleagues, and Zsigmond remains active today, while Kovacs stayed in the film business up until his death in 2007. No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo and Vilmos is a documentary which explores the professional and personal lives of these two gifted craftsmen, created with their cooperation; it features interviews with a number of their friends and collaborators, including Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Bob Rafelson, Karen Black, Sharon Stone, Haskell Wexler and Tatum O'Neal. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Andrew Horn (co-writer/producer of East Side Story) directs the documentary The Nomi Song, a portrait of late German artist Klaus Nomi. Born in Bavaria during the '40s, Nomi was a trained opera singer who became an underground cult figure in New York City during the '70s. Fancifully dressed in black-and-white costumes, Nomi performed unique cabaret shows and earned a small but loyal fan base. He made recordings, appeared in films, and even sang for commercials. He was building up a career in Europe when he fell ill. He died in 1983 of an AIDS-related infection. The documentary includes interviews with actress Ann Magnuson, art director Page Wood, and photographer Anthony Scibelli. The Nomi Song won the Teddy Award at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Klaus Nomi, Ann Magnuson, (more)
