Do the DuArt! Tales from Filmmakers and More
The latest on an oral history I've been working on + goodies
Dear Last Thing I Sawfolk,
This week I’m sharing a project that was a lot of fun to work on: an oral history about DuArt, on the occasion of a film series at Metrograph. I spoke to a lot of independent filmmakers who had been helped in some way by Irwin Young, president of the famed New York film processing lab, who passed away in January. It’s a vital slice of New York independent film history. And since the film series is also showing movies by Irwin’s brother Robert Young, I also talked with Edward James Olmos and others about his particular brand of realism.
Anyway, it was a treat talking with Olmos (American Me, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez), Lizzie Borden (Working Girls), Darnell Martin (I Like It Like That, Oz)—the list goes on, with memories also coming in from John Sayles (Return of the Secaucus 7) and Ross McElwee (Sherman’s March). I hope you enjoy the tributes, and of course there are more stories to be told than the album of snapshots I put together.
On the podcast front, the next episode is still in the kiln. But there are a number of movies coming up at fall festivals and in theaters that I’ve chatted about before, so I’m sharing a couple of delightful episodes from Cannes, covering Eo, Armageddon Time, and other fine films.
Thank you once again to all my supporters who make the podcast possible. Without your help, I would just be talking to myself in a room, instead of recording myself talking aloud in a room.
Your faithful host,
Nic
PODCASTS
To celebrate some films that are opening this fall or will appear in festivals, e.g. The Film Festival of New York, here are two episodes from Cannes with noted film enthusiast Eric Hynes:
De Humani Corporis Fabrica + R.M.N. + Return to Seoul + Godland + Joyland
Also available to add on Spotify, Soundcloud, and other podcast places.
Eo + Armageddon Time + Ukraine documentary Mariupolis 2
Also available to add on Spotify, Soundcloud, and other podcast places.
Eric Hynes is curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image. He is also a longtime critic and journalist who has written for The New York Times, the Washington Post, Rolling Stone, Slate, New York magazine, Sight & Sound, the Village Voice, and Reverse Shot, where he has been a staff writer since 2003.
For more information on the podcast’s opening and closing music by The Minarets (gratefully used with permission):
Follow the band on Instagram
@theminaretsmusic
RECENT WRITING
The big thing this week is an oral history about Irwin and Robert Young and DuArt, a storied institution in independent film history. My thanks to Edward James Olmos, Lizzie Borden, John Sayles, and Darnell Martin, among others, for taking the time to share their memories of DuArt, a film processing lab in Midtown. Irwin Young was DuArt’s president and helped many people get their films made; Robert Young was a filmmaker who directed The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez and many other movies. The DuArt series at Metrograph, programmed by Nellie Killian, starts this weekend—featuring both movies that DuArt helped and movies that Robert Young directed:
THIS CRITIC’S PICKS
Delectable selections for home viewing.
Mikey and Nicky (Criterion) – Elaine May directs John Cassavetes and Peter Falk
Two for the Road (Criterion) – Stanley Donen in a different key
Entertainment (MUBI) – The title is ironic
Take Out (Criterion)
The Complete Dr. Katz (YouTube) – The bottled essence of watching Comedy Central in the ’90s
Soft Fiction (Criterion)
Alfred Hitchcock and Peter Bogdanovich in Conversation (Criterion) For Hitchcock’s birthday, stories from his childhood - audio only!
The Task (filmmaker website) - Fans of Nathan Fielder might want to take a look at this
THE END
“Last night I was down at the lab.”
ABOUT ME
Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw! I’m your host, Nicolas Rapold.
Besides hosting a podcast, I’m a writer and an editor. My features, interviews, festival dispatches, and reviews are published in The New York Times, Sight & Sound, Artforum, Filmmaker, and W Magazine (and appeared in dearly departed publications such as The Village Voice, Stop Smiling, The New York Sun, and The L Magazine).
I worked as editor-in-chief of Film Comment, where I was for 15 years. I assigned and edited both web and print editorial, hosted its podcast and talks and screenings, learned from brilliant writers, curated Film Comment Selects, and wrote a lot, including interviews with Spike Lee, Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, and Frederick Wiseman. Film Comment was subsequently awarded the Film Heritage Award by the National Society of Film Critics (an honor historically awarded to the Museum of Modern Art and other institutions).
Feel free to get in touch re: writing, editing, moderating, programming, podcasting, etc.
nicolas.rapold@gmail.com