Cinema Libre Studio » Media Coverage

Review: “Now & Later’s plot and character development is stimulating and riverting…”- Gerald Wright

Cassie Brewer — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:43:04 +0000

Posted by Gerald Wright on February 16, 2011 at 1:48 PM

Opening February 18 -24, 2011 at NY’s Quad Cinema

In retrospective “Unrated: A Week Of Sex in the Cinema, Philippe Diaz and distributor Cinema Libre Studio have curated a retrospective of six notable films that explore the edgier side of relationships. Designed to foster a broader dialogue with filmgoers, the showcase allows New York audiences the chance to revisit six popular and controversial films that push buttons and boundaries for their frank and explicit portrayals of sex in cinema.

The list of selections to be showcased are; 9 Songs (Michael Winterbottom), AntiChrist (Lars von Trier), Betty Blue (Jean-Jacques Beineix), The Price of Pleasure (Chyng & Miguel Picker), This Film Is Not Yet Rated (Kirby Dick), Shortbus (John Cameron Mitchell), and premiering Now & Later (Philippe Diaz).

Now & Later

Directed by: Philippe Diaz

Running time: 99 min.

Genre: Drama, Crime, Politics, and Romance

Distributor: Cinema Libre Studio

MPAA Rating: Unrated: Explicit sexuality

Incorporating sensuality into a film doesn’t have to be rose pedals and bubble baths. Neither does it have to be a variety of sexual acts with different degrees of explicitness.

Now & Later, focuses on sex, politics and American culture mixed into a combustible combination of all the above. Shari Solanis shines in her powerful performance as Angela, a beautiful free spirited Latina immigrant women. She has a keen sense of political justice and a belief in the pursuit of immediate pleasure as an essential human right. However, the protagonist of the film is Bill (James Wortham), a disgraced banker who has jumped bail. Bill, a former golden boy of the banking industry has been charge with the crimes of fraud in the buying and selling of millions of dollars concerning the debt of emerging countries. Now, a fugitive from a prison term and on the verge of suicide, he’s shelter by the free spirited Angela. Over the course of their few days together, their soul searching conversations lead to a passionate relationship as Angela tears down Bill’s starchy persona and rebuilds the foundations of his life.

Click here to read more

The End of Poverty? Producer Cliff Cobb on Sacrmento & Co.

Lindsey — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:54:03 +0000

Producer Cliff Cobb is featured on Sacramento & Co. :

Cliff Cobb joins us to share about his feature-length documentary “The End of Poverty?” which won critical acclaim at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. The film will be opening at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento starting March 19^th.

Watch the video here: http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=77278

Review on AZcentral.com – opens today in Phoenix!

Beth — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:35:32 +0000

‘The End of Poverty?’

Documentary links talking-head arguments to real people

by Kerry Lengel – Feb. 4, 2010 08:10 AM
The Arizona Republic

Read here; http://www.azcentral.com/thingstodo/movies/articles/2010/02/04/20100204poverty0205.html

Part two: Jonathan Kim interviews Philippe Diaz

Lindsey — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:06:59 +0000

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine from Canada was in town on business and stayed with me for the weekend. As we looked through a Los Angeles guidebook, he told me he wanted to make sure we stopped at a Target. Apparently there are no Targets in Canada, and he wanted to buy some clothes there before he left.

I rarely shop at Target (and don’t buy clothes when I do) and I was shocked at how low the prices were for clothes — in many cases, lower than I remember them being as a kid when my mom would take me shopping there. How could Target be turning a profit?

I had recently seen the documentary The End of Poverty? (see part 1 of my interview with TEOP writer/director/cinematographer Philippe Diaz), and something that had been on my mind since then is the concept that the US and other countries in the northern hemisphere are rich because we are impoverishing hundreds of millions of people, mostly in the southern hemisphere.

- Jonathan Kim, The Huffington Post

….Read more and watch the interview

New reviews and interviews – The End of Poverty?

Beth — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:15:08 +0000

Philippe Diaz interview with Jonathan Kim of The Huffington Post

YouTube: Jonathan Kim’s interview with Philippe Diaz

Jonathan Kim’s review on The Young Turks

Philippe Diaz was interviewed on The Bob Edwards Show on Sirius Satellite Radio

Philippe Diaz on KPFA’s Letter’s to Washington (Starts at 47:40 in show)

Philippe on KPFA’s Sunday Morning Talkies with Kris Welch (Starts at 33:50 in show)

Executive Producer (also in film) Cliff Cobb on KPFA’s Morning Show (Starts 33 min into show)

Philippe on The Thom Hartmann Program (requires subscription to listen to podcast)

Philippe on KINK-FM in Portland

Randall Libero’s Spirit of Film Conversations

KPOJ (AM 620) Morning radio in Portland

SF Chron – ‘The End of Poverty?’: Documentary on a crisis

Beth — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:17:08 +0000

‘The End of Poverty?’: Documentary on a crisis

G. Allen Johnson

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Philippe Diaz wants you to know that his documentary “The End of Poverty?” is not a call for worldwide socialism – even though it advocates a redistribution of wealth that would make Rush Limbaugh scream.

But the fact is, much of the world is in poverty – mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, where Northern Hemisphere countries get much of their resources – and it’s a situation that, left unchecked, will surely lead to some type of global catastrophe, he says.

Campus Circle Interview with Philippe Diaz

Beth — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:46:41 +0000

OK, but on a serious note, it isn’t just the French filmmaker Philippe Diaz who is looking for your support. He projects that the livelihood of the world’s population rests in the palms of a select few.

“Today, we have to realize that 17,000 to 18,000 children die every day because of poverty,” relays a very passionate Diaz who says every word with the utmost enthusiasm and conviction. “They die because of us. It is important to realize that it isn’t a political issue or an ethical issue. It’s a mathematical issue. If we are consuming 30 percent more than the biosphere can regenerate, then unless we change, we will kill more and more children every single day. That’s what people have to realize.”

Read the interview here: http://www.campuscircle.com/review.cfm?r=9954

“****…This damning documentary is a history lesson uncovering the ugly underbelly of Western Civilization.” – Kam Williams, NewsBlaze

Beth — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:31:21 +0000

Globalization Documentary Discusses Paradox of Poverty in Era of Unparalleled Wealth

By Kam Williams

Why have so many Third World countries remained impoverished and underdeveloped even after gaining their independence from the European nations which had conquered and colonized them? This is the basic question addressed by The End of Poverty, an incendiary expose’ directed by Philippe Diaz. In essence, this damning documentary is a history lesson about the ugly underbelly of Western Civilization from 1492 up to the present.

Read the rest of the review here: http://newsblaze.com/story/20091108162425kamw.nb/topstory.html

“…uncharacteristically revolutionary among today’s issue documentaries, and all the more refreshing for its bluntness.”

Beth — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:20:45 +0000

POPMATTERS – by Chris Barsanti

A Blunt Tool

Recently the poor seem to have lost their status as a subject of interest for the Western creative class. Once upon a time, the writings of Jacob Riis and Michael Harrington, WPA documentation, and even Preston Sturges’ films made the struggles of the poor (working or not) a constant and difficult-to-ignore pop-cultural theme. The hobo, a poignant representation of those millions made homeless by the Great Depression, became such a stock in trade during the 1930s and afterward, that he became a cliché.

Today, poverty is rarely a primary concern for the arts. We are more often asked to consider the plights of those afflicted by disease, hunger, political repression or environmental devastation. Perhaps it offends our idea of progress to think that true, soul-shrinking poverty is still with us. Better to have the problems of the poor divided up into subcategories that can then be addressed by individual charity drives and NGOs. Maybe a neat T-shirt.

Read full piece here: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/116219-the-end-of-poverty/

Spirituality & Practice review – “hard-hitting”

Beth — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:26:36 +0000

Film Review

By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

The End of Poverty?
Directed by Philippe Diaz
Cinema Libre Studio 11/09 Documentary
Not Rated

The End of Poverty? is a hard-hitting documentary that dares to do what no other expose on the subject has done before: match the voices and experiences of poor people around the world with the talking heads of economists, politicians, writers, professors, and others considered to be experts.

Read full review here: http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/films.php?id=19474