Broadening the Reach

Broadening the Reach

While many of us may be burning through our regular channels of streaming content, there may be a bit of fatigue with the offerings.  Why not use this time to explore some options far from the usual sources?

Performing Arts

Many major opera houses are offing streaming content on a regular basis.  Upcoming invents include Royal Opera House which will be streaming the Royal Ballet’s 2010 performance of Peter and the Wolf on March 27.

One of the most ambitious programs has been the Vienna State Opera who started mid-month screening operas from its archive daily here.  Upcoming operas include Tosca on March 26, La Nozze di Figaro on March 27, and Götterdämmerung on March 28.

The Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin has also started daily offerings from their archive including Carmen on March 27, Macbeth on March 28, and Manon on March 29.

The Teatro dell’Opera di Roma is offering daily streaming selections on its website with Orfeo ed Euridice on March 25 and 28, and Madama Butterfly on March 26 and 29.

Experimental Films and Artists’ Films

Want to see work by filmmakers who are testing the boundaries of the medium of film?  Hyperallergic has assembled an ambitious list of sources to view video art.  Many filmmakers have removed the passwords that have limited access to streaming their work on platforms like Vimeo during the pandemic, so you have the rare opportunity to see their film. This list includes selected works from the Cinema du Réel festival that was canceled due to the public health crisis and over 200 films from the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

From their list of the individual artists I’d suggest Sky Hopinks, Penny Lane (her film NUTS! played at the Speed), Guy Maddin (his short film Heart of the World played at the public opening of the Speed Cinema and he’s screening The Green Fog, his film on Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo), Jodie Mack, and Beatriz Santiago Muñoz.

TCM Classic Film Festival

While their physical film festival featuring spectacular screenings with stars associated to the history of cinema was canceled, TCM Classics Film Festival has moved to an online festival with a daily schedule starting April 16-19.

Look for highlights including a tribute to Eva Marie Saint, a screening of Sounder with Cicely Tyson, Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story, Grey Gardens (the ultimate film about self-isolation), and a tribute to Peter O’Toole followed by screening of Lawrence of Arabia.

International Archives Share Their Treasures

The International Federation of Film Archives has shared this outstanding list of online resources for accessing material from their affiliates.  Look for access to filmmaker talks from the British Film Institute (including last week’s conversation between Tilda Swinton and Mark Kermode on the occasion of her BFI Fellowship), the Bits and Pieces collections featuring remaining snippets of silent films from the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, and a selections of classic Korean Films from Parasite’s director Bong Joon-ho from the Korean Film Archive.