Tag: Raphael Sbarge

Inside the arthouse: Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story

Posted on by Team Sbarge

You think you know Liza Minelli. 

But you don’t.

Behind the tabloid headlines, there is a person. The product of a tumultuous marriage. Someone who had to deal with the early and tragic death of their mother. A performer who had to deal with the expectations of being the child of one of the most legendary performers of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

In today’s climate where nepotism and privilege draw such intense scrutiny, it can be hard to remember that expectation can also be a crushing weight. 

But Liza survived it all. 

In LIZA: A TRULY TERRIFIC ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY, filmmaker Bruce David Klein pulls back the curtain and allows Liza’s friends to reveal how she was able to use a coterie of collaborators and mentors to reach the highest peaks of stardom, even as her personal life did not always match that success.

After seeing the film, you will undoubtedly have a greater appreciation for this talented performer and complex individual.

Join us as we welcome director Bruce David Klein to INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE.

Inside the Arthouse: Slamdance with Dan Mirvish

Posted on by Team Sbarge
Slamdance

In the 90’s, most indie filmmakers would have just given up if their debut feature was rejected by Sundance.  But not Dan Mirvish.

Combining forces with several other “rejectees,” they went rogue and started the Slamdance Film Festival, garnering attention for their films, even as they earned the ire of Robert Redford.

Mirvish went on to successfully self-distribute that debut film, OMAHA: THE MOVIE, plus several more over the years, including 18 1/2, a film about the 18 and a 1/2 minutes missing from the Nixon tapes which he shot during the pandemic.

A true renegade, Mirvish is the embodiment of a filmmaker who won’t give up on his film.

Listen and learn from the rest of our conversation with Dan Mirvish, on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE.

 

 

Inside the Arthouse: Vermiglio

Posted on by Team Sbarge

Join hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge on Inside the Arthouse, as they welcome filmmaker Maura Delpero to discuss Vermiglio. 

Movies are often compared to dreams. In the case of Mauro Delpero’s new film, VERMIGLIO — we hear how the story was inspired by a dream and a nighttime visitation from her father. 

Delpero’s beautiful movie explores a moment in history when World War II loomed large against this Alpine Village — a distant, but constant threat. One day a deserted soldier arrives and the dynamics of one family and the village are forever changed.  

Quietly and powerfully, with searing landscapes and cinematography, this is a deeply personal story that will stay with you long after you leave the theater. It’s also a tender and intimate portrait of the woman in this small community, with every detail considered with care. 

A prize winner at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, VERMIGLIO has also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and has been shortlisted by the Academy for the 2025 Best International Feature award.

Watch the latest episode now on their Youtube channel.

 

Inside the Arthouse: Gaucho Gaucho

Posted on by Raphael Sbarge
Gaucho Gaucho

The filmmaking duo of Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw have taken us from the Long Island stock car racetrack featured in THE LAST RACE, to the oak forests of the Piedmont region of Italy in the Oscar-nominated THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS.

Their continuing exploration of tight knit subcultures fighting to maintain their place in a rapidly changing world turns next to the plains of Argentina and the community of gauchos who maintain a strong connection to their traditional ways, along with a profound relationship with their environment.

Their latest film, GAUCHO GAUCHO, merges the authenticity and immediacy of verité filmmaking with an operatic flair that results in a cinematic language that defies comparison. 

Join us Raphael Sbarge and Greg Laemmle as they sit down with Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw on the latest episode of Inside the Arthouse.

Inside the Arthouse: A Woman Under the Influence

Posted on by Team Sbarge

If you can get past the Sundance hype and the commodification of the term “indie,” you can see that the independent film revolution began decades earlier. And it arguably began with John Cassavetes, a man who THE NEW YORKER said, “…may be the most influential American director of the last half century.”

A successful actor, Cassavettes pioneered modern American independent cinema by self-financing and producing film like SHADOWS, FACES and HUSBANDS. But his greatest achievement may have been the 1974 film A WOMEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE, where he truly bucked the system and took on the role of distributor along with financier and filmmaker.

Starring his wife, Gena Rowlands, and friend Peter Falk, the film was a box office smash, also earning Academy Award nominations for Cassavetes as director and for Gena Rowlands as Best Actress.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the film’s release, on Inside the Arthouse, hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge sit down with Jeff Lipsky, a veteran indie sales and marketing executive who got his start in the distribution business working on the release of the film. Jeff went on to help introduce American audiences to filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch, Mike Leigh and Lasse Halstrom, founding October Films along the way. But it all goes back to Cassavetes and A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE.

Listen to the conversation on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE‘S podcast or watch the episode on their YouTube channel: 

 

Inside the Arthouse: Hundreds of Beavers

Posted on by Team Sbarge

On this episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge speak with the producer of Hundreds of Beavers, Kurt Ravenwood – who is also the marketing genius who believed that there was a way to connect with audiences, and plowed a path to success.

HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS was unable to land a distribution offer after several successful festival screenings. But the team behind the film – convinced that their quirky comedy would draw ticket buyers – went ahead with a plan to release the film themselves.

And with an ad spend that wouldn’t even cover the sticker price of a luxury car, they managed to gross over half a million dollars, while also achieving a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Even more remarkable, more than half of their box office came AFTER the film landed on streaming platforms.

Watch the episode on Inside the Arthouse’s Youtube Channel: https://youtu.be/kDkBiDfEg7I