Joe Swanberg follows up his previous efforts, Kissing on the Mouth and LOL, with the endearing and clever, Hannah Takes the Stairs, a film about a recent college graduate and aspiring playright, struggling to find happiness in her life through various relationships. Swanberg's feature is a collaborative work that involved prominent indie filmmakers such as Mark Duplass, Ry Russo-Young, Todd Rohal and others. Hannah Takes the Stairs opens at SXSW this weekend. Click on any of the questions below to watch the video answer!

By Sara Schieron

"While Mira Nair was dubbing for Vanity Fair, star Gabriel Byrne came to her raving about Jhumpa Lahiri's debut novel, The Namesake. The novel, which follows the Ganguli family from their arranged marriage in Calcutta through their immigration to New York and the growth of their son, is ideal material for Nair, whose films are often about people creating paths between old ways and new surroundings. Perhaps it wasn't such a coincidence that Byrne caught Nair mid-read." Sarah Schieron caught up with Nair to discuss her new film. The Namesake opens in theaters today.

Continue Reading Mira Nair: What's in a Name?

Interview By Jonathan Marlow

"Graphic designer, music video and commercial director Mike Mills has made his first feature, Thumbsucker. In a wide-ranging and candid talk with Jonathan Marlow, he recalls the challenges and triumphs, confesses to an obsessive love for one film and speculates about his wide open future." Mike Mills will be screening his second and newest film; Does Your Soul Have a Cold - a feature length documentary about the introduction of antidepressants in Japan - this weekend at SXSW.

Continue Reading Mike Mills: Film, Conversation, and the State of the Human Soul

Interview By David D'Arcy

"If you're at a loss for what to make of the official US rhetoric on our momentum toward victory in Iraq, see the documentaries of Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein. They made Gunner Palace, one of the best docs on the war in Iraq from the point of view of US soldiers two years ago..." Tucker and Epperlein's new doc; The Prisoner, Or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair opened at last years Toronto International film festival and will be screening this Saturday at SXSW. David D'Arcy spoke with Michael Tucker about the films, and how the stories came together...

Continue Reading Michael Tucker: Returning to the Palace

Another Burning Man doc, you sigh? But wait, this one's different! Confessions of a Burning Man follows four first-timers ("virgins") as they attempt to navigate the week-long event held in the Nevada desert. Their personal journeys are windows into the heart of Black Rock City, a virtual, temporary town of 30,000 revelers and artists. The DVD features commentary from the filmmakers David Silverman, a writer for The Simpsons. Or you can watch it on-demand on GreenCine, via our VOD service. And while you're at it, why not take a stab at GreenCine's latest trivia contest, in which you can win the next best thing to Burning Man tickets - a copy of Confessions of a Burning Man on DVD.

To be eligible for the prize, send an email with the correct answer to contest@greencine.com, including your name, email address and (if you're a GreenCine member) your username in the email, and "Burning Man" in the subject header. Winners will be selected at random from all correct entries. The deadline is Monday, March 12, at 12PM PST. Winners will be notified by e-mail and announced in future editions of the GreenCine Dispatch newsletter, and right here on this space.

The question: Where was Burning Man first held, before moving to the Nevada desert? (Name the city and the location in that city.)

Continue Reading Confessions of a Burning Man: Trivia Contest

Besides Borat (more on that separately) and Fast Food Nation (ditto), today sees the release of the spooky German exorcism film Requiem, two film versions of Prisoner of Zenda, a Platinum collector's edition of Disney's Peter Pan, Zach Galifianakis: Live at the Purple Onion (one of Patton Oswalt's pals and a very original comic in his own right), the long awaited DVD release of the 80s cult classic Night of the Comet, and the British wedding comedy Confetti.

Click the link below to see the whole list of what's new and what's coming soon!

Continue Reading New on DVD: March 6, 2007

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan: Sacha Baron Cohen's genius portrayal of the Kazakhstan TV personality drove this deranged mockumentary about the titular character's search for the real America (and Pamela Anderson). Truly inspired, over the top, often gross and unforgettable, Borat is one of a kind.

The DVD comes in an authentic package written entirely in Russian (with the disc itself made to look like a bootleg.) The disc also includes: a Kazakhstan "Bay Watch" spoof, five deleted dcenes plus a deleted scenes compilation, and "Rodeo News Report." Very nice!

Continue Reading Very Nice! Borat on DVD

Night of the Comet: Bitchin' end of the world spoof Night of the Comet is oh-so-80s, but we mean that in a good way - and here at last arrives the DVD. Two Valley girls have to fend for themselves ("Daddy would have gotten us Uzis") after a comet collides with the earth, wiping out most of humanity. There are totally icky zombies and a totally icky Mary Woronov in this, like, cult classic.

Continue Reading New to DVD: Night of the Comet

You suffered through the films once - if at all - and wonder why you should suffer through them again. Well, Mike Nelson, formerly of Mystery Science Theater 3000, [interviewed here] and pals, bring you a new reason to suffer through them again. Rifftrax is the brainchild of Nelson and MST3K's Kevin Murphy (voice of Tom Servo) and Bill Corbett (2nd voice of Crow), and does what MST couldn't: riff on newer films they never would have gotten the rights to.

Rifftrax is simple: you go to their site, download the desired commentary track, rent or buy the related film (from GreenCine, ahem) and then play them together for some good ol' fashioned yuks. You haven't seen (and heard) Road House until you've heard their take on it.

Here's a bunch of films that have been appropriately Rifftrax'ed. Go to their page on GreenCine to rent or buy the DVD, and then click on the Rifftrax link to download the MP3 commentary track. Fun for the whole family!

• New! Fantastic Four: Rise of Silver Surfer: Rent | Riff
• New! Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Rent | Riff
• New! Next: Rent | Riff
• New! Spider-Man: Rent | Riff
• New! Star Wars Ep. 3: Revenge of the Sith: Rent | Riff



• New! Heroes: Season One: Rent | Riff
• New! Bourne Identity: Rent | Riff
• New! 300 : Rent | Riff
• Predator: Rent | Riff
• Casino Royale: Rent | Riff
• Grey's Anatomy: Rent | Riff
• Fantastic 4: Rent | Riff
• Star Trek: Generations: Rent | Riff
• Plan 9 From Outer Space: Rent | Riff
• Night of the Living Dead: Rent | Riff
• Road House: Rent | Riff
• The Fifth Element: Rent | Riff
• Cocktail: Rent | Riff
• xXx: Rent | Riff
• Crossroads: Rent | Riff
• X-Men: Rent | Riff (or X-Men 1.5: Rent )
• Top Gun: Rent | Riff
• Point Break: Rent | Riff
• Halloween: Rent | Riff
• The Matrix: Rent | Riff
• Star Wars Episode 1: Phantom Menace: Rent | Riff
• Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones: Rent | Riff
• The Grudge: Rent | Riff
• Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring: Rent | Riff



• The Island of Dr Moreau: Rent | Riff
• Firewall: Rent | Riff
• Nestor the Long Eared Donkey: Rent | Riff
• Reign of Fire: Rent | Riff
• Daredevil: Rent | Riff
• Battlefield Earth: Rent | Riff
• Troll 2: Rent | Riff (We highly recommend this one; the movie is wonderfully atrocious and the commentary makes it all the more enjoyable)
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier: Rent | Riff
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: Rent | Riff
• Over the Top: Rent | Riff
• Aeon Flux: Rent | Riff
• The Wicker Man ('06): Rent | Riff



• Terminator 3: Rent | Riff
• Lost Season One: The Pilot: Rent | Riff
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory: Rent | Riff
• Eragon: Rent | Riff
• Glitter: Rent | Riff

Interviewed By Susan Gerhard
November 17, 2006

"The book Fast Food Nation - a richly reported and thickly described literary investigation into the bowels of your everyday burger - was initially an article in Rolling Stone before it became a bestseller, spawned a children's book, instigated a movement, and morphed into a movie by Richard Linklater. If it didn't feel so wrong, you could almost say that it has, by now, become franchised..." Eric Schlosser tells Susan Gerhard how he worked with Richard Linklater to turn his bestselling exposéem>Fast Food Nation into what Film Comment's Kent Jones calls an "unassuming film, one of the most politically astute to come out of this country in quite some time."

Continue Reading Eric Schlosser: Our Fast Food Nation's Whistle-Blower