Author Archives: James Steffen

About James Steffen

I'm currently the Film Studies and Media Librarian at Emory University in Atlanta. Although my primary passion and expertise is in film, I also love literature, music and other arts.

Grainwrecks: The Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection on Blu-ray

A couple months ago I finally had the opportunity to delve into last October’s release of Universal’s Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection on Blu-ray, a simultaneously rewarding and frustrating experience. In each case the Blu-ray versions offer visible, and in … Continue reading

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Brooklyn Rider string quartet at Emory

The Brooklyn Rider string quartet performance at Emory’s Schwartz Center (April 12, 2013) offered a compelling demonstration of why live performance still matters, and how musicians can keep the Western art music tradition vital and exciting through creative programming and … Continue reading

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Top Blu-rays of the Year

Below are five Blu-rays released in 2012 which, through the quality of their presentation, deepened my appreciation of the films themselves. One Blu-ray—Bela Tarr’s The Turin Horse—is a new film that received only a limited theatrical release this year. 5. … Continue reading

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Ukrainian Poetic Cinema at the Lincoln Center

The Film Society of the Lincoln Center is showing the cream of the crop of Ukrainian cinema on September 7-12 in a series entitled “Capturing the Marvelous: Ukrainian Poetic Cinema.”  All of these films are nothing short of dazzling and … Continue reading

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Parajanov’s The Flower on the Stone

Sergei Parajanov actually directed only a portion of the 1962 film The Flower on the Stone. Anatoly Slesarenko, began shooting the film under a different title, but the lead actress Inna Burduchenko-Kiriliuk (who played the character Christina) was killed in … Continue reading

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Two films by Ali Khamraev at Emory

Tonight (Monday, March 19) and Monday, March 26 the Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies program at Emory will show two films in 35mm from the recent touring retrospective devoted to the Uzbek director Ali Khamraev, distributed by Seagull Films: … Continue reading

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Max Ophuls films premiering on TCM

If you have access to Turner Classic Movies, make sure to catch the Monday, January 23 program Max Ophuls in Hollywood, a rare opportunity to see all four feature films that Ophuls completed in the late Forties. The films are: … Continue reading

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Pre-Code Holy Grail: The Story of Temple Drake on tonight TCM

One of the most eagerly sought pre-Code films, Stephen Roberts’ The Story of Temple Drake (1933), is showing tonight on TCM at 8:00 p.m. An adaptation of William Faulkner’s 1931 novel Sanctuary, it stars Miriam Hopkins and features atmospheric cinematography … Continue reading

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White Material

Claire Denis is such a magnificently visual director that no one should miss the opportunity to see her latest film, White Material (2009) on the new Criterion Collection Blu-ray. I only wish that Beau Travail (1999) would receive such luxurious … Continue reading

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Cave of Forgotten Dreams revisited

This week the 3D version of Werner Herzog’s documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams continues its run in Atlanta at the Regal Hollywood 24. Having seen it now in its proper 3D format, I can testify to the huge difference it … Continue reading

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