Matthew Williamson 'XV' - 15 Year Anniversary Film

Matthew Williamson's 15th anniversary film 'XV' stars Sienna Milller, Poppy Delevingne and Andrea Riseborough. Directed by Tell No One, the film was shot at the imposing 17th century country house, Aynhoe Park in Oxfordshire and features eight ballerinas from the Royal Ballet, choreographed by the acclaimed Wayne McGregor, founder of the Random Dance company. With original script by Mark Whelan, the collaborative film makers Luke White and Remi Weekes created the mini movie as a snapshot into the imagination of a 15 year old Williamson, dreaming up his very own fashion fantasy with a very down-to-earth twist at the end.

Adarsha Benjamin's Kurt Premiers at Art Basel Miami

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Adarsha Benjamin's experimental short film, entitled Kurt, which is an abstract portrayal of the myth and personality of the late Kurt Cobain, featuring different actors and performers including Henry Hopper, will see its premier at the historic Gusman Theater as part of Art Basel Miami 2012.  There will also be a performance by Ryan Heffington and music by Guy Blakeslee and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth). Kurt will premier on December 6, 2012 at 7 P.M at the Gusman Theater, 174 E. Flagler Street, Miami, FL

RIP Japanese Director Kōji Wakamatsu

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Kôji Wakamatsu has passed away this morning in Tokyo. The 76-year-old director was injured when he was struck by a taxi while crossing a busy Tokyo intersection. He never recovered from the injuries. Koji, who directed Go, Go Second Time Virgin and Ecstasy of Angels was one of the most important directors of the Pinky film (pink eiga), a genre known for its copious amounts of horror, sex and violence often folding in elements of rape and bondage.

Doug Aitken's Altered Earth On View This Month in Arles

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Incorporating film, literature, data visualizations and sound design, artist Douglas Aitken's Altered Earth invites the user to piece together fragments of the landscape of the region of Camargue France. The site-specific work has been developed into an application for the iPad by Meri Media.The films themselves, of which there are seven, are devoid of narrative or plot, showing Carmague's salt pans, wild horses, and decaying architecture. The LUMA Foundation, which commissioned the work, calls it "a work of land art for the electronic era." Altered Earth will be on view this month projected on the walls of an old train station in Arles, France. 

Andy Warhol Film San Diego Surf Released After 40 Years

San Diego Surf was filmed in La Jolla, California, about 30 miles down the coast from Los Angeles, in May, 1968. It was filmed in color on 16mm with two cameras, manned by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey, and featured Superstars Viva, Taylor Mead, Louis Waldon, Joe Dallesandro, Tom Hompertz, Ingrid Superstar, and Eric Emerson, plus Nawana Davis and others. Its loose narrative concerns an unhappily married couple (Taylor Mead and Viva) with a baby who rent their beach house to a group of surfers.  One of the last films in which Warhol had direct involvement, San Diego Surf was the first time Warhol had made a movie in California since the early Tarzan and Jane Regained, Sort of…in 1963. The month after San Diego Surf filming was completed, Warhol was shot by Valerie Solanas, which virtually ended his work behind the movie camera. The film is being released by The Andy Warhol Museum, who holds all the copyrights to this film which has never before been publicly shown. The film will be shown publicly at The Museum of Modern Art from January 23 - 28, 2013. 

DOUGLAS GORDON: The End of Civilisation

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Gagosian Gallery presents The End of Civilisation, a major film installation by Douglas Gordon.In The End of Civilisation, a grand piano burns at a remote site deep in the Cumbrian landscape. This lushly green and desolate locale overlooking the boundary between England and Scotland was once the border of the Roman Empire. The grand piano, emblematic of high culture as both a finely crafted instrument and a beautiful sculptural object, is destroyed at the primeval edge of civilization. With this symbolic conflagration, Gordon re-enacts an ancient local tradition of igniting beacons as an admonition or communication. Inspired in part by the journey of the 2012 Olympic torch across the British Isles, The End of Civilisation is both a celebration and a warning—of fire as a symbol of optimism and hope, but also of risk, danger, and destruction. The End of Civilisation is on view from September 8 to October 13, 2012, Gagosian Gallery, 522 West 21st Street, New York, NY

[FIRST LOOK] Kurt - A 16mm Film By Adarsha Benjamin

Starring the likes of Henry Hopper, Nina Ljeti, Ericka Clevenger, Avalon Ainsley, Clark Phillips, Alex Levine this trailer is sneak peak at a 16mm feature film by Adarsha Benjamin that explores the life of Kurt Cobain. Currently titled Kurt, watch the cast of characters take on Cobain's characteristic angst and melancholy that culminates with Henry Hopper destroying an old electric organ.

Jim Jarmusch & Jozef Van Wissem Announce New Album

Filmmaker/guitarist Jim Jarmusch and composer Van Wissem released the album, Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity, this past February and they've now they have announced their second album of the year entitled The Mystery of Heaven, due out on November 13 via Sacred Bones. After the jump see the music video for the track The Sun of the Natural World is Pure Fire directed by Diego Barrera that references references mythology, the elements, and symbolism.