OSCARs Shmoskers

producer Scott Rudin with winner Aaron Sorkin - yes!

You watched it. You blogged it. You avoided it. Now, it's all yesterday's news. No I wasn't there. But I have had a few close encounters, and am pulling them out of the Godlis archives, dusting them off and posting them for one last look.

Anne Hathaway 

She wore a million dresses last night. She wore this one at the opening night of the NY Film Festival in 2008. I don't think you can take a bad picture of her. 

David Fincher  - didn't win but should have

The Social Network opened the NY Film Festival last fall - easily the best opener they've had in years.I was rooting for it. But then I was rooting for punk back in the 70's. I am not a reliable predictor of mass success.

Jesse Eisenberg - he didn't win

The Social Network team - only one of these guys won

She won - Melissa Leo (rt) with Frozen River director, Courtney Hunt in 2008 

Melissa Leo won, dropped the F-bomb, uncomfortably mingled with Kirk Douglas. Here she is in 2008 at the New Directors/New Films opening night presentation of Frozen River. If you haven't seen Frozen River - rent it immediately. 

Inside Job director Charles Ferguson with Matt Damon - he narrates it.

Charles Ferguson deservedly won for his documentary Inside Job. That too was shown at the NY Film Festival last year. Equally daring was Restrepo, directed by Sebastian Junger, who showed Restrepo at the Walter Reade Theater (below) Human Rights Festival last summer.

Sebastian Junger , Restrepo - he didn't win, but could have

Time for just a few last thoughts and pix...

 Andrew Garfield at the NY Film Fest opening party - not nominated

Andrew Garfield, who plays Mark Zuckerberg's "friend" in Social Network,  is going to be the new Spiderman. Until then, catch him in the very creepy British trilogy series Red Riding. 

David Fincher with Gina Gershon at the NY Film Festival

Anne Hathaway - same dress, different angle

David Fincher

I took this photo of David Fincher at a "Director's Dialogue", one of the great sidebars to the NY Film Festival. Right after he finished this talk, Fincher caught a plane back to Sweeden where he was returning to the set of The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo - coincidentally starring Rooney Mara, who played Mark Zuckerberg's girlfriend from the great opening scene of The Social Network.  Until that film comes out, I suggest you rent Zodiac and Fight Club. Over and out. 

Roll on Columbia

OK, let's put yesterday's name thing to rest, and get on to bigger and better things. Like the  "on the road" version of the Who Shot Rock exhibition, curated by Gail Buckland, which started it's natural life at the Brooklyn Museum back in 2009.  Who Shot Rock opens today and runs through May 22nd at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina. That's a little far for me to get to today at the end of February, but I guarantee you it's a beautiful place to be hanging if you find yourself anywhere near South Carolina this spring. And, get this, it's sponsored by Piggly Wiggly!

This looks like the last stop on the tour. The show's made stops in Memphis and Akron. And if you can't get to South Carolina,  you can always purchase the Who Shot Rock book - excuse me, "exhibition catalog" - here.  But what I've discovered - only yesterday, my god - is this great extended piece about the show put together by the public television station in Akron. I present it here now for your mid-winter enjoyment.

Watch the full episode. See more Western Reserve Public Media Specials.

By any other name...

Shakespeare once said, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" - well actually he didn't say it, he wrote it. But what about a GODLIS by any other name, would that smell as sweet? As I was gobbling down my oatmeal this morning, I came across a new variation on my name while reading a  review of the Who Shot Rock exhibition which opens tonight at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina, where I am mentioned more than once as Michael Godlis.

Now maybe there is another guy called Michael Godlis with a Patti Smith photograph, but I doubt it. And actually they say some really nice things about me (and my photos) in the article.  But it's been one of those months for a photographer named GODLIS. 

When you have a photograph in the Sunday NY Times, you really want to see "credit where credit is due", so to speak. In there, my photo of film director Kelly Reichardt - whose fabulous new film Meek's Cutoff will be opening in April - was credited to David Goodlis.  Now, David is indeed my first name. And it would be cool to be mixed up with the great noir writer David Goodis, who wrote the book that Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player is based upon. But Goodlis just doesn't carry the weight of a name like Godlis. I mean Godlis sounds like an atheist - that's the point really. But Goodlis just sounds like a nice guy with a funny name.

Look, it's a real name. I didn't make it up to sound punk, like Johnny Rotten or Richard Hell. I was already Godlis. I just dropped my first name, when I published my first picture from CBGB's. But people seem to have a problem spelling a word that has God in it. Hey I've got some Jewish friends  -why not, I'm a Godless Jew myself - who won't even spell my name out for crazy religious reasons. Oy vey! But at least they're not photo editors.

And then, for the trifecta this month, I have photos in a cool new book about the The Bowery by Eric Ferrara. Now Eric Ferrara is a really nice guy, and though I haven't seen the book yet, it looks pretty great in the preview on Amazon here.  But damn if my damn name isn't spelled wrong.  Here I'm Goldis.  That's a pretty common one. Invert the D and the L and get rid of God. But again, it doesn't carry the weight of GODLIS.  Hey at least in this case, I have just one name - well one wrong name.

So who knows, maybe Shakespeare was right. But it's not as I like it. This godless rose don't smell so sweet. You know, like the sweet smell of success.

Who What Where When?

unlikely pairing: Joan Jett & Jessica Alba 

Me myself and eye have been a long time gone from these pages, so there's a lot of catching up to do. Where do I start? Well it's got to be this shot of Joan Jett and Jessica Alba, taken after BAM Cinematek's tribute to Susan Sarandon, at Susan Sarandon's ping pong club Spin New York. This shot kind of reminds me of the pictures that used to make the back page of Creem Magazine in the 70's - unlikely pairings backstage at rock shows. Joan looks fantastic (not that different from when  I photographed her with the Runaways onstage at CBGB's in 1977).

A few minutes later, Susan Sarandon and Jessica Alba were playing ping pong. No Joan Jett didn't partake. 

And Susan Sarandon looked just as fabulous as her former Rocky Horror Picture Show self, glaring from behind her during the publicity shots for the event out at BAM. 

John Turturro showed up for a screening of the film he directed "Romance and Cigarettes".

And Todd Oldham made sure to get his picture taken with Joan Jett. I squeezed an image of Susan Sarandon into the backdrop. Kool Kats. 

Joan Jett with the Runaways in 1977 CBGB's 

Marcia Resnick's been looking at Bad Boys

Marcia Resnick and Danny Fields

Let me start by saying that Marcia Resnick - who has a really sweet heart and a great eye - is one of my favorite New York City photographers.  She's been looking at and shooting Bad Boys in New York City for decades. And as Johnny Thunders said - "All the smart boys know why". That was in "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory". But actually, if you buy one of Marcia's prints on view at Deborah Bell Gallery, you can.

The first thing I thought about after leaving the exhibition, "Bad Boys" last Thursday night was -"Damn, I should have taken more pictures tonight." I was having such a good time looking at the photographs and talking to everybody - and what a startling group of everybody's it was - that I forgot to remember that I wanted to try out this new app on my phone, uh camera - the one that makes all the photos look like they were taken inside a 1950's photo booth.  

Marcia Resnick

Well, that's how we photographers are. First we stare in wonder at that great picture on the wall, then we get jealous, then we get inspired, then we shoot. And there was a lot at Marcia's exhibition to get inspired by. A lot!  People slipped in and out like they do at these events - some to see if they made the final cut onto the wall.  And others stayed all night to take it all in - like me. Flashes were going off all around, so why didn't it occur to me sooner to pull out my phone and shoot? I've got to admit, it's still a little difficult for someone who calls himself a photographer to get those words out of his mouth. Unless I'm using a weird app - like Hipstamatic, and in this case Pocketbooth - something that alters the phone picture taking experience significantly.   Well I got started shooting too late - born to lose - but here's a few of my shots from Marcia's fabulous opening. You should have been there!

Oh wait - one more thing. Did you know that Marcia Resnick and Senator Chuck Schumer went to the same High School? Not only that - they were  #1 and #2 in their class! Think about that one. 

Anton Perich

Maria Del Greco

Walter Stedding

Sid Kaplan

Eric Mitchell

Joey Zero

Tim "Stupefaction" Broun

Barry Brothers

All photos by GODLIS

Femme Fatale: Lou Reed's "Red Shirley"

Lou Reed with cousin Shirley at screening of his film Red Shirley

"Here she comes, you better watch your step"  

Red Shirley, the 100 year old Chelsea girl activist,  cousin,  and subject of director Lou Reed's new film of the same name, was onstage with him for a unique post-screening Q&A at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center this past Friday Night. The former kingpin of the Velvet Underground turned filmmaker, came uptown as part of this year's Jewish Film Festival. 

"See the way she walks, here the way she talks"

Literally a "factory girl", Reed's cousin who worked for 47 years as a seamstress in New York City's garment district was called "Red Shirley" by her fellow workers for standing up to the bosses and the unions alike. This 40 minute documentary, a short and concise interview, was filmed by Lou Reed and the phenomenal photographer Ralph Gibson at cousin Shirley's Chelsea apartment. Shot on a Canon 5D Camera in both black & white and color, the film is really a joy to watch. 

 Shirley, Lou Reed, and Ralph Gibson at the post screening Q&A

As we listen to Reed coax Shirley to tell the story of how she left her small town and family in Eastern Europe behind - Reed lovingly forces her to pronounce the town's difficult name at least 3 times -  Gibson's camera glides around the apartment lyrically landing on artwork, photographs,  and artifacts collected over an extraordinary lifetime (we found out at the Q&A that the photographs were unearthed by Reed and Gibson from the bottom of a closet - "what's under those clothes? photographs!").  During the course of the film, Reed finds out for the first time that cousin Shirley played mandolin, and carried it with her two suitcases on the final trip from Montreal to America ("I didn't like it there. It wasn't cosmopolitan enough."). These are the kind of stories a scriptwriter couldn't make up. 

Ralph Gibson

These two seasoned artists seemed to have been left stunned while making this film, by this feisty activists' raw power. Asked during the Q&A whether she was a feminist, Shirley answered "no." A unionist? - "No." An activist - "Yes!" At Lincoln Center Friday, watching Lou Reed let Red Shirley take over the stage and the room with chutzpah, a wheelchair, and a microphone was a beautiful thing. 

Red Shirley

Where will you see this beautiful little film? Well you can marvel at a clip from it here, on Lou Reed's website.   

I'll be your mirror indeed. Bravo!

ALL PHOTOS © GODLIS

A Very Merry Godlis XMAS 2010

It's over. You survived it.

Now sit back and for your viewing pleasure, a retrospective slideshow of Godlis Xmas photos - digital and analog - from the past 20 years.  With a surprise Xmas soundtrack.



VIEW DIRECTLY ON YOU TUBE HERE

Jerry Schatzberg at Film Forum

I bought an advance ticket last week to see the rarely shown film Puzzle of a Downfall Child, which screened this Monday at Film Forum.  I knew it was going to be sold out - this was a one-off screening with director Jerry Schatzberg in attendance. As I walked in, a slide show was playing of Schatzberg's fashion photographs from the 60's, to a soundtrack that included a rare outtake of Bob Dylan's Visions of Johanna, followed by Jimi Hendrix's Castles Made of Sand. Well, it set the scene quite perfectly - Schatzberg photographed Dylan for the cover of Blonde on Blonde, as well as Hendrix, and quite notably the Rolling Stones in 1966 dressed in drag for the cover sleeve of Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing in the Shadow, a photo he spoke about later that evening.

Puzzle of a Downfall Child was Schatzberg's first film (1970).  It featured Faye Dunaway in an extraordinary performance as a supermodel from the 60's, flash-backing her way through a nervous breakdown. Schatzberg showed photographs of his favorite model - Anne St.Marie (see below) - whom he based Faye Dunaway's character on (through a series of tape recorded reminiscences he did with St.Marie - a recurring motif in Puzzle). The cast includes the wonderful Viveca Lindfors and Roy Scheider. Shown rarely on TV and hardly ever in theaters - Schatzberg revealed that there is only one known print in existence, the one we saw Monday. It is still not available on DVD. My friend, photographer Roberta Bayley swears by this film. And this was the first chance I had to see it. Indeed, you will never see a film like this one. 

model Anne St.Marie photographed by Schatzberg

As if seeing this film wasn't enough, we were treated to a talk with slides by Jerry Schatzberg after the film. He spoke amongst other things, about his second film, Panic In Needle Park - which was Al Pacino's first.  We learned that it was a clip from Needle Park that secured Pacino the job on The Godfather.  There was also talk of his films Scarecrow (with Pacino and Gene Hackman), Seduction of Joe Tynan, (with Alan Alda) and Reunion (written by Harold Pinter). Underrated as a director in America, beloved for the same in France, Jerry Schatzberg is just one suave cool modest New Yorker.

Jerry Schatzberg at Film Forum

As far as my connection to Jerry Schatzberg goes, it's mostly photographic. I have to admit that it took me years to realize what a big influence his inner sleeve photos from Blonde on Blonde had on my mid 70's CBGB photographs. High contrast, black & white natural low-light grainy photographs, that I stared at endlessly back in 1966, at first to understand Dylan, but by osmosis over time it was Jerry Schatzberg that I learned from. 

All photos © Jerry Schatzberg

Belatedly Breathless

Omigod I've fallen so far behind. As the Film Forum so kindly reminded me via e-mail,  last Friday was Jean Luc Godard's 80th birthday. You could, if you're lucky enough to be in New York this week, go down there and see a sparkling new print of Breathless. Or you can just lazily go online to netflix and live stream a JLG triple feature - Breathless (1960 with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg), A Woman Is A Woman (1961 with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina), and Pierrot Le Fou (1965 Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina again).

For my part, I've dug up these photos that I took of Godard when he came to New York City in 1990, for the NY Film Festival screening of his film "Nouvelle Vague". The proof sheet shots below were taken at his press conference. For the other shots, I followed him as he left the theater and took to the streets. As Godard rarely comes over to the US anymore (he didn't come to Hollywood this year to pick up his honorary Oscar, or to any NY Film Festival screening of his films since 1990 - including this year's screening of Film Socialisme), I feel lucky that I was there to get these shots.

Jean-Luc Godard at the NY FIlm Festival 1990