"The Flickering Light" news and updates

[Jan]

JMS posted this to his Facebook page recently:

I just got back from two weeks of meetings in Berlin recently. Things are still very much in flux, but there's a chance -- a good one -- that come next January I might be directing my first major film there. (Also wrote the script and I'm producing it.) Fingers crossed....

While he doesn't mention the film by name, IMDb shows the location for "The Flickering Light" to be Berlin and lists JMS as writer, producer and director.

The plot outline on the IMDb page says:

Prisoners at a Gypsy concentration camp are pulled out for a task they could never have anticipated. Based on a true story.

Jan

[babylonlurker]

JMS posted this to his Facebook page recently:

While he doesn't mention the film by name, IMDb shows the location for "The Flickering Light" to be Berlin and lists JMS as writer, producer and director.

The plot outline on the IMDb page says:



Jan

Sounds like this could be interesting, possibly in two ways. the film itself - and JMS being in Europe

Thanks Jan

[Jan]

I'm looking forward to seeing a film that's 'all JMS' from writing to production to direction. BTW, the IMDb page for this film is here.

Jan

[vakie]

Not directly FL news, but this article caught my eye about the Babelsberg Film Studio, where The Flickering Light will be filmed, and also where Ninja Assassin came to be.

http://www.slate.com/id/2252365/entry/2252367/

[Jan]

Interesting. Thanks for posting that, Vakie!

Jan

[JoeD80]

Just noticed that the entry on IMDB now says "shooting pushed back until 2012."

[Jan]

Maybe he'll give us an update at NYCC next week.

Jan

[JoeD80]

This one was just updated to pre-production on imdb a few days ago.

[Jan]

Hot off the press (JMS just posted the link):

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118065553/

Reliance Entertainment's Motion Picture Capital has come on board to produce and finance J. Michael Straczynski's World War II drama "The Flickering Light," with lensing starting in November.
"The Flickering Light" is set in 1942 and centers on a group of prisoners from the Marzahn Concentration Camp -- exclusively for Gypsies -- who were pressed into work as actors, bit players and extras during the filming of Tiefland, a movie directed by and starring Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl. In addition to Riefenstahl, the main characters are prisoners who meet during filming and whose love awakens on the film set.

Casting is currently underway in Los Angeles, London and Berlin.

Straczynski is directing from his own script and producing through his Studio JMS banner alongside Grant Hill and Norman Golightly. Exec producers are Leon Clarance and Deepak Nayar together with creative collaboration from their Georgeville colleague and exec producer Marc Rosen; Patricia Tallman will also exec produce.

Jan

[DaveNarn]

Really looking forward to this film's release.
I believe it will be a work of art and once again confirm JMS's talents.

In preparing a podcast covering Starship Troopers, I learned quit a bit about Leni Riefenstahl.

http://www.treksinscifi.com/forum/index.php?topic=10582.0

- shameless plug


Good or bad, she led an interesting life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leni_Riefenstahl

[Jan]

I asked how he came to be interested in telling this story.

I was doing research into another project quite a while back, and saw a one-line reference to this story. I was surprised to see it and had never heard of this before, so I began winnowing out as many details as could be found, which weren't many, since most of the records from the were were lost or destroyed. But I was able to put together enough information to make the script work, and have spent the last several years looking for someone who believed in it enough to back it financially. We finally got that....

Jan

[Dr Maturin]

I am a fan of period pieces that don't focus directly on the defining events of those periods (check out Foyle's War), so this looks like a good watch for me.

[Ubik]

This strikes me as a fascinating subject for a film. I too had no prior awareness of Leni Riefenstahl, or her work as a film maker. Generally speaking, I find propaganda films to be very interesting cultural artefacts, primarily because theyÆre made with such singular vision. They can be both beautiful and disturbing.

A few years back I had the pleasure of attending a Q&A and screening with film maker Kenneth Anger in Newcastle as part of the AV Festival. Amongst others, he screened his film æIch WillÆ which was made up of Nazi propaganda footage of the Hitler Youth (all unearthed from the Washington National Archives). It was fascinating, because you could see how people could be seduced by it all, the tribalism and the sense of belonging that came with that... but at the same you were also experiencing the uncomfortable awareness of what resulted from such extreme national socialism. Visually incredibly beguiling, and very thought provoking. ItÆs that kind of one sidedness vs. the big picture that made it such interesting viewing.

IÆll be very interesting to see how æThe Flickering LightÆ portrays Riefenstahl; as an artist caught up in politics, the implications of which she didnÆt fully grasp; or as someone more knowing and complicit. IÆd love to see something that gives you all the available facts and lets you make up your own mind.

Will be very interested to see this one. Best of luck to JMS and crew!

[DaveNarn]

Her camera placement techniques - common today, were way ahead of their time and very bold. In a time where most shots where stationary she was using low-angles and cranes even running one up the a flag pole on the parade grounds.
I imagine it would be like selling an avant-garde style to do a rigid, stuffy corporate documentary.
Maybe she was the Steve Jobs of her time?

[Ubik]

I'm now very curious to see some of her earlier films. There's a good documentary 'The wonderful horrible life of Leni Riefenstahl', that I'm trying to find online to stream, but thus far it's a bit elusive!