Most Popular
Recent Blog Posts
National Features >
Reel WorldThe Kid, Sweet Smell of Success, Chelsea GirlsBy Michael FoxPublished on October 20, 1999The Kid Before you start ranting about 11-year-old auteurs, consider that Eli's videos have screened at the Red Vic and the Sonoma Museum of Visual Art. "He has a lot of fans, but he takes it in stride," says his dad. "He's able to make something and then present it to an audience of fairly sophisticated adult moviegoers. That sets him apart from people who do it as a hobby." Eli is a whole lot more proprietary, however, when he's in production. "He won't let me get near him when he's making a movie," Dad says." Nothing strange about that except that Dad is Michael Rudnick, the filmmaker, sculptor, and teacher. But Michael allows, "His approach is fresh, and I don't want to do anything that might affect that freshness and vitality." Partly for that reason, the Rudnicks have a VCR and monitor but no TV, which doesn't bother Eli except during football season. "You can't base your films on TV shows," he says disdainfully. "You have to base them on yourself." The Rudnicks present their recent work at an Oct. 28 Cinematheque show at Center for the Arts, featuring a premiere of Eli's latest. "It's about time and substance," he confides. "It's about a boy who stumbles onto the creation of life." Heady stuff for a kid, but Eli says, "A lot of people think an 11-year-old would make shaky, unedited movies with his friends in them. I can show them that isn't true." Sweet Smell of Success Even if I had no connection with the program, I'd recommend tuning in for interviews with the likes of Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry), Patricia Rozema (Mansfield Park), James Schamus (Ride With the Devil), and Craig Baldwin (Spectres of the Spectrum). The weekly half-hour show premieres Friday, Nov. 5 at 10 p.m. Chelsea Girls
write your comment
|