Indie Cinema Magazine 5

CINEMA

Mom Dies

The Road to Galena

Playing Through

Fascinating

story of

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Dear Readers,

Covid restrictions are finally abandoned in many countries and it is a good sign for independent cinematography. For two years of tough restrictions and lockdowns it was impos sible to organize film festivals and very difficult to make films.It was a hard period for art, maybe the most difficult one in history of humanity.

Now situation is changing for the better and we were able to organize amazing festivals Vienna Independent Film Festival and Prague Imndependent Film Festival. We had many guests from different countries and great audiences. Some filmmak ers brought films which they made during Covid times and told about the difficulties they faced while filming.

Art is impossible to destroy. We must create art and enjoy art. It is vitally important to humanity. We must meet other filmmakers, share our art and ideas. We must find the way out of dakness. And I am sure we will.

Elena Ringo

Editor In-Chief of Indie Cinema Magazine

EDITOR: Elena Ringo

EDITOR: Diana Ringo

CONTENTS

6 MOM DIES SATURDAY

Impressive drama short film by Damian Matyasik about a young man facing a difficult decision after the death of his mother.

10 THE ROAD TO GALENA

Heartwarming feature film drama by Joe Hall about a man who leaves the career which he does not enjoy to work on a farm.

14 PLAYING THROUGH

Powerful sports drama full of humanity by Balbinka Korzeniowska about Ann Gregory, the first woman of color to enter the USGA Women’s Amateur.

18 LOVE BY ANAYA

Composer and vocalist from Brazil, Anaya talks about the healing power of music.

22 BLONDE

Historically inaccurate and offensive feature film by director Andrew Dominik about Marilyn Monroe starring Ana de Armas.

COVER PHOTO: Andia Winslow in “Playing Through”

INDIE

2 October 2022.

Art and design of Vienna Independent Film Festival and Prague Independent Film Festival posters by DIANA

MOM DIES SATURDAY

DIRECTED BY DAMIAN MATYASIK

“Mom Dies Saturday” is a psychological drama involving loss, guilt and toxic family relations. The main character faces a significant moral dilemma after the death of an immediate family member. And most importantly this is a story about monstrous hypocrisy in relation to unconditional love for the mother.

SYNOPSIS

The plot of the movie is set around the events surrounding the death of the mother of the main character, Karol and his decision to get the money of the deceased without informing his family or the officials about it. As his mother dies - as the title says - on Saturday, Karol comes up with a plan to withdraw the money from the account on Monday before

the death certificate is sent to the bank, which will prevent him (as an attorney for the account) from taking the funds.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT

The author of the original story is my close friend Rafał Niemczyk, who in 2015 pub lished a book of the same name. The film’s script was based on the book. As soon as I

finished reading “Mom Dies Saturday”, I knew immedi ately that it was the perfect material for a short film. In the process of making the film, starting from the first pages of the script till the last day of post-production, I wanted to create a film which let the audience to draw their own conclusions.

When we take into account the toxic family and all the other factors that occur in this story, I believe that Karol is not necessarily a bad person, despite the fact that he goes to do something

which is seen as morally adverse. As an outside observer, it is always easy to be judgemental of someone’s actions in a difficult situa tion, but when we ourselves are in the midst of an over whelming problem, nothing is ever so simple.

Before I started the produc tion of “Mom Dies Saturday”, it seemed to me that after watching over 5k films I would not have any prob lems with any element that depends on me. What could have gone wrong? Virtually every shooting day there

were events that could have influenced whether the film will be made at all. After 2 weeks of post-production, I completely lost my distance to the material and had no idea if what we already had was great or tragic. On the other hand, when we finished editing, we sat with Rafal for days and wondered if this story would be comprehen sible to the viewer. Creating movies is an amazing chal lenge and a very demanding passion. Making “Mom Dies Saturday” has made me more humble than ever in the last 20 years of my life. But when I saw it on the big screen, in the exact same theater where

I saw The Matrix at 16, I only thought one thing:

I’ll never stop doing this.

Still from “Mom Dies Saturday”

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY

Damian Matyasik was fascinated by cinema and video games from an early age. When at the age of twelve Matyasik saw “Terminator 2” by James Cameron he became crazy about film making. He promised himself that he would be making films one day. Less than 3 years later, he was the editor of one of the largest video games magazines in Poland. Before the age of 25, Matyasik won 26 national and interna tional tournaments in video games (mainly the Tekken and Soul Calibur series). Considering the complete lack of financial and artistic support and the lack of knowledge on how to obtain it, the dreams of making films were suspended until further notice. After more than a decade of working in the video games indus try, Damian was constantly thinking about films. After overcoming many adversities and obstacles, he finally kept his promise which he made to himself 20 years ago. It was always cinema that fascinated him the most and it still remains his greatest passion.

Director Damian Matyasik

THE ROAD TO GALENA

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY JOE HALL

What are the films which have inspired you to become a film director? Did you always want to become a film director or did you have other ambitions before?

I developed an early appre ciation for theater and film watching classic movies as a child, inspired by the storytelling of great directors such as Frank Capra, John Huston, and Robert Redford. Films

like It’s a Wonderful Life, and Redford’s The Milagro Beanfield War, captured my imagination as they shared powerful stories of regular people.

My path to filmmaking was non-traditional. Having always had a passion for the art, I missed the opportu nity for academic training in the subject and launched my career in film by starting

a production company with the intent to learn the craft through hands-on experience. I’d been fascinated by short films for many years and turned to the format to hone my skill-set in directing and producing -- and to build a community that would serve as a foundation for larger projects. My first film, The Toast, written by my sister, author Susan Pohlman, went on to win a best director TIVA Peer Award. I was hooked. We proceeded to shoot six shorts, among them, Matilda Mench, which won the Cine Golden Eagle for Independent Short.

Heart-stirring and compassionate drama about the importance of following your dreams, despite what society may dictate, by American director Joe Hall

What was the inspiration behind The Road to Galena?

Too many of us spend our lives driven by societal def initions of success -- many holding their passions quietly inside, some for a lifetime. When I wrote The Road to Galena, I thought it would be more compelling if the hero’s aspiration was not wealth, fame or power -- but a sense of place, commu nity and purpose. The notion of giving up the trappings of material success for some thing meaningful seemed a more challenging decision -and a new way to frame the issue. In the film, there are no villains; every character is likeable or dislikable subject only to their circumstances -to include City Life vs. Rural

Life or Big Business vs. Small. None are inherently good or bad, they are merely right or wrong in the context of our individual aspirations. In this post-COVID environment, when so many have taken the opportunity to reassess their own life journeys, it seemed the appropriate moment to share this story.

How did you get your film into production?

After several years of effort, one conversation tipped the domino that led to production of The Road to Galena. I was having lunch with a mentor and sharing the latest update on our film -- we had again run into a financing hurdle and were looking at another reboot. After hearing my long-winded tale of woe, my

colleague leaned forward and whispered, “I know what your problem is.” “Lay it on me,” I said. He replied, “You’ve spent the last several years solving a financial equa tion. Every time a vari able falls out of that equa tion, you start rebuilding the formula from scratch. Stop trying to solve an equation and just make the movie.” I realized in that moment that we had indeed been letting our target budget drive our process. We, instead, looked at the resources available to us, revised our production to suit, and the rest fell into place.

How did you find the cast for your film, did you have a casting director or did you already know the actors?

Our casting directors, Steve Vincent and Sig De Miguel, were pivotal in identify ing and securing the ensem ble. Our first task was to cast the part of “Cole Baird,” as the story revolves around his journey. After having spoken with a large number of very talented actors, we chose Ben Winchell as he dis played a deep understand ing of the character. Will Brittain had originally audi tioned for the part of “Cole,” but early in our conversa tions, we both agreed thatFilm director and screenwriter Joe Hall

the part of “Jack Miller” was meant for him. With the two lead actors secured, the rest of the cast fell into place.

Aimee Teegarden, Alisa Allapach, Jay O. Sanders, Jill Hennessy, Margaret Colin -all talented, veteran actors -- brought insight and cama raderie to the production.

Multi Tony- and Grammywinning artist Jennifer Holliday was the last to join the cast as “Florrie,” and we were thrilled that she chose The Road to Galena for her big-screen debut.

How long was the shooting period and the post-produc tion period?

We greenlighted the project in January of 2020 and began

to assemble the produc tion leadership with an eye toward an early-autumn shoot. COVID hit in March and we paused until June, at which point we felt we could shoot it safely and take advantage of the indus try stoppage to secure great talent. Three weeks ahead of our planned start, COVID cases spiked so we opted to push to April 2021. We used the delay to film seasonal b-roll footage that ultimately was helpful in conveying the passage of time on screen. The six-week shoot started April 1 and we wrapped May 15. Moving immediately into post, we locked the edit, completed the color grading, sound design, score

and original songs by late September and were pre pared to deliver the final picture by year-end.

What were the greatest challenges when you were making the film? Are there any interesting stories or details from behind the scenes?

The Road to Galena spans twenty years and many dif ferent locations, which resulted in a complex pro duction schedule, sometimes involving different time periods on a single shoot ing day. The biggest chal lenge, however, was shoot ing during the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic. There

were SAG and other pro tocols that added expense and inconvenience, but the biggest impact was in secur ing extras -- each of whom had to have a PCR test result within 24 hours of coming to set (which was complicated further by the remote shooting locations which required background actors to drive nearly an hour to get the test). Even with negative test results, creating crowded scenes was always difficult as we were limited on the number of people that could be on set at any given time. We com pensated by periodically enlisting crew as extras, adjusting camera placement and relying on sound design.

How did the finished film change from your original idea?

While we ultimately cut or edited some scenes that we felt, in post, weren’t nec essary to drive the story forward, the film reflects

the script as written -- and subsequently brought to life by our remarkable cast and crew. Having conceived the characters, I knew them intimately as I’d lived with them for years. Our actors, however, became the char acters, portraying them in a way that was informed by their own life experiences. The result enriched the story and led to insights I’d never envisioned.

What keeps you motivated as a filmmaker? What advice would you give to beginner filmmakers?

Like great books and music, film has the ability to capti vate an audience -- whether for entertainment, distrac tion or introspection. But unlike those other media, which tell stories but leave it to the reader/listener to visualize them in their own minds, cinema offers the filmmaker the nearly limit less opportunity to convey their vision of the story, brought to life through

a remarkable collabora tion of creative talent from every corner of the indus try. Ask anyone the name of their favorite movie and they’ll start with one, then add three, four or five others that also hang with them -- whether they were seen five years ago or fifty. Cinematic story-telling is lasting and universal.

The technological advances in filmmaking and distribu tion have, I believe, made filmmaking far more acces sible. Financing, of course, is a reliable foe for inde pendent filmmakers, but the tools required to bring beau tiful imagery to the screen have lessened in cost and the variety of outlets have increased opportunities to share one’s work with a broad audience. Ultimately, grit prevails. My advice to new filmmakers: just never give up.

FEATURE FILM

PLAYING THROUGH

DIRECTED

BALBINKA KORZENIOWSKA

Exciting biographical drama set in the 1950s about golf legend Ann Gregory starring Andia Winslow and Julia Rae.

Sports drama “Playing Through” tells the fascinat ing true story of Ann Gregory, a pioneer and trailblazer who was the first black woman to play in a United States Golf Association Tournament.

The film stars Andia Winslow as Ann Gregory and Julia Rae as her competitor Babs Whatling. They give extremely convincing performances and it is difficult to believe that

they both have never acted before; Winslow being a pro fessional golfer and Rae a singer and songwriter. Andia Winslow has a strong and dignified presence and gives a powerful portrayal of Ann Gregory. Also noteworthy is actor Ronnie Blevins who gives a solid turn as con niving and weasely Bucky Calhoun who wants to make sure Babs will win, no matter the cost involved.

“Playing Through” was directed by PolishAmerican director Balbinka Korzeniowska and it was written for the screen by Curtis Jordan. The film fea tures stunning and vibrant cinematography by Paul Cannon.

“Playing Through” chiefly concentrates on the USGA Women’s Amateur match between Ann Gregory and a privileged southern white golfer Babs Whatling.

Ann Gregory born on on July 25, 1912 in Mississippi. She was orphaned at the age

of 4 due to a horrific car crash which killed both of her parents. Gregory married at the age of 26 and only started playing golf when she was 31 years old. She was 44 years old when she played the USGA tournament.

Korzeniowska creates a con vincing sense of the time and place while the golf sequences are impressively filmed. The athleticism of the lead actors shines through. The film is tense and excit ing to watch, and is one of the best sports dramas to be released in recent years. Both of the lead characters are sympathetic and well-written. The inspirational and impor tant picture shows the inner strength of two very differ ent women and their fight to be taken seriously in their career and by the society, despite the institutionalized racism and misogyny of 1950s America. It shows strong women who do not bow down to society’s expectations and manage to hold on to their individuality. The match ends up also being a journey to self-discovery for the pair who is pitted against each other by the racist public. The film is extremely current and revelatory.

“Playing Through” will be of interest to those serious about golf and also to the casual observer due to its entertainment value and warm heart.

The prototype of the char acter Babs Whatling is Curtis Jordan’s mother, golfer Josephine “Dadie” Knowlton Jordan, who com peted in real life against Ann Gregory.

WRITER’S STATEMENT

Playing Through is a feature film about Ann Gregory. Ann was the first black woman to play in a United States Golf Association Tournament. She was a groundbreaker in both sports and civil rights. It is

a fictional story that cele brates Ann’s life, a life long deserving of this spotlight.

This is a sports story that tells of the human condi tion to succeed and be self expressed. It’s a story about two driven and highly com petitive women struggling to be the individual they want to be regardless of who the world around them wants them to be. These women come from very different back grounds, the world around them will never allow them to be friends but over the course of this match they learn to respect each other, understand each other and because of that they support each other.

These two characters (Ann

and Babs) tell a story about the desire to exist fully, equally and authentically. Both Ann and Babs were willing to risk a life of cer tainty and conformity in order to chase their dreams. They refused to be specta tors in life. Neither were going to comply to the expectations of others. In 2022 breaking the chains of conformity is not easy, in the 50’s it was almost impossible.

Andia Winslow (Ann) and Julia Rae (Babs) were chosen as the two leads. Neither of these women had ever acted before. Andia had been a collegiate golfer at Yale and was now an award winning voiceover actor. Julia was a talented golfer in her youth. Now she was a successful singer/songwriter with some experience on television.

The success of this film is due to the hard work and performance these two

women delivered. With the help of director Balbinka Korzeniowska these women not only exceed our expecta tion of them on camera but they were instrumental in structuring the action and dialogue to make the story better.

Unknown to the producers at the time of choosing Andia, she was friends with Ann Gregory’s family. Through Andia, the Team got to know Ann’s family. This proved to be of great historical benefit as well as a real connection for Team to the story. We have had some very heart warming and funny con versations over that past several months.

Both Ringling College of Art and Design as well as The Westcoast Black Theatre of Sarasota became the primary partners on the production. Each of these performing arts centers provided cast, crew and facilities for the production.

DIRECTOR BALBINKA KORZENIOWSKA

Balbinka is a writer / director who has worked in the enter tainment industry for over 13 years. She’s been in front and behind the camera and in 2016 received her MFA in Directing from UCLA in 2016 where she was nominated for a Student Academy Award for her film, “Awaken”. Balbinka has shot and is now editing a documen tary “The Intimacy of War”. It follows Ukrainian refugees as they settle in Poland.

Balbinka Korzeniowska

LOVE BY ANAYA

How does your music and videos help people to feel better?

“My music can make people go to their hearts and from there the love starts coming. It provides a deep contact with themselves while listen ing wherever they are.

When my husband passed away I first felt as though I had vanished. I went to listen my own music and then started creating a song completely dedicated to him. I was creating and crying at same time.

also very important. They can have a special impact on the listener. Thats why I use very often the 432Hz frequency in my keyboards. It is a healing frequency.

MUSIC BY ANAYA

Music has one of the highest vibrations and here’s why: When you play an instrument,

As a result, you vibrate, feel happy and heal. The power of music has always been rec ognized by the science com munity, starting with Einstein who often talked about the often close relationship between math, science and music. He said he sees his life in terms of music, and when a scientist says that, maybe we need to pay a little more attention. These days, more and more surgeons are using music to reduce anxiety and fear among their patients, and Anaya’s music is used by The American Health System hospitals.

Tell us about how your love of music began and how did your musical career develop.

say, strumming a guitar, it makes objects vibrate. You have notes and they vary in frequency. The note itself doesn’t change, but the sound (pitch) will be different, based on the type of instru ment used; for instance, the same note will sound one way on a violin, but another way on a flute. The number of Frequencies are

My musical career started at the age of 7 when I was playing in our high school band. I started compos ing at the age of 12 Bossa Nova Style popular music. I appeared at festivals and played at friends’ parties and

Brazilian new-age composer, multiinstrumentalist and vocalist Anaya won the Best Film Score at the Indie Cinema Awards 2022. We talked to Anaya and discussed the healing power of her music, her influences and her career.

on public TV.

Later I studied music at a conservatory and also with several private teach ers. I studied at the “Musimed school for lyrical singing” in Brasília. They still sell 3 song books with my sheet music of my own compositions.

From 1978 to 1998 I stopped composing and I worked as a consultant and lived abroad for many years. Sometimes I performed at friends’ parties and at hotels. I studied a lot at that time, including music. I went to many conferences for 3rd millennium technolo gies in several countries in Europe and in the USA while working at UNB. I went on behalf of the University of Brasília and I also taught many courses abroad.

I had to retire early for health reasons. And as a way to cure myself I bought a keyboard and that’s where Newage and neoclassi cal music started. The first musical composition I created was dedicated to God for giving me one more opportu nity to be with music. It is a symphony called Tedeum.

Then I started creating one song a week. I registered on various music sites under

the name AnayaMusic. These sites disappeared with the advancement of technol ogy except CDbaby and the creator Derek Sivers encour aged me to join. From there on, everything about music was in the US. And I had to change too and adapt. Here in Brazil, the only site that remained standing with the technological changes was The Composer’s Club and I still have songs with them. Almost all other sites are gone.

When I returned to compose, the creator and former owner of one of the largest distri bution platforms Derek Sivers found me on the internet around 2001. He asked me for my ISRCs so I could reg ister my songs but I didn’t have those. I asked the asso ciation of musicians in Rio which I was affiliated with and they couldn’t provide me with codes and they sent an OS software I couldn’t use.

In the meantime cdbaby con tacted me and said I could do it online with a user friendly software.

And I did and I am with them to this day. Derek Sivers also wrote a manual on how to act as an inde pendent musician and I fol lowed it to the letter. As a result I was very successful,

I joined American academies, signed up on several impor tant websites and was Top 10 in the USA, France and other countries.

In the meantime, my father died, my mother died, my dogs died and so did my husband. And I needed healing. It was shortly after I met Suzanne Doucet, from the New Age movement that my music career took another turn. And I also started to win a lot of awards with my music video versions.

I am also a member of NARAS/ Recording Academy/ Grammys, ASCAP (American Composers Association), HMMA (Hollywood Music Media Awards) and LIT-Little Talent Awards.

What is the story behind your “Love” video?

I always wanted to make a tribute to my lovely deceased husband and perhaps write a book about him. But the book was never written and so I had this inspiration of creating a video as a tribute to him. He died some years ago but I feel his love is still here.

My hubby was born blind but got to study medicine with psychiatric specializa tion. He had a high level of

consciousness and I learned a lot from him. I studied also Chinese medicine in a Holistic university and used to give classes in healing Wushu -martial arts and that keeps me fit and healthy.

Which composers and musi cians inspire you?

Schubert, Beethoven, Massenet, Vangelis, Steve Halpern, Kitaro, Tom Jobim.

The artists that inspire me are : Havasi,Maksim, Enya, Yanni.

Can you describe your cre ative process and how you create your music? How many musical instruments do you play?

A feeling comes to me, I do nature walks, images start appearing in my mind, I do meditation, and then the whole creation comes and I start to develop a musical theme and I stay few months on that and the musical vari ations of the theme. After that, images, start coming strongly to my mind, the archetypes of the images and the script to the video comes with the images. After the music is ready, I do a draft

and then the whole video starts taking life. I have a team work for sound design, Pedro Tavares and for image design, Marcio Alves, and a creative consultant Suzanne Doucet.

I play keyboards, piano, guitar, flute and sax. I do all arrangements and production.

Can you tell us about how you worked with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra?

We worked online in a virtual mode with a tech platform studio in Los Angeles that linked to Prague Orchestra and to me in Brasil. All was

done online. The conduc tor that worked with me was Steve Salani and he used to translate the language to English for me, it was a great experience.

Thank you for your time Anaya!

More information about Anaya and her music –https://anayamusic.com/

Photograph of Anaya

MONTH

ART OF

BLONDE

DIRECTED BY ANDREW DOMINIK

The film “Blonde” is so dis gusting and disrespect ful, talentless and vulgar, that, from my point of view, everyone who made it it is covered with dirt until the end of life, including film director, producer, lead actors.

The film is not based on facts, but on sheer lies, which have nothing to do with life of Marylin Monroe, JFK, Cass Chaplin or other real people depicted in the

film. It is really sad, that someone can watch this trash and assume, that it is based on real events. No, it is not. It is just another attempt to spit on a grave of an actress. To destroy the truth and to create another reality, which must replace history. And future gen erations, especially those people, who are not well informed, will judge Marilyn after this trashy film.

Marilyn is still an icon

60 years since her death.

People still love watching her films. Not only she is physically attractive but she also personifies vulnerabil ity and sensuality all in one. Her songs were made into so many covers and yet no one can sing them as beau tifully as she did. Her best films such as masterpiece

“Some Like it Hot” still make people laugh as no other films can.

She was sexy but never

Cheap misogynistic exploitation and a disgusting attempt to slander American icon Marilyn Monroe

vulgar. And film Blonde is a quintessence of vulgarity and bad taste, full of porno graphic images and events which never happened.

No, there were no three somes with Cass Chaplin and Marylin. There was no murder attempt by Marylin’s mother. In the beginning of the film, Marilyn’s mother, Gladys Baker, tells her daughter, that her father was a famous actor, and it is hinted, that Clark Gable was her father. Gladys is inacurately portrayed as a lonely mad woman, while in real life she was married three times and had three children. Marilyn even con tinually kept contact with her sister Berniece.

Cass Chaplin did not write to Marylin letters pretending

to be her father. Unlike in the film “Blonde”, he also died several years after Marilyn did.

And Marilyn knew who her real father was. Her father was RKO Studios employee Charles Gilford, she tried contacting him he refused connect with her. However, after many years have passed, he contacted her from a hospital bed, but Marilyn no longer had any interest in knowing him.

A scene where Marilyn per forms oral sex on John Kennedy, while he is speak ing on the phone is the most appalling. The film suggests that John Kennedy kidnapped Marylin who was under the influence of drugs. After oral sex with disinterested in her JFK,

Marylin vomits. The scene is not only insult to MM but also to the former president of USA, one of the best and most admired presidents of all times, who should have been treated in a respect ful way. John Kennedy was never a rapist and was prob ably one of the most char ismatic men in politics. By the way neither the film director, nor the lead actors are Americans and with this film they prove that they have no respect towards American history.

Why to cast Ana de Armas, a Cuban actress with Cuban accent and Hispanic look to play a blue-eyed American icon with a Nordic look? Why make a President look like a rapist and spread vicious lies about him?

Threeway between Cass Chaplin, Marilyn and Eddy Robinson

Director Andrew Dominik did not even attempt to hide his zero interest in Marylin per sonality nor her films. He said that before this project he did not watch her films and even called the film “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” a film about well-dressed whores. Using his own lan guage, we can call the film “Blonde” a film about an undressed whore. Nothing more. A cheap Cuban whore from Havana Street who wants to earn more money by pretending to be the Blonde.

It ridicules and mocks the gentle movie star and tries to sling as much dirt as pos sible. However it is prob able that it is not just the bad taste of a film direc tor obsessed with perver sion, but maybe it is a task which he obediently ful filled - to throw dirt at a leftist Monroe. ”She told us about her strong feelings for civil rights, for black equal ity, as well as her admira tion for what was being done in China, her anger at redbaiting and McCarthyism and her hatred of (FBI direc tor) J. Edgar Hoover”, wrote Frederick Vanderbilt Field, whom Marylin visited in Mexico few months before

her death.

Against the sexist “dumb blond” image of Monroe created by the Hollywood machine and exploited again in “Blonde”, her real life reveals an intelligent and sensitive woman who read lots of serious books, and was involved in politics and social issues. Her house was wiretapped by FBI and CIA and she was surrounded by people spying on her, for example Eunice Murray, her housekeeper. None of these important facts are reflected in the film.

Monroe’s sympathy for anticapitalist and anti-imperial ist struggles still bother the dark forces which now have conquered all the world.

Perhaps this film is not just

a fruit of sick imagination, but a well-planned commis sion — an act of character assassination and discred itation. This hack job has several tasks — to destroy a pride of American cinema, to crush the bright image of John F. Kennedy and to make people forget real facts. It is easy to shit on an icon and slander someone who cannot defend themselves from the grave.

The film “Blonde” has hor rendous dialogues, terri ble acting, the cinematog raphy is boring and often inept. Marilyn as portrayed by Armas, calls all husbands Daddy as if she has nothing else to say. A big part of the film depicts embryos shown on the screen speaking with the protagonist. Another

Talking foetus which guilt trips Marilyn

disgusting moralistic scene is in the movie theatre where a foetus tells Marilyn “and for this you killed me?”. Is it anti-abortion propaganda or something else? Seems well-timed, as America attempts to take away the basic right to make an abortion. A scene where Marilyn attempts to escape from the abortion chair is completely ridiculous and unrealistic.

All acts of the Blonde are stupid and senseless. The film is very long and very depressive. Films where Marilyn played were full of humour, charisma, fea tured beautiful singing and dancing. None of that is reflected in the film.

And this piece of trash full of disgusting pornography

Marilyn in the film forced into oral sex by JFK

was screened at Venice Film Festival and received a 14-minute ovation! What a joke. The festival which used to screen films of Bergman, Tarkovsky and Antonioni, screens a cheap sadistic porno, a spitting to the icon of cinematography.

Shame on you, selection committee and jury. Shame on Netflix. Shame on you, producer Brad Pitt. You have fallen really low.

Article by Elena Ringo

Forced abortion performed on Marilyn