A QUENTIN TARANTINO FILM FESTIVAL
ALL ABOUT THE FILMS
EXPERIENCE THE UNDERWOLD, ITS EXPLOITS AND SEEK REDEMPTION WHILE CHALLENGING PHILOSPHICAL IDEAS
CATALOG
TABLE OF CONTENTS 01
Director Biography
6-9
Tarantino’s Themes
10-11
Filmography Timeline
12-13
Nominations
14-15
02
Movies Pulp Fiction
20-23
Jackie Brown
24-27
Kill Bill Vol. 1
30-33
Kill Bill Vol. 2
34-37
Django Unchained
40-43
Behind the scenes
QUENTIN TARANTINO Who is Quentin Tarantino?
Born in Tennessee in 1963, Quentin Tarantino moved
Moving to California at the age of 4, Tarantino developed
to California at age 4. His love of movies led to a job in
his love for movies at an early age. One of his earliest mem-
a video store, during which time he wrote the scripts
ories is of his grandmother taking him to see a John Wayne
for True Romance and Natural Born Killers. Tarantino’s
movie. Tarantino also loved storytelling, but he showed
directorial debut came with 1992’s Reservoir Dogs, but
his creativity in unusual ways. “He wrote me sad Mother’s
he received widespread critical and commercial acclaim
Day stories. He’d always kill me and tell me how bad he felt
with Pulp Fiction (1994), for which he won an Academy
about it,” Connie once told Entertainment Weekly. “It was
Award for best screenplay. Subsequent features includ-
enough to bring a tear to a mother’s eye.”
ed Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Vol. 2 (2004) and Grindhouse (2007).
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Tarantino earned several award nominations for Inglou-
Tarantino loathed school, choosing to spend his time
rious Basterds (2009) and Django Unchained (2012), the
watching movies or reading comics rather than studying.
latter garnering him a second Oscar win for best screen-
The only subject that appealed to him was history. “History
play, and he went on to write and direct The Hateful Eight
was cool and I did well there, because it was kind of like the
(2015) and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019).
movies,” he told Entertainment Weekly. After dropping out of high school, Tarantino worked as an usher at an adult
Early Life
film theater for a time. He also took acting classes. Taran-
Quentin Tarantino was born on March 27, 1963, in Knox-
tino eventually landed a job at Video Archives in Manhattan
ville, Tennessee. He is the only child of Connie McHugh,
Beach, California. There he worked with Roger Avary, who
who is part Cherokee and part Irish, and actor Tony Taran-
shared his passion for film. The two even worked on some
tino, who left the family before Quentin was born.
script ideas together.
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QUENTIN TARANTINO CON’T Early Films During his time at Video Archives, Tarantino worked on
Working with producer Lawrence Bender, Tarantino
several screenplays, including True Romance and Natu-
was able to secure funding for his directorial debut,
ral Born Killers. He also landed a guest spot on the pop-
Reservoir Dogs (1992), for which he had also written
ular sitcom The Golden Girls, playing an Elvis Presley
the screenplay. Actor Harvey Keitel was impressed
impersonator. In 1990, Tarantino left Video Archives to
when he read the script, saying “I haven’t seen char-
work for Cinetel, a production company. Through one
acters like these in years.” He signed on as an actor
of the producers there, he was able to get his script for
and a producer for the project. Other cast members
True Romance in the hands of director Tony Scott. Scott
included Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Chris Penn,
liked Tarantino’s script, and bought the rights to it.
Steve Buscemi and Tarantino himself. In 1992, audiences at the Sundance Film Festival were entranced by Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino’s ultraviolent crime caper gone wrong. He drew inspiration for the project from such classic heist films as Rififi and City on Fire. The independent film helped make Tarantino one of the most talked-about figures in Hollywood. While not a big hit in the United States, it became a popular title on video and did well overseas.
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TARANTINO THEMES Camera Shots Tarantino has become very well known for his use of spe-
There are certain directors who are known for their us-
cific camera shots. One for the shots that Tarantino is
age of specific camera shots and angles in their films;
most famous for is the ‘crash-zoom’, a quick zoom-in to a
one of these is Quentin Tarantino. Over the course
character or a situation of some description.
three decades worth of directing, producing and writing films, Tarantino has made a reputation for himself
The use of the trunk shot is mainly that of intimidation; the audience feels threatened by the looming characters staring down at them. In the characters looking down at you, you get the impression that they are very strong, very good at what they do, which if you were in the trunk of their car isn’t very enjoyable.
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for using very specific camera shots, references and themes in his films.
Dance Scenes
Restaurant & Bars
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1994
Pulp Fiction
12
Jackie Brown
1997
2003
Kill Bill Vol. 1
FILMOGRAPHY
Kill Bill Vol. 2
2004
2012
Django Unchained
13
AND THE NOMINEES ARE... 1995
Best Director Best Original Screenplay
Pulp Fiction
Nominated Won
2013
Best Original Screenplay
Django Unchained
Won
15
Movies
“When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.' ” -Quentin Tarantino
PULP FICTION Starring Uma Thurman John Travolta Samuel L. Jackson Bruce Willis Harey Keitel Ving Rhames
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Release Date 1994
Writers Quentin Tarantino John Avary
“Pulp Fiction actually uses its non-linear story telling structure to hinge its entire complex narrative around one man’s redemption in light of a divine intervention.” - Ed Travis Hollywood Jesus
Synopsis Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) are two hit men who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his fight. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled-for incidents.
INTERVIEW W/TARANTINO POSITIF: WHILE YOU WERE CREATING THE CHAR-
POSITIF: THE TONALITY OF PULP FICTION IS A BIT
ACTERS DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE ACTORS WHO
THAT OF MYSTERY NOVELS AS ILLUS TRATED BY
WOULD PLAY THEM?
RAUSCHENBERG OR ROY LICHTENSTEIN!
Quentin Tarantino: In some cases, yes, but not al-
Quentin Tarantino: I see what you mean! The tone is
ways. I wrote the part of Jules for Samuel Jackson,
close to the novels of Elmore Leonard, especially the
and of course Honey Bunny and Pumpkin for Amanda
first and third stories where the humor comes from put-
Plummer and Tim Roth, who is one of my best friends.
ting characters from crime novels into situations that are
They are friends in real life, and when I ran into them
taken from daily life. I’m thinking of a novel like Miami
one night at a party I was struck with a director’s in-
Blues by Charles Willeford.
tuition: their size, their look, their energy, everything
The best scene from that book was cut from the (1990)
about them made me want to use them together in
movie adaptation. A guy enters a pawn shop by disabling
my film. I’ve also always been a fan of Sam’s. I knew
the alarm system. He grabs the money and jewels and is
he gave off an incredible feeling of power and that, if
standing there with his hands on the counter when this
given the possibility, he could express this Richard III
huge woman who owns the store appears brandishing a
side of hims elf that he has in the film. There are not a
machete and cuts off his fingers. He kills her, runs out in
lot of actors who can dominate a scene, move people
the street, and then realizes that he has to go back to get
around the room like pawns in a chess game without
his fingers which will reveal his identity. But it’s too late,
even standing up, just sitting there. And that’s what
the door has locked behind him! You couldn’t imagine
Sam does in Pulp Fict ion.
anything more brilliant from the point of view of writing. It’s a criminal situation which suddenly becomes crazy and operatic, but the very absurdity of the event brings it back to reality. That’s a bit the spirit in which I worked, this back-and-forth between day-to-day problems and unexpected dissonances like the appearance of Harvey Keitel in a role a la James Bond.
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JACKIE BROWN Starring Pam Grier Samuel l. Jackson Robert Forester Michael keaton Robert Deniro Chris Tucker
24
Release Date 1997
Writers Quentin Tarantino
“Loaded with all the crisp dialogue, trademark camera work, and memorable characters that we’ve come to expect from every Tarantino film.” - Jason Zingale Bullz-Eye.com
Synopsis Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who gets
Jackie comes up with a plan to play the Feds
caught smuggling her boss’s gun money on
off against Ordell and the guys he works
the airline she works for. Luckily for her, Fed
with-Louis Gara and Melanie Ralston, among
Ray Nicolet and L.A. cop Mark Dargus de-
others-and walk off with their money. But
cide to team up in order to arrest the arms
she needs Max’s help. No one is going to
dealer she works for, whose name they don’t
stand in the way of his million-dollar payoff.
even know. Max Cherry, her bail bondsman, falls in love with her.
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INTERVIEW W/TARANTINO QUENTIN SAYS HE GREW UP ENJOYING PAM GRIER
AFTER A FASHION, HE SEES GRIER’S JACKIE BROWN
ON-SCREEN
AS AN EVERYWOMAN. Quentin Tarantino: After nineteen years in the service
Quentin Tarantino: I saw ‘Coffy’ when I was like thir-
industry, she’s worked her way down the ladder. There’s
teen, and like every other boy my age, I had a big old
a whole lot of people in America stuck doing the same
thing for her.” He followed her work as he imbibed
thing because at the moment when they should have left
other movies. “Her work in ‘Fort Apache, the Bronx,’
that job and gone to another one, they stayed with what
was great character work. It’s just great, great char-
they knew. And the next thing they know, they’re forty-
acter work and no kind of acting knocks me out more
five and they’re the working poor. That’s where Jackie
than character work, leaving the person behind and
Brown is, all right? Casting a black woman in her forties
diving into the character. If it’s not one-hundred per-
as this character gave it a depth. She really didn’t have
cent pure, then you’ve got some crink in your armor
any options. There’s a whole lot of people in America
somewhere along the line in the movie.
scared for the exact same reason. I could have been that if I had stayed in the videostore business. Pam brings a weight to that. She’s lived life and Pam also is gorgeous. She looks like she’s thirty-five and has a quality where she looks like she can handle anything. She can keep her cool when the situation gets hot. All right? Well, Pam has that in spades. That is Pam Grier.
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“Violence is fun, man. ” -Quentin Tarantino
KILL BILL VOL. 1 Starring Uma Thurman Vivica A. Fox Lucy Liu David Carradine Darryl Hannah Chiyaki Yurikama Julie Dreyfus
30
Release Date 2003
Writers Quentin Tarantino Robert Avery
“A gleefully ultraviolent homage to the B-movie martial arts films of the 1970s. It’s pure bloody pulp fiction packed into a tightly wound feature.” Michael Compton Bowling Green Daily News
Synopsis A former assassin, known simply as The Bride (Uma Thurman), wakes from a coma four years after her jealous ex-lover Bill (David Carradine) attempts to murder her on her wedding day. Fueled by an insatiable desire for revenge, she vows to get even with every person who contributed to the loss of her unborn child, her entire wedding party, and four years of her life. After devising a hit list, The Bride sets off on her quest, enduring unspeakable injury and unscrupulous enemies.
INTERVIEW W/TARANTINO KILL BILL IS AN ECLECTIC MOVIE, STITCHED TO-
THE STRIKING USE OF MUSIC IS ONE OF YOUR
GETHER FROM SAMURAI MOVIES, YAKUZA MOVIES,
TRADEMARKS. THERE’S A VERY INTERESTING, AND
SPAGHETTI WESTERNS...
ECLECTIC, SELECTION OF MUSIC IN KILL BILL...
Quentin Tarantino: I just grew up watching a lot of
Quentin Tarantino: Thanks. I’ve always thought my
movies. I’m attracted to this genre and that genre, this
soundtracks do pretty good, because they’re basically
type of story, and that type of story. As I watch movies I
professional equivalents of a mix tape I’d make for you at
make some version of it in my head that isn’t quite what
home. To me, movies and music go hand in hand. When
I’m seeing - taking the things I like and mixing them with
I’m writing a script, one of the first things I do is find the
stuff I’ve never seen before.
music I’m going to play for the opening sequence. I can’t go forward until I figure out how I’m going to start - what
YOU DESCRIBE KILL BILL AS YOUR “GRINDHOUSE
the opening mood music will be.
EPIC”. AREN’T YOU WORRIED THAT WESTERN AUDIENCES WON’T GET WHAT YOU’RE DOING?
I’m a big collector of vinyl - I have a record room in my house - and I’ve always had a huge soundtrack album
Quentin Tarantino: I’m a little hesitant about saying this
collection. So what I do, as I’m writing a movie, is go
out loud - I’m not trying to crow - but I’m influenced by
through all those songs, trying to find good songs for
movies from all different countries. I don’t really consid-
fights, or good pieces of music to layer into the film.
er myself an American filmmaker like, say, Ron Howard
Looking for that music is finding the rhythm that the
might be considered an American filmmaker.
movie has to play in. It’s me finding the beat.
If I’m doing something and it seems to me to be reminiscent of an Italian giallo, I’m gonna to do it like an Italian giallo. And if I’m gonna do something that begs to be done in the vein of a Japanese Yakuza movie, or Hong Kong Triad movie, I’m gonna do it like that. I understand a lot of audiences from a lot of different countries and, to me, America is just another market.
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KILL BILL VOL. 2 Starring Uma Thurman David Carradine Darryl Hannah Michael Madsen
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Release Date 2004
Writers Quentin Tarantino
“Wildly entertaining and smart, the Kill Bill movies are full of genre-loving savvy, grind-house vigor and liberating energies..” - Robert Denerstein Denver Rocky Mountain News
Synopsis The Bride (Uma Thurman) picks up where she left off in volume one with her quest to finish the hit list she has composed of all of the people who have wronged her, including ex-boyfriend Bill (David Carradine), who tried to have her killed four years ago during her wedding to another man. Leaving several dead in her wake, she eventually tracks down Bill in Mexico. Using skills she has learned during her assassin career, she attempts to finish what she set out to do in the first place.
INTERVIEW W/TARANTINO WHO CAME UP WITH THE BRIDE’S NAME?
HOW
Quentin Tarantino: Actually, Uma did back in 1993
LIGHT
DO
YOU
OF
THE
FEEL
ABOUT
RECEPTION
VOLUME OF
2
IN
VOLUME
1?
when we were doing Pulp Fiction. The last name comes from the term of endearment that I use with
Quentin Tarantino: We just had to do all the post stuff.
women I like.
I was interested to see how it was all going to play out. I don’t shoot it to have all kinds of elbow room. I like to
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF
lock myself into what I want to do. I do not shoot a lot
MYTHOLOGY YOU PUT IN THE FILM?
of coverage, I shoot what I want. I was curious because this is a very unique experience. It was unique to finish
Quentin Tarantino: I don’t really have time to tell the
Volume 1, promote it, go to premieres, read the reviews,
viewers all the mythology behind the movie, but I do
and talk about it metaphorically. These are all the things
what I can. Take for instance the character of Budd.
I try not to think about or simply do not have to deal
He has Herculean strength. I’m not sure how much
with while I am making the film. Then I sit back and say,
that comes across, but that was my intention to show
“Okay, this is what I have done.” And then, I come back
that. You want the characters to have a conclusion,
and do it all again. It was very, very strange. I wonder if
but sometimes, you just do not need another fight. It’s
it would affect me but in the end it didn’t. The only thing
one of those things were a lot of Hong-Kong movies
it did was bring out all the people who were looking for
stumble. Some make the end fight too big and we’ve
the story and the dialogue. You want dialogue? I give
seen too much and we are a little too tired. Some
you dialogue in Volume 2!
scenes are just designed to be heavy dialogue scenes, but that’s me. “Reservoir Dogs” is a heist movie and you never see the heist.
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“In real life there are no bad guys. Everybody just has their own perspective.. ” -Quentin Tarantino
DJANGO UNCHAINED Starring Jaime Fox Christoph Waltz Leonardo DeCaprio Samuel L. Jackson Kerry Washington
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Release Date 2012
Writers Quentin Tarantino
“An almost entirely enthralling piece, oozing with thoughtful gore, a wildly unique style, and curious characters all of which could only come together so well through notably cohesive filmmaking” - Perri Nemiroff Shockya.com
Synopsis With the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation-owner in Mississippi.
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INTERVIEW W/TARANTINO ON CONVENTIONAL SLAVE NARRATIVES ON
ON HIS EARLY INTRODUCTIONS TO AFRICAN-AMER-
SCREEN
ICAN CULTURE
Quentin Tarantino: There haven’t been that many
Quentin Tarantino: [My mother’s] boyfriends would
slave narratives in the last 40 years of cinema, and
come over, and they’d ... take me to blaxploitation mov-
usually when there are, they’re usually done on televi-
ies, trying to, you know, get me to like them and buy me
sion, and for the most part ... they’re historical mov-
footballs and stuff, and ... my mom and her friends would
ies, like history with a capital H. Basically, ‘This hap-
take me to cool bars and stuff, where they’d be playing
pened, then this happened, then that happened, then
cool, live rhythm-and-blues music ... and I’d be drinking
this happened.’ And that can be fine, well enough,
... Shirley Temples — I think I called them James Bond
but for the most part they keep you at arm’s length
because I didn’t like the name Shirley Temples — and eat
dramatically. Because also there is this kind of level
Mexican food ... while Jimmy Soul and a cool band would
of good taste that they’re trying to deal with ... and
be, you know, playing in some lava lounge-y kind of ‘70s
frankly oftentimes they just feel like dusty textbooks
cocktail lounge. It was really cool. It made me grow up
just barely dramatized.
in a real big way. When I would hang around with kids I’d think they were really childish. I used to hang around
ON GIVING AN ENSLAVED CHARACTER A HEROIC
with really groovy adults.
JOURNEY ON THE CATCHPHRASE ‘THE D IS SILENT’ Quentin Tarantino: I like the idea of telling these sto-
I thought everyone would know how to say the name
ries and taking stories that oftentimes — if played out in
‘Django.’ Even if it wasn’t from the spaghetti westerns,
the way that they’re normally played out — just end up
at least from Django Reinhardt you would know how to
becoming soul-deadening, because you’re just watch-
say it. And people would read the script [and say], ‘Oh!
ing victimization all the time. And now you get a chance
D-jango Unchained. OK!” And people would say it all the
to put a spin on it and actually take a slave character
time. Frankly, I considered it an intelligence test. If you say D-jango you’re definitely going down in my book.
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