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Written by The LA Team
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Sunday, 28 December 2008 |
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The week is finally over, so what does that mean? Trivia, of course! We hope that you are beginning to discover that the world of Federico Garcia Lorca and Salvador Dalí is as compelling as we do and are gaining insight from our trivia challenge filled with fascinating info from the cast, crew, and characters of Little Ashes.
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A) Which two cast members play the guitar?
B) Which of Dalí’s paintings was so scandalous that its anatomical details were covered with pieces of cork when it was exhibited in Barcelona in 1928?
C) Who said: "Because Lorca was very much working from the heart and the soul I feel closer to him. I feel more of an affinity for him than Dalí who focused and explored more of the mind," Little Ashes producer Carlo Dusi, writer Philippa Goslett, or filmmaker Paul Morrison?
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[ Find the answers after the cut! ] |
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Written by Patti Heiser
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Saturday, 27 December 2008 |
We briefly mentioned Dalí and the controversy surrounding his painting, Unsatisfied Desires, which was perceived as having vulgar sexual undertones and therefore, too provocative for public eyes. However, this week and next week we will accentuate the story behind the drama and Dalí’s contention of having his paintings publically exhibited.
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In October 1928, the director of the Sala Pares, where the Autumn Salon took place, turned down his painting, Unsatisfied Desires (also known as Figures on a Beach, Dialogue on a Beach or Unfulfilled Desires) shocked by some of its erotic allusions. This painting, which is thought to show Dalí’s sexual loneliness and his being unable to find a partner, is quite graphic in its male and female symbolism.Dalí said that his response to this is that he painted The First Days of Spring, which was, as he says, ‘truly a veritable erotic delirium’, and was the first in a series of canvases in a new style. The following describes what went on during those fall days in 1928.
Early in August of 1928, Dalí received and accepted an invitation to show paintings in the Barcelona Autumn Salon, which was held every year in Joan Maragall’s Sala Pares. A couple of weeks later, Josep Dalmau, at whose gallery Dalí had had many favorable exhibits, contacted him with another invitation to show at his gallery almost at the same time. Dalí hoped he would be able to show at both exhibits. |
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Written by T. Isilwath
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Thursday, 25 December 2008 |
Throughout the duration of the Promotional Blitz, we have exhibited the many intricate and atypical anecdotes of Salvador Dalí and Federico Garcia Lorca. Within our exclusive narratives on these artists, Luis Buñuel has been a supporting character. One aspect we have omitted from our array of tales is the elaboration of Luis Buñuel and his accomplishments.
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[ Pictured above: A scene from Un Chien Andalou, 1929 ]
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Luis Buñuel, often considered the father of cinematic Surrealism, had a long and colorful career. From the debut of his first film, Un Chien Andalou in 1929 to his last cinematic release, Cet obscur objet du désir (The Obscure Object of Desire) in 1977, Buñuel produced 32 films in five different countries, won numerous awards at film festivals worldwide, took an Oscar for best foreign language film and was exiled from his native Spain – twice.
Buñuel preferred to shock and bombard his audience with disturbing images and disjointed storylines that seemed to have no rhyme or reason to them. He delighted in satirizing religion and government, ripping off the veneer of civility and rationalism to reveal the savage hypocrisy beneath. His films are heavy with undercurrents of sexual deviance and political subversion. |
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Written by The LA Team
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Wednesday, 24 December 2008 |
'Tis the night/day before Christmas as we bestow this fabulous gift of a new round of trivia upon you. Its the gift that keeps on giving for months to come. If you haven't already, vote on our new poll and check out Part Two of tMF's in-depth look at Little Ashes. The entire LA Team wishes everyone a safe and Merry Christmas!
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A) What is Little Ashes actor, Matthew McNulty’s real name?
B) What caused the downfall in Dalí and Lorca’s relationship?
C) Who said: “God and Country are an unbeatable team; they break all records for oppression and bloodshed,” Luis Buñuel, Salvador Dalí or Federico Garcia Lorca?
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[ Want the answers? You can find them after the cut! ]
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Written by Tracy Garrett and Brittany Stevens
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Tuesday, 23 December 2008 |
Thanks to Twilight Exchange we have some new Little Ashes photos to share with everyone! It looks like Christmas came a couple days early...you can find additional pictures after the jump, enjoy!
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Written by Kristin Rielly
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Tuesday, 23 December 2008 |
Earlier this month we explicated the definition and motivation behind fascism in our Fascism, Part 1 article. In this second part, we will descant further about the conquest of Mussolini and his collaboration with Hitler, which as we will learn became the cessation of Mussolini's reign.
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The National Fascist Party continued to spread their ideals and had a doctrine for which rejected the idea of “perpetual peace.” They believed in constant war to achieve power. Their idolized dictators or conquerors throughout history were Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Charlemagne and Napoleon Bonaparte.
Benito Mussolini worked his way into the hearts of those in Italy by creating jobs to the large number of unemployed. Also, he provided Italy with new and improved roadways. Fascism brought a sound economy to Italy during the Depression, but at the cost of freedoms. Mussolini convinced his people that while democracy appeared to be a great option on the surface, it did not do the country as a whole any service. Therefore, the government should be in control of things and be the direction in their lives. He has even been quoted as stating we should bury the "putrid corpse of liberty" to a crowd of adoring Italians.
In 1925, Mussolini declared himself the leader of Italy. His followers called themselves Blackshirts. While Mussolini coming in to stabilize their country appeared to be please the Italians, he grew increasingly unpopular with the monarch, church and industrial elites in 1926 when he banned all opposition parties. Not only that, but he restricted their education system to be strictly Fascist. |
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Written by Victor Marzowicz-Velasquez
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Monday, 22 December 2008 |
In Victor’s newest editorial, he reverts back to the relationship between Dalí and Lorca. We presented the letters between Dalí and Lorca, if you missed them, feel free to recap Part One and Part Two. However, verses illustrating the bond between the artists, Victor expounds the influence that Dalí had on Lorca’s work.
Want to read and discover more on Lorca, his life and his works? Then go and take a gander at Victor's blog.
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He was homosexual, as everybody knows, and madly in love with me. He tried to screw me twice, but I was repulsed because I am not a homosexual and could not yield to him, and besides, it hurt. Of course, I was flattered vis-à-vis prestige. He was a great poet, and so I felt I owed it to him to offer him a piece of the Divine Dalí’s asshole.
This is a highly sensationalistic and deeply self-contradictory quote, but given Salvador Dalí’s penchant for telling outrageous stories of questionable veracity, why is it biographers take him at his word on this particular tale?
Corroboration.
Federico Garcia Lorca never publicly indicated anything about his relationship with Dalí besides that he was a dear friend. However, their letters to one another have been published, and besides recurring sexual innuendo in the text and the effusively romantic valentine exchanged, there are details scattered throughout that form a key by which we can “recognize” Dalí when he’s being referred to in Lorca’s works. And sure enough, there are several pieces Lorca wrote during his American trip that shed some light on their relationship and his feelings about Dalí in the aftermath of its dissolution. |
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Written by The LA Team
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Saturday, 20 December 2008 |
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It’s the end of the week with good old Christmas less than a week away and what better way to end the week than with our usual round of Little Ashes trivia? As a side note, we have made the site navigation a little easier by adding two links on the left main menu. Click on “Movie Trailer and Media” to watch the trailer and film clips, along with our exclusive photos. “Little Ashes Reviews” will take you to our compilation of reviews. Have a safe weekend everybody!
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A) Can you name one of Little Ashes writer, Philippa Goslett's, two favorite scenes from the film?
B) In his 1928 speech in Figueras, Spain, what was Salvador Dalí’s lecture on?
C) Who said the following about Little Ashes: “I guess it’s sort of a devastating romance. It’s when two people essentially fall in love with each other, arguably--and no one really knows the extent of what their actual relationship was—in the film, they sort of do and it kind of ruins everything in both of their lives.” Was it actor Javier Beltrán, Matthew McNulty, or Robert Pattinson?
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[ Find the answers after the cut! ] |
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Written by Diana Fernandez
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Saturday, 20 December 2008 |
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Via this series, we have spectated Dalí’s keen intent to establish himself as an outcast, someone that never manages to disappoint when it came to outlandish and bizarre behavior. In all these cases, however, Dalí had been in absolute control of the product and result of these strange occurrences. The story we illustrate this week, takes the control out of Dalí’s grasp and yet, he was still credited for its conclusion.
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Nothing can be deemed strange when it comes to Salvador Dalí, and nothing is too over the top when it comes to him. Dalí did many strange things, such as his dandy manners and his eccentric behavior. Though most was done for attention, we can probably guess that there were many strange things going on with him behind closed doors. Strange things also happened around him.
In his autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí, he says:
...While I have always known exactly and with premeditation what I wished to obtain of my senses, the same is not true of my sentiments, which are light and fragile as soap-bubbles. For, generally speaking, I have never been able to foresee the hysterical and preposterous course of my conduct, and even less the final outcome of my acts, of which I am often the first astonished spectator...
He knows what he wants to do and that it is crazy as any person would think and that is the reason he does some of his extravagant things. What he cannot control is the outcome of his actions. They can sometimes be in his favor, but sometimes things have gone wrong. |
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Written by Sam Kerbey
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Thursday, 18 December 2008 |
A couple of weeks ago we launched our series of exclusive interviews via our Interview with Paul Morrison, the director of Little Ashes. Our next interview is with Little Ashes writer Philippa Goslett, who explains to our Administrative Team member, Sam, about how the idea for Little Ashes was conceived, the process of making the screenplay into a film, and even about her favorite Dalí painting. There are still more exclusive interviews coming up, so keep checking back!
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What inspired you to write this story?
I have always really loved Lorca, even at A-Level I did all of Lorca's plays and I just thought he was so wonderful. Plus my background is very theatrical, so I came to screen writing through the theatre. Then, at uni we had to do a special language course on Spanish Literature and I decided I would do Lorca. I became really interested in the effect of Dalí on his work - how profoundly his work changed after he met Dalí. Particularly one play, The Public, - it was never really performed, it's a tricky play, but it is very much about identity and sexuality and it was very much inspired by his relationship with Dalí and a relationship he had with a man after that. It's the search for love and desire, and the fact you can never obtain that. There's a scene in the film where you see the mouths of Dalí and Lorca - and I'm paraphrasing here, Lorca says "If I become (one thing)" and Dalí responds "then I would become (something else)". Essentially, what The Public is about a search for transformation, to try and be with a beloved and the ultimate kind of destructive quality to that.
So I became really interested in that. Then I started looking at Dalí 's work and saw there's a huge presence of Lorca in it - at the time that they met and then after Lorca's death. It was like Lorca was haunting Dalí through his paintings, you see again and again his face, or the silhouette of his head, painted in the landscape.
So that was the beginning of a really interesting idea and it wasn't something that had really been covered. It had been material in biography but hadn't really been covered in film.
Then I became really interested in Buñuel's role within that - the relationship between the three of them. A mixture of friendship which became almost a love triangle - which obviously on Buñuel’s side was platonic.
So that's where the idea came from (laughs) an hour later…
[ Read more of the interview after the cut! ] |
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