Happy new year (and what to expect in 2016)!

Hi readers! This was an exciting year for several reasons (Hidden Films Twitter account up and running again, readership up, a few good profiles and reviews posted) but, as was the case last year, there was an unfortunate dearth of posts. This is something I absolutely intend to avoid in 2016. The perfectionist in me has caused delays on the following posts, which I PROMISE will happen in the first quarter:

1) an analysis of all the films Cannon co-helmsman Menahem Golan directed (with some input from actors–including John Hurt–and various industry people that worked with him). Although I watched all but three of these (that’s a LOT of films, and some took a long time to get my hands on), and eventually DID interview the man himself–when he was very sick, in June 2014–his death two months left me in a huge state of remorse. I first contacted him via email in 2012–to discuss “Over the Brooklyn Bridge”–and had asked him for email input on a few other entries the following year (many roads lead to Cannon!) Had I only gotten on the ball quicker, watched all his films quicker, set up the damn phone interview to discuss these films quicker, I could have written a very well-rounded profile–the profile he so deserved– I thought at the time. But after watching the two recent, amazingly well-researched Cannon docs–“Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films” and Israel’s “The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films“–I have realized that Golan does not like to discuss failures, or even obscure films. He tends to tell the same glory stories, or anecdotes about when he almost gave up but didn’t, and I wanted a very different sort of interview, one that–I can only imagine–may not have turned out the way I wanted. For one, at 85, he was probably starting to forget the most, uh, forgettable films he had made, or to mix them up with others. More importantly, given that his interviews from about 1983 onward have a sameness to them, it would be egotistical to assume that I, of all people, would crack the ice with him and get him to discuss films that didn’t do so well.

I am still trying, with little luck, to get a hold of some producers and co-Cannoners that could really shed light on these films. But this entry has been delayed long enough, so it might be time to bite the bullet. Whenever it comes out, it will feature the full transcript of my brief interview with him, quite possibly the last interview he ever did. If that’s the case, I am thrilled to have done that, though I deeply regretted bothering the ailing Golan afterwards.

2) a discussion of the rest of Abel Ferrara’s harder-to-find movies. This may very well be my first podcast posted on this site, as Ferrara has a growly, dynamic voice that print interviews do no justice to. Stay tuned!

3) To be determined if these will be interviews or just film portfolio analyses: Richard Rush, Juan José Campanella, Anthony Harvey, Wim Wenders, Jon Jost, Doris Dörrie. To name a few.

4) Sex comedies! From the early to mid-1980s. Forgotten ones. Terrible ones. Surprisingly good ones. A lot of Canadian ones. Here’s a poster of one I’ll be discussing: