Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

I just got back from the screening of Julia Kwan’s EVE AND THE FIREHORSE at our very own Phoenix Film Festival. The theatre was fairly full and the audience seemed to enjoy the film.

Zambian filmmaker Jabbes Mvula joined us for the screening. It was interesting to discuss it with him afterwards. Like his film, the story was an exploration of a non-western culture. On the way to the film he said that he found American culture boring because everyone is always tired and works too much. He said the Zambian culture was rich and more interconnected. He said friends gather almost every day after work to talk and visit and dance. In the U.S., he said, even when he had time, friends were rarely free to spend time.

RING OF FIRE Feature

Last year at Sundance, Alec and I saw a powerful documentary entitled RING OF FIRE: The Emile Griffith Story. It was one of Alec’s favorite films of that year.

The documentary centers on a fatal fight in 1962. At Madison Square Garden, in a live broadcast, Emile Griffith punched rival Benny “Kid” Paret unconscious, leaving him in a coma. Paret died 10 days later. It was later revealed that Paret had called Griffith maricón, the Spanish word for “faggot.” Visit the website listed above to watch video clips from the documentary including comments by Griffith and the actual fight.

Variety is reporting that the documentary is being made into a feature. According to the trade publication, Columbia Pictures and Paramount Pictures have tapped George C. Wolfe to direct the feature version of the boxing-centered doc “Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story.”