Goodbye, Kon-san. Josef von Sternberg. Poster Mania.

Satoshi Kon, who showed us just how wildly, even dangerously imaginative anime could be, has left us too soon. He was 47. We’re remembering him here and here. Meantime, here’s what else going now on at MUBI and The Auteurs…

JOSEF VON STERNBERG

On Monday, Daniel Kasman kicked off what pretty much turned out to be Josef von Sternberg Week with an appreciation in text and imagery of “the atmosphere running thick with worldly cynicism, beautiful faces, stoic and mask-like, tests of belief and sublime gestures of faith.” The following day, Criterion released its 3 Silent Classics set and the reviews of Underworld (1927), The Last Command (1928) and The Docks of New York (1928) have been rapturous.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

Scan some of the early fall previews appearing just now in magazines and online, and you’ll see right off that the pickings are going to be more plentiful starting next month or so. For now, though, let’s go with Claudia Llosa’s The Milk of Sorrow, which won the Golden Bear and a FIPRESCHI Prize in Berlin in 2009 and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. “Wonderfully strange, hypnotically beautiful,” writes Ella Taylor in the Voice.

THERE’S NO STOPPING POSTER MANIA

The Night of the Hunter (1955), Brute Force (1947) and Touchez pas au grisbi (1954) are all screening at All Tomorrow’s Parties in New York (September 3 through 5), an event curated by Jim Jarmush (see Christopher R Weingarten’s terrific interview with him in the Voice). But here’s the part we can all get a kick out of, whether or not we’re in NYC: Criterion designer Eric Skillman has commissioned new posters for the films from comic book artists. Meantime, have you seen David Lynch’s poster for AFIFEST 2010?

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@theauteurs) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

Alpha-ville x MUBI

MUBI is teaming up with Alpha-ville, a London based arts organization, to show five films from their screening program between the 15th and 22nd September.

We can confirm that the films that are going to be shown for free are: Denmark by Daniel Fickle, Live Cinema Documentary by Toby Harris, The Resort by George Thompson, On the Quiet by Eamonn O’Neill, and The Exhibit and The Cage by Louise Mackie.

Stay tuned for more info.

MUBI + Boxee

MUBI on Boxee. Has a ring to it, doesn’t it? And it just doesn’t sound good, it looks good too. We’re proud to announce that MUBI’s library of independent, classic and foreign films is now available on the much-loved social media center that is Boxee.

This Boxee integration gives you a new way to experience MUBI — on your television. Once you have Boxee fired up you can use the ‘filter by provider: MUBI’ option on the Movie Library sidebar to find films from our collection which includes everything from Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura to Wong Kar-wai’s Happy Together. Boxee and MUBI have striven to make finding and watching a film on the platform utterly seamless, especially if you already have a MUBI account, making it all the easier for you to discover and watch great films in the comfort (and on the giant screen!) of your home theater.

MUBI on Boxee is one of the many steps forward we’re taking in expanding our platform and we’d like to thank them for being such a great partner from development to launch. We, along with the rest of the world, are anticipating the release of their beautiful looking Boxee Box due out in October. MUBI on the Boxee Box. Now, that definitely has a ring to it.

If you don’t have Boxee already, you should download it today – you can do that here: www.boxee.tv

MUBI On PS3: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN GOOD NEWS

Like what?
MUBI is coming to PS3. Which means your console will become an online cinema. Cool.

Why?
Well, most people who are into gaming love cinema, which pretty much answers the question.

When?
From October.

Where?
Straight to the point! We like that… So, to begin with it will be available in the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Australia and New Zealand

How much?
Certainly no messing around with you. Ok, an ‘all you can watch’ monthly subscription is €12.99 / £9.99. Individual films are €3.59 / £2.99 each. Sweet, right?

Can you expand a bit?
Sure. Didn’t expect that one but I’ll improvise. MUBI is an online social cinematheque that will bring the best independent, classic, and international films to your living room. Watch favorites like Amélie, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Mulholland Dr. to festival gems and award winners from every festival in the planet.

MUBI is also social; it’s not just a virtual cinema but also the cafe next door, where film discussion takes place. You can rate and become a fan of films, share your recommendations on PlayStation Network and Facebook, follow your friends, and get real-time updates on the films they love. That came out right I, thought… Didn’t get any of that but anyway…

What’s with the haircut?
Ehhh…

Find out more here.

* By the way, this post is based in an imaginary Q&A between Efe Cakarel, Founder of MUBI, and a girl from The Netherlands who’s been playing with her PS3 for six straight hours.

Independent and Underground Films from China

Come, September! Boyd van Hoeij’s previewed Venice, Toronto carries on announcing new titles and New York’s lineup also features Raúl Ruiz’s Mysteries of Lisbon. We’re ready. Meantime, here’s what’s going now on at MUBI and The Auteurs…

CHINESE INDEPENDENTS

“We remain deeply committed to providing American audiences with an unmediated look at life, as it’s truly lived, inside the world’s next superpower.” That’s the remarkable distributor dGenerate Films, bringing uncensored, visionary work from deep within mainland China’s independent and underground film scenes. We’re proud to present ten titles to our viewers in the States.

THE BLUE ANGEL

Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich are back. Criterion releases 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg next week and Not Coming to a Theater Near You is already off and running with its series, von Sternberg and Dietrich. Cullen Gallagher on The Blue Angel: “Dietrich’s magnetism on-screen is unmistakable, and the inspired and fortuitous pairing of her and von Sternberg remains magical eight decades later.”

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

Boasting as many layered alternative realities as Inception, Yael Hersonski’s A Film Unfinished is, of course, far more serious fare, a documentary analyzing a Nazi propaganda film and the outtakes that betray its lies. In the New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis finds it “remarkable as much for its speculative restraint as for its philosophical reach.”

MAGAZINE RACK

Distinctions between high-, middle- and low-brow have been on the endangered list for decades now, but few toss them out with such pizzaz and abandon as one of our favorite film journals, Bright Lights. Once you’ve caught up with their new issue, turn to Electric Sheep, featuring our columnist on “Forgotten” films, David Cairns. And finally, a question. How do you break into a military-industrial fortress perched on the side of a snowy mountain? Doug Dibbern considers the approaches taken by Christopher Nolan and Anthony Mann.

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

Gamespot interviews MUBI CEO and Founder Efe Cakarel.

Now Playing on MUBI: Chinese Independent Cinema from dGenerate Films (US)

Zhou Hao’s Using (China 2007)

Ou Ning’s Meishi Street (China 2006)

Zhao Liang’s Crime and Punishment (China 2007)

Yang Jin’s Er Dong (China 2008)

Ying Liang’s The Other Half (China 2006)

Yang Heng’s Betelnut (China 2006)

See the dGenerate Films distributor page for a look at all the films available.

PlayStationEU Blog interviews our CEO Efe Cakarel on the impending launch of the MUBI PS3 application.

The Wide and Varied World of Andrei Konchalovsky

OUR BELOVED MONTH OF AUGUST

May we recommend it? If for no other reason than the most obvious? Here’s a bit of what’s going on at MUBI and The Auteurs…

WHO IS ANDREI KONCHALOVSKY?

You may know him as the friend of Tarkovsky who co-wrote the screenplays for early works such as Andrei Rublev. Or as the older brother of Nikita Mikhalkov. As a director himself, his work ranges “from cinéma vérité-inspired The Story of Asya Klyachina (1966) to the epic Siberiade (1979), from the road movie Homer and Eddie (1989) to TV mini-series The Odyssey (1997),” notes Anna Nieman, introducing her fascinating interview just posted in the Garage.

“I’VE HAD A LOVELY TIME”

This week saw the loss of Bruno S., a painter, musician and actor best known for his performances in Werner Herzog’s The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) and Stroszek (1977). And Patricia Neal, whose performance as a weary housekeeper in Hud (1963) won her an Oscar, who fell for Gary Cooper while standing in for Ayn Rand in The Fountainhead (1949), who saved the planet in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and who made a media phenomenon out of Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd (1957), died over the weekend and the remembrances have been pouring in ever since.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

If you’ve been avoiding the romping, stomping action flicks of summer, this may be the weekend you’ll have to give in. You do have an excuse: The alternatives just aren’t all that enticing. You might try Scott Pilgrim vs the World (after all, Shaun of the Dead was pretty fun, right?) or go all out with Stallone and the Testosterone Gang: The Expendables.

MOVIE POSTERS OF THE WEEK

Little wonder that Adrian Curry’s “Movie Poster of the Week” is one of our most popular features. The man has an eye and a talent for explicating what it sees. His most recent entry is not only a must-see but also a must-read as he tracks two prevailing trends in contemporary poster design.

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.