Résumé
David Chute
Hungry Ghost Productions
708 S. Mariposa Ave. # 407
Los Angeles, CA 90005
213-389-7397
240-368-7071 fax
david.chute@sbcglobal.net
Film Criticism and Journalism
- 1980-present - FREE-LANCE WRITER/EDITOR/FILM CRITIC - Pieces for Film Comment, LA Weekly, American Film, Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Vanity Fair, Village Voice, Hollywood Reporter, Spin, California, Buzz, Los Angeles, Asian Cult Cinema, LA Style, Take One, Manga Mania (UK),Crimetime (UK), Mean Streets (Australia).
- July-August 1993-94 - EDITOR/PRODUCER/SUPPLEMENTS WRITER - "John Woo's The Killer Special Edition," "John Woo's Hard Boiled Special Edition," Criterion Collection laser disc packages for The Voyager Company. Jobs included writing 1,000 still text frames of background material on director Woo, star Chow Yun-fat, and Hong Kong cinema in general. Also compiled illustrations.
- March 1981 - August 1986. STAFF WRITER - Los Angeles Herald Examiner. Movie reviews; features and interviews; music and book reviews; ten part series "Behind the Screen," on the crafts of movies (three local awards, Pulitzer nomination); column "Other Stuff" on wayward aspects of pop culture (comics, TV etc).
- June 1978- March 1981. MOVIE CRITIC - Boston Phoenix. Reviews; "Filmstrips" column; arts features; book and music reviews.
- September 1977 - 1978. MOVIE CRITIC - Maine Times. Reviews and listings; features; editorials.
- August 1975 - September 1977. MOVIE CRITIC - Kennebec Journal (Augusta, ME). Free-lance film reviews.
Other
- April-August 1997 -- UNIT PUBLICIST -- Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown, a production of A Band Apart for Miramax Films.
- July-November 1996 - MINISTER OF INFORMATION - Garth Productions (John Woo). Publicity, promotions and special events, including convention appearances.
- March-June 1996 - UNIT PUBLICIST - John Woo's Broken Arrow, a Mark Gordon/WCG Production for Twentieth Century Fox.
- September-December 1992 - UNIT PUBLICIST - John Woo's Hard Target, an Alphaville-Renaissance Production for Universal.
- 1991-present - FREE LANCE PUBLICITY WRITER - Press kits for The Shadow and Hard Target (Universal); Midnight Cowboy (re-release) and Flight of the Innocent (MGM); The Dark Half (Orion); Broken Arrow (Fox), One False Move (Island); The Silk Road, Kama Sutra, Chinese Box, Cube, and The Ugly (Trimark); And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird (Vidmark), Sonatine, Jackie Brown, and Iron Monkey (Miramax/Dimension/Rolling Thunder).
- August-November 1986 - ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR/ART DEPARTMENT ASSISTANT - Munchies, a New Horizons Picture (Roger Corman) directed by Tina Hirsch.
Book
- The Making of Judge Dredd, with Jane Killick and Charles M. Lippincott (Hyperion, 1996).
Book Project
- Tigers and Dragons: Re-Discovering Chinese Martial Arts Movies, Faber & Faber (forthcoming).
Editing Projects
- Spring 2003, UCLA FILM AND TELEVISION ARCHIVE, Heroic Grace: The Chinese Martial Arts Film. Edited, and wrote the introduction for, the catalog of a landmark touring series of classic martial arts film curated by Cheng-Sim Lim. The catalog will be distributed nationally when the series travels to the Pacific Film Archive, The Gene Siskel Film Center, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
- May-June, 2002, FILM COMMENT, "Bollywood Rising:" Guest-edited this seven-article "midsection" supplement on Indian popular cinema. Commissioned and edited the pieces and contributed an introduction, a bibliography, the essay Family Business (on the popular Hindu Family Values sub-genre), and an unpublished interview with Lagaan producer/star Aamir Khan.
- May-June 1988, FILM COMMENT, "Made in Hong Kong," Guest-edited this ten-article "midsection" supplement on Hong Kong cinema. Commissioned and edited articles, supplied illustrations, contributed an introduction and reviews.
Film Programming
- Created and curated Bombay Melody, a choice selection of Bollywood's best, with an emphasis on the music, for the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, April 18-25, 2004
Selected Publications
- March24-March 30, LA WEEKLY, Not So Hidden Master (Stephen Chow Sing-chi and Kung Fu Hustle. With sidebar Old Dudes Kicking Ass.
- March/April 2005, FILM COMMENT, The Big B: The Rise and Fall and Rebirth of Bollywood Superstar Amitabh Bachchan.
- September 5-11, 2003, LA WEEKLY, Where’s the Party Yaar?: Review of Benny Matthews’ NRI indie comedy.
- July 11-17, 2003 - LA WEEKLY, Gunman’s Walk": Noir Westerns at UCLA.
- March 28-April 3, 2003, LA WEEKLY, Energy Alternatives: Hong Kong filmmaker Johnny To.
- Date TK, 2003, LOS ANGELES TIMES, Cory Yuen and So Close.
- March 7-13, 2003 - LA WEEKLY, Planet Bollywood? (Cover Story): A celebration of Indian popular cinema that explores its prospects for winning a wider audience among non-Indians in the US.
- October 11-17, 2002 - LA WEEKLY, Pulp Friction: Roger Avary on The Rules of Attraction
- March-April, 2002, FILM COMMENT, Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, review of Ashutosh Gowariker's Oscar-nominated film.
- January-February, 2002, FILM COMMENT, Monsoon Wedding, review of Mira nair's film.
- October 5-11, 2001 - LA WEEKLY, Bollywood Now!, a report from the Sports Arena on a post September 11 all-glitz tour of Bollywood stars, including Aamir Khan, Aishwayra Rai, and Anil Kapoor.
- July, 2001, PREMIERE, "The Kids Aren't All Right" (Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale).
- May-June, 2001 - FILM COMMENT, "Playing With Guns" (Tsui Hark's Time and Tide).
- April 27-May 3, LA WEEKLY, Hidden Dragons, rediscovering King Hu's Touch of Zen at UCLA's LAFF sidebar program "Ang Lee's Chinese Sword & Sorcery: The Films That Inspired Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
- April 2001, LOS ANGELES, Fire in the Bowl, David Tran's Huy Fong hot sauce empire.
- February 9-15, 2001, LA WEEKLY, Unforgettable, Wong Kar-wai and In the Mood for Love.
- January 19-25, 2001, LA WEEKLY, Kick in the Head, in which the Nuart programs some familiar Hong Kong cult films and misses a chance to build upon the success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
- January 12-18, 2001, LA WEEKLY, Remembering Things Past, Korean master filmmaker Im Kwon-Taek and Chunghyan.
- December 15-21, 2000, LA WEEKLY, Martial Artist, Yuen Woo-ping, action cinema puppetmaster of The Matrix and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
- December, 2000 - PREMIERE, Year of the Dragon, Ang Lee's wu xia drama Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
- December 8-14, 2000, LA WEEKLY, In the Realm of the Senses, some recent Korean Buddhist films.
- July 28, 2000 - LA WEEKLY, Man of the West: Legendary Director Budd Boetticher
- July 7, 2000 - LA WEEKLY, Making Out: [film composer] Marc Shaiman's brilliantly schzoid career."
- April 14-20, 2000 - LA WEEKLY - The Quiet Man, from Bollywood to Hollywood with Indian actor Om Puri.
- March 3-9, LA WEEKLY, Earthly Delights, song and dance from around the world in UCLA's landmark series "World Musicals."
- February 18-24, LA WEEKLY, Closely Watched Terrains, Iranian New Wave cinema.
- January 9, 2000 - SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE BOOK REVIEW - "Einstein - Better With Relativity Than Relatives?," review of two new books on Albert E.
- November, 1999 - PREMIERE - "We Are TiVo," report on the TiVo computer/home video system.
- November 5-11 and November 12-19, 1999 - LA WEEKLY - The Auteur as Gearhead, a two-part story on the DV cinema movement.
- October 22-28, 1999 - LA WEEKLY - The Master Builder, Egyptian director Youssef Chahine.
- October 1-7, 1999 - LA WEEKLY (BEST OF LA) - "Little Shop of Briars," The Tinder Box, LA's best and oldest pipe shop.
- July 30-August 5, 1999 - LA WEEKLY - "Victorian Cyberpunk," novelist Neal Stephenson and "Cryptonomicon."
- May 28-June 3, 1999 - LA WEEKLY - "The Undead," SF writer Bruce Sterling's Dead Media Project.
- April 2-8, 1999 - LA WEEKLY - "All Singing! All Belly Dancing!," Egyptian musicals.
- November-December, 1998 - FILM COMMENT - "Organic Machines: The World of [Japanese animator] Hayao Miyazaki" in Princess Mononoke.
- October 5, 1998 - LOS ANGELES TIMES (SUNDAY) CALENDAR - "It Was No Picnic for the Artists," production feature on the digital animated movie Antz.
- August 14, 1998 - LOS ANGELES TIMES, " Coppola's Rainbow," interview with director Francis Ford Coppola.
- July 5, 1998 - LOS ANGELES TIMES (SUNDAY) CALENDAR, "When Size Doesn't Matter," production feature/interview on Joe Dante's Small Soldiers.
- June 8, 1998 - LOS ANGELES TIMES, "Is 'Secret "Truman's' Precursor?"
- June 1998 - BUZZ - "Movie Mecca," LA's great American Cinematheque.
- May-June 1998 - FILM COMMENT - "New Maps of Hong Kong," two new books on Hong Kong cinema.
- September 1996 - FILM COMMENT - "Soul of the New Machine," Masaro Oishi's animated feature Ghost in the Shell.
- July 1996 - LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE - "Hard Boiled LA;" the new crop of tough guy mystery writers: Michael Connelly, Walter Mosely, Robert Crais, Gary Phillips, Mercedes Lambert.
- January-February 1996 - FILM COMMENT, Gods Walk the Earth, three Indian cinema pioneers: director Mani Rathnam, composer A.R. Rahman, and actor Kamal Hasan.)
- 1994 - BRANDED TO THRILL, THE DELIRIOUS CINEMA OF SUZUKI SEIJUN, edited by Tony Rayns, Institute of Contemporary Art, London: Title Essay "Branded to Thrill" on the Japanese director. Reprinted from FILM COMMENT, January-February, 1992.
- January-February, 1994, FILM COMMENT, "Beyond the Law" (Chinese outlaw cinema).
- August, 1993, VANITY FAIR: "A Point of Woo" (John Woo and Hard Target).
- Spring 1993, MEAN STREETS (Australia): "Harry Whittington" (essay on, interview with, the late great noir novelist). Reprinted from LA WEEKLY.
- February 28-March 5, 1992, L.A. WEEKLY: "The Ones Who Got Away" (Swiss director Alain Tanner).
- February 16, 1992, LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW: "The Great Long Island Shell Game" (Eric Kraft's serial novel Little Follies).
- January 31-February 6, 1992, LA WEEKLY: "Staring Down the Rising Sun," Korean director Im Kwon-Taek and The General's Son.
- November 10, 1991, LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW: "When the Clock Runs Backwards," Martin Amis's novel Time's Arrow).
- August, 1991, LA WEEKLY: (Cover Story) "Double Boy: Jackie Chan Wants You to Love Him."
- August 25, 1991, LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW: "The Return of Pogo" (Walt Kelly's comic strip).
- April, 1991, VANITY FAIR: "Eastern Promise" (Chinese actress Gong Li).
- March-April, 1991, FILM COMMENT: "Golden Hours," with Zhang Yimou on the set of Raise the Red Lantern in China.
- July 5, 1990, LA WEEKLY: "Dual Duel," King Hu's Swordsman.
- December 23-29, 1988, LA WEEKLY: (Cover Story): "Outlaw of Desire" (Pedro Almodovar).
- September 1986, AMERICAN FILM: "The Fine Art of Red-Neck Reviewing" (critic John Bloom, aka Joe Bob Briggs).
- July-August and October 1986, FILM COMMENT: "Wages of Sin" (two-part interview with "nudie" producer David F. Friedman).
- July 18-24, 1986, LA WEEKLY: (Cover Story) "The New Comics" (on avant garde comic books).
- 1986, PENGUIN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORROR & THE SUPERNATURAL, edited by Jack Harrison, Viking Penguin, New York: Entries on Tod Browning's Freaks, George Franju's Eyes Without a Face, and director David Cronenberg.
- June 1984, FILM COMMENT: (Cover Story) "Dante's Inferno, Joe Dante and Gremlins.
- August 1984, FILM COMMENT: "Dead End Streets," Walter Hill and Streets of Fire.
- November-December 1983, FILM COMMENT: "Fear City," Abel Ferrara.
- February 1984, FILM COMMENT: "Scarface," Brian De Palma.
- October 1983, FILM COMMENT: (Lead Article) "Outlaw Cinema."
- March 17, 1983, ROLLING STONE: "David Cronenberg's Gore-Tech Visions" and Videodrome.
- July-August 1982, FILM COMMENT: (Cover Story) "The Ayatollah of the Movieola," George Miller and The Road Warrior, essay and interview.
- September-October 1981, FILM COMMENT: "Tropic of Kasdan," Body Heat.
- May-June 1981, FILM COMMENT: (Cover Story) "Still Waters" (John Waters); also "John Sayles: Designated Writer."
- March-April 1980, FILM COMMENT: "He Came From Within" (David Cronenberg).
- March 1978, TAKE ONE: "King of Horror" (Stephen King).
Education
- BA from St. Johns College, Annapolis, Maryland.
- Unit certificate in Japanese, UCLA Extension, 1995.
- "Writing the Mystery Novel," UCLA Extension, 1996.
Special Interests
- Asian popular culture: Bollywood (Indian popular cinema); Hong Kong and Chinese cinema; manga and anime (Japanese comic books and animation).
- Science and technology: film preservation; "digital decay;" computer animation.
