There’s a good reason James Toback named his new Cannes-set showbiz documentary Seduced and Abandoned (unspooling here May 20). No other film festival is quite as alluring – and none has an audience as uniquely emotional. As the world’s premier showcase for cinema, Cannes is arguably the most extravagant way to introduce a film on an international stage. That said, expectations are high and reactions can tack violently from swoon-worthy praise (Michael Haneke’s 2012 drama Amour received the most recent tsunami of adoration) to outright condemnation (just ask Johnny Depp or Vincent Gallo about their respective directorial fiascos, 1997’s The …

For those headed to the South of France this week, Filmmaker has polled our friends and colleagues for their advice on attending the Cannes Film Festival. Even if you are not a first-timer there’s something here for you, ranging from day-trip suggestions to business etiquette to restaurant tips. If you are a first-time attendee, take these especially to heart, and if you’re a returning veteran and have tips, feel free to post them below. See you on the Croisette. Ben Gibson (director, London Film School, and producer): Been doing this advice for many years: Have a meal with someone you’ve …

My name is David Lassiter, I’m the writer and director of a short film called The Opportunist, and over the next few weeks, my team and I will be documenting our adventures on the road to Critics Week at Cannes where our film will have its world premiere. We are big fans of Filmmaker so we’re super excited to share our experiences. To begin! It’s only been two weeks since the Critics’ Week line-up was announced and already it feels like we’ve lived a lifetime. First things first: the film’s not even finished! We submitted a work in progress to Critics’ …

“What Brooklyn needed was not a good film festival,” Jason Cusato (above) says in rapid-fire speech with a heavy accent, “it has plenty of good festivals. What Brooklyn needed was a film festival that concentrated solely on Brooklyn filmmakers and on Brooklyn.” “Brooklyn is inspiring, the people, the landscape,” the born and raised Cusato emphasizes with passion. “There is no place in the world like Brooklyn.” With 2.5 million residents and the largest borough in New York City – if an independent city, Brooklyn would be the fourth largest in the United States – with a diverse and energetic populace residing in distinctive …

Sundance Institute announced the 13 projects selected for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, taking place at the Sundance Resort in Utah from May 27 through June 27. Under the leadership of Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Institute’s Feature Film Program, and the artistic direction of Gyula Gazdag, the Fellows selected for this year’s program include emerging filmmakers and projects from the United States, Europe, Mexico, Peru and Somalia. Projects supported through the Directors and Screenwriters Labs receive continued, customized, year-round support from the Feature Film Program, which can include the following resources: ongoing creative and strategic advice, …

“Today we’re celebrating the start of a new era,” DCTV’s co-founder and co-executive director Jon Alpert announced to a crowd of several hundred filmmakers, documentary enthusiasts and journalists. In the background stood DCTV’s home since 1979, a striking structure in French Chateau style with steeply pitched hip roof and prominent corner spiral, which contrasted sharply with the surrounding towers of American boxes. This juxtaposition contributed a bit of the surreal to the ceremony. But only a bit. This was not the 16th century, and certainly not the tranquil Loire Valley in France. The honking horns and growling trucks, darting taxis, the …

When it replaced BAM’s season of Sundance favorites some years ago, BAMcinemaFest emerged as a stronger and much more Brooklyn-centric event, a true festival rather than just a Park City greatest hits package. This year, it bookends proceedings with festival favorites from two our “25 New Faces” of previous years, David Lowery’s gorgeous period outlaw drama Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, and Destin Cretton’s SXSW-winning social worker drama Short Term 12. Michael M. Bilandic’s artworld satire Hellaware — which was featured in our Summer 2012 article “The Shooting Parties” — is the sole world premiere, however the focus here is on local …

Technology-centered hackathons identify real-world problems and then attempt to solve them through rapid prototyping. Artistic hackathons — 48-Hour Playwriting contests and the like — use compressed time periods to stave off creators’ perennial demons (procrastination, usually manifested by a compulsive desire to clean one’s apartment). But hackathons that merge the creative with the artistic pose unique challenges. There’s the artistic element, the technology element and then also the fusion of the two, which is actually a third thing entirely. Storytelling craft, choice of content but also appropriateness and originality of UI and methods of engagement all become the criteria by …

I just got back from eight film festivals in less than four weeks with my first feature, The Discoverers. We’ve been fortunate to win a few awards, get great press and meet new friends this past month. I’m sharing a few things I’ve learned to hopefully help fellow filmmakers on their own unique journeys. 1. Embrace your audience Festivals can be a lot of things: a market where distributors see your film, or an opportunity to get press, but they are also your first time to connect with an audience. Embrace the experience of sharing your work in a theater …

The distance between video games and cinema has been shrinking for years. Nowhere was this more obvious than in the presentation of Beyond: Two Souls last Saturday during the Tribeca Film Festival’s closing weekend, an event billed as the first time a video game has ever been shown in a film festival. Certainly in the packed SVA theater, past the red carpet for actors like Ellen Page and after the enthusiastic introduction by Tribeca’s Chief Creative Officer Geoffrey Gilmore, it felt like a convergence of the two media that we haven’t seen before. This isn’t a game based on a movie …