Mynette Louie, president of Gamechanger Films, recently had a problem. She caught a stand-in on set not only taking photos of her film’s star, whose contract had specific photo approvals in place, but posting the photos to Facebook. “I told him to delete them from his Facebook, then I went through his phone and deleted all the photos he took on set.” Traditionally, producers, marketing departments and publicists labor over key stills and publicity images, methodically crafting a film’s identity in careful, strategic installments. This practice continues today, but can quickly be subverted by a tweet, post or status update. […]
Recent films as disparate as The End of the Tour and Spectre were shot in 35mm. But Too Late, which stars John Hawkes as a troubled private investigator tasked with finding a missing woman, takes the 35mm trend one step further. Shot in the 35mm Techniscope format, the film will get a special 35mm-only theatrical release in spring 2016. Written and directed by Dennis Hauck in his feature film debut, Too Late unfolds in five chapters. “We made this movie to be seen on the big screen, with an audience, and yes, on 35mm,” said Hauck in a statement. “Home video, streaming, and VOD are all great, but […]
Recently a friend sent me a link to a movie I made a little while back. The poster for this movie, Glass Chin, has the lead actor, played by Corey Stoll, caressing a gun. In the movie Corey’s character is scared of guns. And only touches one once, in fear, passing it to a psychopathic killer. That’s the only time a gun appears in the entire flick. And Corey’s character is scared shitless. He touches the gun like it’s the plague. But now the movie is being sold as a gun-toting movie. It’s a big porn pistol, and Corey holds […]
Stinking Heaven, Nathan Silver’s latest film, opens in select theaters this week and is available digitally at Fandor. But distributor Factory 25 is also making the new lo-fi rehab drama available in VHS. If any film deserves a VHS release, it’s Stinking Heaven, which is set in 1990, when VHS was still the norm, and was shot on Betacam video. Set at a communal home for former substance abusers, Silver’s fifth feature has a gritty, documentary feel to it which lends itself to the outmoded VHS format. Factory 25 founder Matt Grady explained the genesis of the VHS edition. “I’ve been […]
Boston is home to many historic landmarks and buildings, but for film buffs and film students, the best-known may be the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, Cambridge. The Brattle has been running as a repertory theater (specializing in older “classic films”) since 1953, and has been credited with keeping movies like Casablanca in the public consciousness through the ’50s and ’60s. In addition to classic films, the Brattle shows foreign and independent film, and just celebrated 15 years running as a non-profit. The Brattle Theatre is housed inside Brattle Hall, which was built by the Cambridge Social Union and opened […]
In this second part of the interview with brothers Michael and Shawn, they talk about directing their microbudget movie The Inhabitants, the music and sound mixing, and distribution for the movie. Filmmaker: With one of you running the camera and the other doing sound, how did you manage to handle directing at the same time? Michael: I think we’ve learned to multi-task, but it is hard. You are trying to make sure that everything is in focus and you’re pulling focus yourself, you’re doing all that stuff. The good thing is that Shawn is standing there with the boom, he can […]
This morning, Vimeo announced a new slate of “Vimeo Originals,” serialized and short form content available for purchase exclusively on the streaming platform. Now that their first Original, High Maintenance, has moved to HBO, Vimeo is going beyond the web series, and into comedy specials and short films. Bianca del Rio’s Rolodex of Hate Comedy Special will premiere in December, while The Outs and Aidy Bryant’s Darby Forever will follow early next year. As much as Vimeo is pushing the envelope in its embrace of different formats and particular demographics, the selections corroborate comedy as internet king. Via Vimeo, below is a rundown of each of the three Vimeo Originals on the […]
IFP has announced the complete lineup for the Fall and Winter season of their Screen Forward series. The four films, Field Niggas, Funny Bunny, Cronies and Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, will each receive a weeklong theatrical run at the Made in New York Media Center by IFP in Dumbo. Read up on the films below. October 16 – October 22 FIELD NIGGAS, directed by Khalik Allah A wise-cracking, probing urban flaneur, Khalik Allah paints an impressionistic portrait of the loiterers and denizens in and around 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in Field Niggas. Beneath the bright lights of a corner convenience store, Allah […]
You can conceive an ingenious plot, pen the perfect script, even begin to line up your ultimate cast — but it all risks being for naught if you can’t sell your vision. Even today, as alternative platforms emerge onto the distribution landscape, a successful pitch and getting that greenlight remains one of the most critical steps towards your project seeing the light of day, not to mention one of the most intimidating. But what goes into — and stays out of — making a powerful pitch? How do the people on the other side of that desk approach the process […]
During the second day of IFP’s Screen Forward conference, Indiewire’s Eric Kohn moderated a discussion between Animal Kingdom producers Joshua Astrachan and David Kaplan, and former Radius-TWC CEO Tom Quinn on the breakout success of David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows. An indie juggernaut, It Follows grossed 15 times its $1.3 million budget at the box office, in large part due to Radius’s last minute decision to stall VOD and expand to a wide release two weeks after its limited theatrical opening on March 13, riding the wave of word of mouth rather than costly P&A. Below are four major takeaways on the film’s unusual […]