Though the film only debuted at SXSW last month, Ornana’s euphonia is already out in the world, with the six-man collective we selected for our 2012 “25 New Faces” opting to generously stream it for free on Vimeo. I’ve been a huge fan of the film since I saw it in rough cut last summer, and it solidified my conviction that director Danny Madden and his collaborators — wh0 had previously made the charming animated short (notes on) biology — were on to something special. To further whet you appetitite, here’s Scott’s take on the film from SXSW: A real …

When the filmmaking collective Ornana (led by director Danny Madden) was chosen for Filmmaker‘s “25 New Faces” last summer, it was their charming and inventive animated short about a robot elephant, (notes on) biology, that first attracted our attention and admiration. However, it was group’s radically different follow-up project, euphonia (then still in rough cut), which assured us of Madden and co.’s genius. The 50-odd minute live-action film, which was first planned as a short, tells the tale of a high schooler (Will Madden, Danny’s younger brother) who buys a digital sound recorder and becomes increasingly fixated with capturing the sounds around …

SXSW is a festival of contradictions. (Or, “Spring Break for filmmakers,” as Ti West posted on his Twitter stream last night.) Its film program feels homey, intimate, with Janet Pierson and her team evincing a real sense of enthusiasm as well as curatorial play. There are, of course, types of films that are expected and do well at SXSW: cutting-edge genre titles, hip mainstream features, music- and technology-themed documentaries, and low-budget, youth-oriented relationship tales. But within and even outside of those categories, SXSW always turns up some real discoveries. (Last year there were several — Sean Baker’s Starlet, Andrew Neel’s …

There’s been a lot going on with our current crop of 25 New Faces, so I thought I’d do a quick catchup of recent goings on. Firstly, four feature projects by 2012 alums are playing at this year’s SXSW Film Festival: there’s a world premiere for Ornana’s first narrative feature, Euphonia, while Bassam Tariq and Omar Mullick’s evocative documentary These Birds Walk (a world premiere at True/False later this month), Hannah Fidell’s A Teacher (which was actually shot in Austin) and Penny Lane and Brian L. Frye’s archival doc Our Nixon will continue their fest circuit runs there. (Incidentally, Lane and …

The funny thing about film festivals is that there never seems to be enough time to talk about the films you’ve just seen. Distribution strategies, yes, industry gossip, most definitely, but the actual creative decisions and approaches involved in making the films themselves – barely! So the Grand Cinema’s mini-festival celebrating Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in Tacoma, WA, last month felt like a truly rare treat. Bringing together 14 of the actors and filmmakers or filmmaking teams on the list, including myself and Katherine Fairfax Wright, my directing partner on Call Me Kuchu, The Grand Cinema scheduled …

In case you’re behind in catching up with the work of this year’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” you should head to The ShortList, The Wrap’s online shorts competition. Three of the 12 shorts taking part in the competition are from 2012 “25 New Faces” alums, namely Jonas Carpignano‘s A Chjana, Ornana‘s (notes on) biology, and Cutter Hodierne‘s Fishing Without Nets. Also contention is Love Competition, directed by 2011 “25 New Face” Brent Hoff. You can visit the site to watch the films, and vote for your favorite(s). (The jury prize is $60,000 worth of camera equipment.) As a …

Last week we announced our 2012 list of “25 New Faces,” a group that numbered 37 as a result of a large number of filmmaking duos, but was expanded even more by a six-man production collective. Ornana, the collective in question, made the playful and funny SXSW-winning animation (notes on) biology and are in postproduction on Euphonia, a live-action narrative feature that is radically different from biology and further underlines the talent as well as the versatility of these young men. (You can read more about both films on their 25 New Faces page.) The gang are currently looking ahead …