What do you do when the funding for your short movie falls through? Make a different short movie! That’s what Ryan Connolly of Film Riot did after a large portion of the funding he was counting on for his big-budget short film project Outsiders fell through just days before shooting was to begin. In a similar situation most people would probably spend a week or so re-evaluating their life choices. But since they had the gear and the people had already flown in, Connolly decided instead to come up with, and shoot, a different short. The result is PROXiMITY, an […]
by Michael Murie on Dec 5, 2013If you were desperate to know who was on the other end of Dr. Ryan Stone’s radio as she said her final goodbyes in Gravity, your prayers have been answered. Jonas Cuarón, Alfonso’s son and Gravity‘s co-writer, cajoled Warner Home Video into financing a companion piece to one of the heralded blockbuster’s many climatic segments, a seven-minute short called Aningaaq. After playing a handful of film festivals — including Telluride, where it preceded not the obvious choice, but John Curran’s Tracks — Aningaaq has found its way online, in conjunction with Warner Brothers’ announcement that it will be a Live Action Short submission for the 2014 Oscars. […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Nov 20, 2013I’m a fan of Brandon LaGanke’s short film Play House, writing in my print magazine SXSW report, “Play House is an elegantly disturbing suburban horror short in which the defeated apathy of a wife, daughter and son is revealed to be sickeningly explicable.” The short has just gone up on Vimeo where it is a Staff Pick. Check it out above.
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 6, 2013Director Joe Connor was recently given ten minutes to make a short film with actor Daniel Radcliffe. The 26-year-old director and the star of the current Kill Your Darlings met for just a few moments, quickly tossed around some ideas and settled on the theme of fear. The resulting short, Wait, is a nicely pitched essay about stage fright that will resonate with anyone who has felt their heart pace as they prepare for public speaking.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 14, 2013TIFF isn’t the only festival opening in Toronto this week. For the last six years, the high-profile screenings along King Street West have been accompanied by a cadre of short silent videos screening on monitors in the city’s underground subway stations. The Toronto Urban Film Festival (TUFF, a nice titular contrast with TIFF) draws submissions from all over the world and — due to its restricted format as much as in spite of it — elicits some of the most innovative filmmaking on show in the city. It’s also seen by thousands more viewers than its above-ground counterpart. This year’s […]
by Randy Astle on Sep 5, 2013Filmmaker selected director Brent Bonacorso for our 2011 25 New Faces list on the basis of his absolutely stunning short, West of the Moon. After playing the festival circuit, it recently premiered on Vimeo, where it became a Staff Pick and quickly scored over 65,000 views — “WAY more views than in the festivals,” Bonacorso notes with amusement in an email. The film is above, and below is Eric Kohn’s write-up on the director from the Summer, 2011 print issue. — SM When asked to cite their influences, many filmmakers reference icons. Brent Bonacorso avoids that tendency. True to his […]
by Eric Kohn on Jun 9, 2013Greetings from the back nine of Cannes! Our adventures continued with a second screening of Shorts Program 1 on Sunday in front of another packed house. It was a real pleasure to re-watch the other films, especially after having gotten a chance to meet the filmmakers – they’re a really amazing and talented bunch. Later that evening came one of the highlights of our trip when we got to meet two of our favorite DJs, Gesaffelstein and Brodinski, whose music is prominently featured in The Opportunist. They invited us to come see their live show at Club Access just off the […]
by David Lassiter on May 28, 2013Well, the big day has arrived. We woke up early to heavy rain and made a quick run for our morning pastries before putting on our Sunday finest for the screening. After trying to find a cab for the better part of an hour, we called and last-minute audible and decided to walk, torrential downpour be damned! We arrived mostly intact and a little worse for the wear, but were warmly greeted by the Semaine staff who whisked us back to the green room where we got to meet the other Critics’ Week filmmakers. At the theater, which was almost […]
by David Lassiter on May 20, 2013My 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’ […]
by David Lassiter on May 13, 2013The Oscars are not generally considered a crucial event for genre lovers; the inclusion of such films is often limited, and often ghettoized, relegated to technical awards only. This year there are several films in requisite categories like Makeup and Hairstyling, and Visual Effects (whose nominees include The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Avengers, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Prometheus). Another good category where one can snoop out genre fare is in Best Animated Film, and 2013 doesn’t disappoint, with the lovingly crafted and decidedly Gothic take on suburbia in ParaNorman and Tim Burton’s tale of a boy and […]
by Farihah Zaman on Feb 22, 2013