Featured
“I Saw the Film as a Mystery — To Try and Understand Someone Who Didn’t Want to be Understood”: Matt Wolf on His Doc, Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project
Recorder: The Marian Stokes Story
With Matt Wolf's Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project opening today at the Metrograph in New York, we are reposting Scott Macaulay's interview with Wolf prior to the film's Tribeca premiere. Wolf will be doing a number of Q&As opening weekend with various moderators, including, tonight Lynn Tillman, as well as, this weekend, Charlotte Cook, Melissa Lyde, Sierra Pettengill, Collier Meyerson, Stuart Comer and Macaulay (the latter at the Saturday, 1:15 PM screening). From 1979, just before the launch of CNN, to 2012, when she passed away, Marion Stokes -- an African-American Philadelphia woman, communist, public access television host, collector of Apple computers, media critic -- recorded continuous streams of 24-hour-cable news on VHS tapes that piled, floor to ceiling, the various… Read more
Hannah Leder, Alexandra Kotcheff, and Jacqueline Beiro on Their 127-Day Shoot and Doing it All on the Independent Comedy, The Planters
The Planters
When the book of no-budget filmmaking war stories is written The Planters should get its own chapter. Not only were Hannah Leder and Alexandra Kotcheff the co-writers and co-directors of this truly independent comedy, they also served as its cinematographer and camera operator, gaffer, production designer, wardrobe designer, hair stylist, sound recordist, and -- oh yes -- its two lead actors. With only producer Jacqueline Beiro and a few supporting performers rounding out the production team, Leder and Kotcheff persisted through desert heat and nearly 130 days of filming to produce their feature debut. Of course, none of this would matter if the film itself wasn't worthy of wider attention. The story of a reclusive telemarketer (who also buries geocache tins… Read more
“…The Story of a Girl Who Really Loves Her Father and Also Knows She Has to Leave this Complicated, Toxic Relationship”: Writer/director Annabelle Attanasio on Mickey and the Bear
Mickey and the Bear
A high-school student in a small Montana town faces tough choices about her life in Mickey and the Bear, the debut feature from writer and director Annabelle Attanasio. Starring Camila Morrone as Mickey and James Badge Dale as her father Hank, a veteran with drug issues, the movie probes their troubled relationship with unusual insight and compassion. Attanasio trained as an actor and dancer and was cast in roles on The Knick (Cinemax) and the CBS series Bull, and also attended NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She has written and directed numerous shorts. Mickey and the Bear premiered at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival. It screened at Cannes and several other festivals. Utopia released the film theatrically this past Wednesday,… Read more
To Kid or Not To Kid: How Do You Make a Web Series from a Feature Film?
To Kid or Not To Kid
I read once that Marshall Curry always thinks of his audience when developing his next film. And then I also know that other directors say, “Make a good film and people will find it.” Or as my old comedy boss at the BBC once told me: the audience don't know what they want until you give it to them. There is a sense of truth in all of these statements, but Curry’s has stayed with me. As soon as I started developing my film To Kid or Not To Kid -- the first English-language film about the decision to have kids or not -- I started hanging out in places where I could find my potential audience. After all, I… Read more
Back to One, Episode 83: Devika Bhise
The Warrior Queen of Jhansi is the first Hollywood action film to have a female Indian lead. Devika Bhise not only stars in the film (opening Friday November 15th), she co-wrote it with her mother, Swati Bhise, who also directed it. In this episode, she talks about performing under stressful time restraints, how not having “the leisure to lose it" actually helped her play such a powerful leader, and the physical work required (including some “illegal" horseplay!), plus how her intense training in classical Indian dance helps her prepare for every role, and much more! Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher. And if you're enjoying what you are hearing,… Read more
Five Narrative Feature Winners Announced for Fall 2019 SFFILM Westridge Grant
SFFILM, in partnership with the Westridge Foundation, announced today the five narrative feature film projects that will receive $100,000 in development funding from the organization. Awarded twice annually, the SFFILM Westridge Grants are one of the few U.S. sources of grant support for narrative features in the development phase. The grants target US-based filmmakers whose films take place primarily in the States and which focus on "social issues and questions of our time." FALL 2019 SFFILM WESTRIDGE GRANT WINNERS all dirt roads taste of salt . Raven Jackson, writer/director; Maria Altamirano, producer – development/packaging – $20,000 Through lyrical portraits evoking the texture of memories, all dirt roads taste of salt viscerally and experientially explores the life of a Black woman in Tennessee, from her youth to… Read more
All Rights Reserved A Publication of IPF