The trailer for Destin Cretton SXSW-winning Short Term 12 dropped today, and it does a fine job of reminding me that this is one of the films I really must catch up with. For all New Yorkers, you can see the film this month at BAMcinemaFest, and next month at Rooftop, prior to its August theatrical release through Cinedigm. Here’s what Scott wrote on the film in his SXSW wrap: Winning SXSW’s Narrative Grand Jury Prize was Destin Cretton’s Short Term 12, the feature expansion of his excellent 2008 short about counselors and youth at a residential facility for at-risk […]
by Nick Dawson on Jun 3, 2013One of the most brilliantly out-there shorts of recent years, Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva’s Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke has finally made it online, and you’d be a fool not to check it out. It’s the film that put the pair on the map when it played at the festival circuit in 2012, and then later justified their inclusion our “25 New Faces” list last year. Calling the film “both very smart and gleefully nuts,” this is what Scott wrote on Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke in his profile of Mayer and Leyva for the […]
by Nick Dawson on May 29, 2013Debuting today is the first trailer for David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, which premiered at Sundance, is currently in Cannes, and will be out through IFC on August 16. Though I’ve already seen the film twice, this trailer beautifully captures the gorgeous lyricism of Lowery’s 1970s-set tale of outlaw lovers and makes me right away want to revisit it once more.
by Nick Dawson on May 24, 2013As Cannes is coming to a close, the accolades are being handed out. We still have to wait for the Competition award ceremony,which will be on Sunday, but the Directors’ Fortnight and Critics Week have already both bestowed honors on their films. Though Directors’ Fortnight does technically have a competition, nevertheless prizes are handed out, with this year Guillaume Gallienne’s flamboyant comedy Les Garçons Et Guillaume, A Table! (an autobiographical piece about his difficult relationship with his mother) taking two prizes, and The Selfish Giant — Clio Barnard’s follow-up to The Arbor, a Cannes favorite in 2010 — also winning an award. […]
by Nick Dawson on May 24, 2013There are few more unlikely and inspiring filmmaking success stories than that of Rama Burshtein. The 46-year-old New York City-born, Israel-based writer/director of Fill the Void had previously made handful of films specifically aimed at Jewish Orthodox audiences, but had defined herself primarily as a mother and a wife. Now she has become the first Israeli Orthodox woman to direct a film intended for those outside the Orthodox community. After going through the Sundance Screenwriting Labs, Burshtein’s debut feature had a remarkable festival run last year, world premiering without much fanfare at the Jerusalem Film Festival but then going on to play at Venice (where […]
by Nick Dawson on May 23, 2013Earlier today Scott wrote about Jodorowsky’s Dune, the Cannes doc about the legendary mystical auteur’s famous failed attempt to adapt Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel for the big screen, so now is a perfect time to post the trailer for the director’s new film, which is also having its world premiere on the French Riviera. The Dance of Reality is Jodorowsky’s first film since 1990, but the 23-year layoff does not seem to have dulled the director’s visual flair, sense of the bizarre or, well, general weirdness. This trailer has French rather than English subtitles, but the images more than speak for […]
by Nick Dawson on May 20, 2013Since IFP and Filmmaker began programming the reRun Theater in Brooklyn, we’ve been trying to bring audiences great films, but also do it in an interesting and different way whenever possible. One of the ideas that we came up with to bring a little variety to proceedings was our Secret Film Club, which kicks off tonight. In the next week, we’ll be playing 11 films over five different nights. The screenings will all be free. But we won’t be telling anyone what the films are. Cryptic clues will be distributed to give you something to go on, however, the first […]
by Nick Dawson on May 17, 2013Another day, another bunch of clips from U.S. indies playing at Cannes. Above there is a quick snippet, featuring Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner, from James Gray’s period drama The Immigrant (previously called Lowlife). The Weinstein Company will be putting out the film (also starring Gray regular Joaquin Phoenix) later this year and, barring terrible reviews from Cannes critics, it should be a 2013 awards contender. Below are a teaser trailer and a clip from Jeremy Saulnier’s second feature, Blue Ruin, which looks incredibly compelling and has the potential to establish the director (who mostly plies his trade as a […]
by Nick Dawson on May 17, 2013I sadly missed Calvin Reeder’s The Rambler when it played at Sundance this January, but the film is having a theatrical release starting June 7 (at the reRun Theater!) so I will be checking it out very soon. This first trailer for the film certainly has whetted my appetite even more, and confirms just how crazy and out there Reeder’s movie really is.
by Nick Dawson on May 17, 2013Two of the big U.S. films playing at Cannes this year — Alexander Payne’s black-and-white dramedy Nebraska and Jim Jarmusch’s vampire flick Only Lovers Left Alive — have both released clips today. Above, from Nebraska, father and son Bruce Dern and Will Forte are joined by a weaselly Stacy Keach, and below you can check out two short bursts from Jarmusch’s movie, featuring leads Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska and Anton Yelchin. We’ll have more on both films here on the Filmmaker website once they have screened on the Croisette.
by Nick Dawson on May 15, 2013