Authors — Nick Dawson
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NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES SIDEBAR PROGRAMS
Following on from the announcement of its main slate, the New York Film Festival has unveiled the event’s sidebar programs, which includes a sneak preview of three episodes of Oliver Stone’s forthcoming Showtime series Untold History of the United States. For me, the most exciting strand of those just announced is Cinema Reflected, which has such titles as Room 237, Rodney Ascher’s obsessional examination of Kubrick’s The Shining; Marina Zenovich’s follow-up doc Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out; a bizarre concoction by Taxidermia director György Pàlfi called Final Cut — Ladies and Gentlemen which proclaims to be scenes from 450 of […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 21, 2012 -
NOW PLAYING: “25 NEW FACES” SCREENING SERIES AT TACOMA’S GRAND CINEMA
Last week in the Filmmaker newsletter, I mentioned the wonderful “25 New Faces” screening series which has run annually at The Grand Cinema in Tacoma, Washington, since 2010. During that time, under the loving stewardship of the Grand’s Executive Director Philip Cowan, it has continued to grow and thrive, and this year 20 of the 25 New Faces will be in Tacoma, attending the 2012 series (running August 17 to 23) with their work — and meeting each other for the first time. I’m very sad that I’m not able to be there this week, as the series represents a phenomenal […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 18, 2012 -
NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FULL SLATE FOR 2012
Just announced is the full slate for this year’s NYFF, this year celebrating it’s 50th anniversary. Already announced were the opening, closing and centerpiece movies (Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, Robert Zemeckis’ Flight and David Chase’s Not Fade Away, respectively — all world premieres), and the rest of the lineup is as typically exciting and robust as it ever is, packed with auteur works culled almost exclusively from Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Toronto. Unveiling the summation of the best of arthouse cinema in 2012, Richard Peña, the Selection Committee Chair & Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 16, 2012 -
TRAILER WATCH: “HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE” AND “KEEP THE LIGHTS ON”
Released in the past few days were two terrific trailers for films coming out in September that we covered in our Summer issue: David France’s AIDS activism documentary How to Survive a Plague, and writer/director Ira Sachs’ late 90s NYC-set gay drama Keep the Lights On. Go here to read “Of Time & The City,” the fascinating conversation between France and Sachs about these two films, which act almost as companion pieces to one another, and the poignant histories behind them.
by Nick Dawson on Aug 15, 2012 -
JOSS WHEDON ASKS YOU TO BOYCOTT “SLEEPWALK WITH ME”
Last week, Mike Birbiglia and Ira Glass released a cute little online short film to help promote their upcoming film Sleepwalk with Me, but their latest web marketing ploy is pure genius. My only question: how many people will realize this is a joke?
by Nick Dawson on Aug 14, 2012 -
TRAILER WATCH: MARTIN MCDONAGH’S “SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS”
Though I must admit his theater work is a total blind spot for me, I’m a huge fan of what Martin McDonagh does as a writer/director in film. I loved the wildly funny Six Shooter, the violent and subversive short that won McDonagh an Academy Award, and his debut feature, In Bruges, was a darkly comic addition to the hit man movie subgenre that showed he could work skilfully on a larger cinematic canvas. For his new film, Seven Psychopaths, McDonagh seems to be ratcheting up the silliness factor — although I’m sure there’s some very black moments in the movie that […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 14, 2012 -
ANG LEE’S “LIFE OF PI” TO OPEN 50TH NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL
The world premiere of Life of Pi, Ang Lee’s epic 3-D adaptation of Yann Martel’s highly acclaimed Booker Prize-winning novel, will open the New York Film Festival, which starts September 28 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Lee is no stranger to the NYFF: this will be the second time one of his movies has opened the fest (The Ice Storm kicked off the 1997 edition), while in 2009 Lee was the subject of a career retrospective at FSLC’s annual celebration of cinema. “Life of Pi is a perfect combination of technological innovation and a strong artistic vision,” said […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 13, 2012 -
Filmmaker Partners with Filminute Short Film Contest
Next month, Filmmaker will be partnering with the website Filminute, an annual online short film competition, by hosting five of the 25 one-minute films shortlisted for this year’s contest, which offers both a juried Best Filminute prize and the audience-selected People’s Choice Award. (In previous years, jurors have included District 9 director Neill Blomkamp, writer Michael Ondaatje, Iranian filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf and Crash director Paul Haggis.) The site is currently accepting entries for this year’s competition, with the submission deadline on August 20, and the entry criteria are as follows: Your film must be 60 seconds – no more, no less. Produce […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 10, 2012 -
TRAILER WATCH: “ANTIVIRAL”
Young Brandon Cronenberg definitely seems to be a chip off the old body-horror block, based on the evidence of this visceral and visually striking trailer for his debut feature, Antiviral. Any film in which Malcolm McDowell says, “You’ve become involved in something sinister,” I’m there.
by Nick Dawson on Aug 10, 2012 -
IFP ANNOUNCES FILM WEEK PROJECT SLATE AND INDUSTRY EVENTS
Just released is the line-up for this year’s Independent Film Week, which will take place next month in New York, from September 16 to 20 at Lincoln Center. Announced today for IFP’s centerpiece event of the year are both the industry events and the 165 projects which have been invited to participate in 2012’s Project Forum. A complete list of the projects can be found here, while on the industry side there are such new initiatives as the IFP Producer of Marketing & Distribution Labs and a joint event of IFP and Filmmaker magazine, “REINVENT: Media Arts for the 21st […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 10, 2012
