Authors — Nick Dawson
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BAMCINEMAFEST FULL SLATE REVEALED
Today the full lineup for BAMCinemafest has been unveiled, including the opening and closing night films. (The initial slate of titles was announced just over a month ago.) The fest will be bookended by comedian Mike Birbiglia’s Sundance charmer Sleepwalk with Me and Rock ‘n’ Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen, the latest doc from British musician and filmmaker Don Letts (Dancehall Queen). The Spotlight screening is Benh Zeitlin’s Sundance Grand Prize winner Beasts of the Southern Wild, and other highlights out of the newly announced titles include the Ross brothers’ Tchoupitoulas, Cory McAbee’s Crazy and Thief and Tim Sutton’s […]
by Nick Dawson on May 3, 2012 -
WIN “DRAGONSLAYER” SKATEBOARDING SWAG!
Our friends at SNAGFILMS are giving away swag for the iTunes launch of Dragonslayer, director Tristan Patterson’s award-winning skate documentary about Josh “Skreech” Sandoval. (You can watch it here.) The first prize winner will receive an Addikt Skateboard deck (right) inspired by the legend of “The Gonz” graphic, Skatebook 3 — a skateboard photography coffee table book — as well as an action-packed street skateboarding DVD featuring Skreech and other insane skaters. Two runners-up will receive the Addikt deck and the DVD. To enter, just send an email to nick@filmmakermagazine.com and tell us which award Dragonslayer won at last year’s SXSW Film Festival. To […]
by Nick Dawson on May 1, 2012 -
LA FILM FESTIVAL FULL LINE-UP ANNOUNCED
The opening night movie of the Los Angeles Film Festival — Woody Allen’s To Rome with Love — was announced three weeks ago (along with screenings of Sundance winners Middle of Nowhere and Beasts of the Southern Wild), but today the rest of the line-up was unveiled, with the headline news being that Steven Soderbergh’s male stripper romp, Magic Mike, starring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey, will close out the June fest. In the narrative competition, there are notable entries from Cory McAbee (The American Astronaut), Jared Moshé (a familiar name as a producer, making his first film as director), […]
by Nick Dawson on May 1, 2012 -
JEFF DESOM’S AWESOME “REAR WINDOW” REMIX
Over the weekend, I stumbled across Luxembourg-based filmmaker Jeff Desom’s incredible Rear Window timelapse remix, which is shortlisted for the upcoming Vimeo Awards (although it just got pulled from Vimeo, presumably because of rights issues.) However, for the time being, it’s still on YouTube, and I’ve embedded it below for your enjoyment. Desom’s remix is not only technically brilliant, but also winningly playful; part of its genius is that Desom shows you how he’s constructing the world seen from James Stewart’s window in Rear Window before he begins the action. Here’s an extract from an interview with Desom on One […]
by Nick Dawson on May 1, 2012 -
“UNA NOCHE” TAKES THREE AT TRIBECA AWARDS
The Tribeca Film Festival announced the winners of its world cinema awards for narrative and documentary, and Lucy Mulloy’s Cuba-set drama Una Noche was a recurring presence among the prize winners. Una Noche‘s male leads, Dariel Arrechada and Javier Nuñez Florian, shared the Best Actor prize, the film’s d.p.’s, Trevor Forrest and Shlomo Godder, took Best Cinematography for their gorgeous visuals on the film, and Mulloy herself won Best New Narrative Director. In presenting the latter award, the jury — largely made up of actors, including Camilla Belle, Whoopi Goldberg and Leelee Sobieski — gave the following comments: “Lucy Mulloy’s […]
by Nick Dawson on Apr 27, 2012 -
Five Questions with Journey To Planet X Director Josh Koury
Josh Koury is a chronicler of art on the fringes. In 2002, he founded the Brooklyn Underground Film Festival (BUFF), which he ran until 2006, screening weird and wonderful movies that had failed to find a home elsewhere, and in 2007 he directed the documentary feature We Are Wizards, which spotlighted Harry Potter fans who demonstrated their profound love of J.K. Rowling’s world by forming bands that performed “wizard rock.” Now Koury has teamed up with his frequent collaborator Myles Kane (the co-founder of BUFF and Koury’s editor on Wizards) to co-direct Journey to Planet X, a non-fiction feature that focuses […]
by Nick Dawson on Apr 23, 2012 -
Ad Break: Wes Anderson’s Commercials
For many independent film directors, making commercials is just business. It’s a way to keep working, put a healthy sum of money in the bank — and, as likely very few people will know that they even directed the ad, it’s not something they need to worry about after the shoot wraps. Wes Anderson, however, is one of those rare directors whose commercials feel like a direct extension of his feature work. Anderson has been helming ads for a decade or so. His IKEA spots “Kitchen” and “Living Room” from 2003 — some of his earliest commercials — have a […]
by Nick Dawson on Apr 17, 2012 -
The Weight of Water: An Interview with Jessica Yu
by Nick Dawson on Apr 17, 2012Jumping from social-issue documentary films — like her new Last Call at
the Oasis — to independent narrative to network television, director JESSICA YU has one of the most multi-faceted careers around. By NICK DAWSON. Photograph by Henny Garfunkel -
Cinema of Space
by Nick Dawson on Apr 17, 2012At his excellent BLDGBLOG, Geoff Manaugh offers a smart, original perspective on architecture by connecting it with various other disciplines including, this spring, film. -
DAVID LYNCH’S “CRAZY CLOWN TIME” VIDEO
We’re on deadline here at the magazine, but there’s always time for a David Lynch video, in this case a promo for the title track from his 2011 album, Crazy Clown Time. And be warned, although it adheres to YouTube’s family-friendly guidelines, it probably stills qualifies as NSFW…
by Nick Dawson on Apr 2, 2012
