Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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Story + Journalism: Tabitha Jackson and Joaquin Alvarado Talk Documentary Safety and Security at CPH:DOX
Tabitha Jackson, director of the Documentary Film Program at Sundance Institute, and Joaquin Alvarado, from Studiotube and former director of Centre for Investigative Reporting, were in discussion in March 2018 at CPH:DOX about the relationship between journalism and creative documentary filmmaking as part of Doc Society’s the Safe+Secure initiative. The following is a lightly edited transcript of their dialogue. Alvarado: When we say documentaries, it means a lot of different things today — they have evolved greatly in the last couple of decades. How you would you sort of level-set for folks the space of documentary and how we talk […]
by Filmmaker Staff on May 1, 2018 -
IFP Announces Inaugural Audio Story Lab
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), Filmmaker‘s parent organization, announced today the projects selected for the inaugural Audio Story Lab, IFP’s first foray into supporting makers with serialized audio projects. The two-day intensive program runs April 26-27 at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP. Based off the long-running IFP Filmmaker Labs and, more recently, the Screen Forward Labs dedicated to serialized content creators, the IFP Audio Story Lab will support groundbreaking audio artists with the necessary tools and mentorship to move their projects and careers forward. As part of IFP’s ongoing commitment to diversity, the IFP Audio Story Lab inaugural […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 27, 2018 -
Davey Foundation Offers Grants for Short Films; Late Deadline May 15
In years past, we’ve highlighted the Davey Foundation’s annual grant for short films, and while we missed posting about this year’s edition in time for the regular deadline, the late deadline of May 15 still applies. This year, three $5,000 grants are being offered; one includes a gear incentive package, while another also offers a $2,500 Utah filmmaker grant. This is the festival’s fifth year; past recipients have included Lauren Wolkstein’s Beemus, It’ll End in Tears and Fry Day, by 2017 25 New Face of Film Laura Moss. Guest jurors for this year’s edition are Sophia Takal (Always Shine, Green) and Adam Salky (I Smile […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 17, 2018 -
Watch: Zodiac‘s Commitment to Historical Accuracy
David Fincher is notoriously detail-oriented, but this video from the Film Radar account argues that Zodiac goes above and beyond in this respect. To make the point, this video examines two of the murders recreated in the film, juxtaposing the filmed version with testimony of survivors, emergency line recordings and other archival/interview materials. Warning: contains both spoilers and stabbings.’
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 10, 2018 -
Watch: Phantom Thread Camera Tests with Paul Thomas Anderson Commentary
Paul Thomas Anderson gets super-technical about the stocks and lenses used in these Phantom Thread screen tests. Includes an in-character food fight between Daniel Day-Lewis and Lesley Manville.
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 4, 2018 -
Watch: “David Lynch: The Treachery of Language”
“In Lynch’s own speech and in the speech patterns of his films, the impression is of language used less for meaning than for sound. To savor the thingness of words is to move away from their imprisoning nature.” Building off that observation, among others, from Dennis Lim’s fine work on David Lynch, video essayist Grace Lee examines the director’s ambivalent/averse relationship to language.
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 2, 2018 -
Watch: Isle of Dogs Cast Interviewed as Stop-Motion Dogs
This is clearly promotional material, but it’s good: the cast of Isle of Dogs doing their regular EPK interview duties, but animated as stop-motion dogs. See Jeff Goldblum sing Duke Ellington as Duke the dog! See Bill Murray talk about the sacredness of dogs in a weirdly Manakamana-esque setup on a cable car! The press release notes this took three months to shoot, and it shows.
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 15, 2018 -
Airing the Dirty Laundry: Three Documentarians on Making a Film About Their Own Families
Ben Stillerman — director of Taking Stock, a new film about his father’s South African family business — talks with two other documentary filmmakers about the particular joys and challenges of making films about family. Leah Warshawski is the director of Big Sonia, about her inspiring Holocaust survivor grandmother; Kate Dandel’s Gold Balls is about professional senior tennis and features her father-in-law. Stillerman: I came up with the idea for doing a film about my father and our family business partly because I knew I would have unfettered access to a very interesting person and story. I also knew that […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 15, 2018 -
True/False Announces 2018 Lineup
For its 15th edition, the doc-centric, hybrid-friendly annual True/False Film Fest has unveiled a lineup of 40 features, with no less than six world premieres. Black Mother, Khalik Allah’s keenly-awaited follow-up to Field Niggas, is one, as is América, the feature debut from Chase Whiteside & Erick Stoll (profiled in last year’s 25 New Faces of Film). Here’s the lineup; shorts will be announced tomorrow, with the full schedule released on Saturday. For more information, visit the festival’s website. Adriana’s Pact (dir. Lissette Orozco; 2017) The director idolized her glamorous aunt, whose political past holds dark secrets. (Presented by the Kinder Institute on […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 7, 2018 -
“In Time, the Movie Always Reveals What It Wants to Be”: Editor Terel Gibson on Sorry to Bother You
One of the breakout hits of this year’s Sundance, purchased by A24 in the festival’s last days, Boots Riley’s ambitious directorial debut Sorry to Bother You takes place in a near-feature uncomfortably close to the present. Telemarketer Cassius (Lakeith Stanfield) makes his way up the corporate ladder when it’s discovered his “white voice” does wonders in selling product. His rise up the corporate ladder, bringing him to the attention of unsound company head Steven Link (Armie Hammer), worries his activist girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson). Editor Terel Gibson told Filmmaker about the challenges of assembling Riley’s satirical first film. Filmmaker: How and why did […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 5, 2018
