Sentient.Art.Film, which describes itself as a “creative distribution initiative,” is in the middle of its second online repertory series, “My Sight is Lined with Visions” (online through January 22 of next year). Now, Sentient.Art.Film has announced the five artists and filmmakers chosen for its inaugural Line of Sight fellowship. From the press release: Unlike the project-based artist development programs that dominate the indie film landscape, the Line of Sight Fellowship provides intergenerational mentorship and community-building discussion space for participants to develop a collective understanding of historical radical filmmaking (particularly the practices of marginalized communities) and shared future imaginaries outside of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Sep 30, 2021Here’s the first teaser trailer from IFC Films for Benedetta, Paul Verhoeven’s long-awaited “lesbian nun” movie. Verhoeven’s characteristically provocative drama about a 17th-century nun who claimed to experience visions of Jesus premiered at this year’s Cannes (where Blake Williams reviewed it). The movie’s in theaters and on demand on December 3.
by Filmmaker Staff on Sep 24, 2021The Camden International Film Festival announced today the features and shorts comprising its 2021 edition. The festival’s in-person component will take place September 16 – 19 at venues in Camden and Rockland, Maine while an online edition will stream for North American audiences from September 16 – 26. Thirty-seven features and 33 shorts from 30 countries will be presented, with just over half — 52% — directed or co-directed by POC directors. Women directed or co-directed 57% of the titles. Liz Garbus’s National Geographic Documentary Films production Becoming Cousteau will open the festival while Flee, a NEON release that won […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Aug 23, 2021The first trailer for The Card Counter, Paul Schrader’s keenly anticipated follow-up to First Reformed, has arrived. The premise is straightforward: sentenced to ten years in prison, fall guy Oscar Isaac learns how to count cards. The tone here is intriguingly all over the place, including Isaac’ flirtatious casino floor meeting with dealer Tiffany Haddish, promises of cold-blooded revenge and at least one shot directly quoting, per Schrader’s usual reference point, Pickpocket. (It’s the hands reaching towards each other through a prison visiting room’s glass pane.) The Card Counter premieres at this year’s Venice Film Festival before entering release on September 10 from […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jul 27, 2021The year after I graduated college, I’d go to Andrei Tarkovsky double bills a lot. In the New York of the mid-1980s, there would be a Tarkovsky retrospective every few months at Film Forum and now-shuttered spots like the Thalia and Metro Twin. The Russian director’s 1975 Mirror would always be the second film on the program—Andrei Rublev and Mirror, Stalker and Mirror, Solaris and Mirror—so, I wound up seeing Mirror many times. This was partly due to fatigue. My day job was writing grants for a nonprofit. I’d see these movies after work and would invariably drift off during […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jul 12, 2021This article was originally published in Filmmaker‘s Spring, 2021 edition. It is being posted today online in conjunction with I Carry You With Me‘s release in theaters from Sony Pictures Classics. Arriving amidst a number of recent pictures exploring notions of hybridity—mostly documentaries that incorporate narrative or meta elements—nonfiction filmmaker Heidi Ewing’s feature dramatic debut, I Carry You With Me, deploys its formal invention in movingly unexpected ways. Taking the recounted memories of an undocumented Mexican couple living in New York, Ewing tells a swooning, deeply romantic period love story. And it’s one that achieves an arresting sobriety with contemporary […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jun 25, 2021The Sundance Institute today announced the latest cohort of Sundance Institute Documentary Fund Grantees. A total of $590,000 in unrestricted grant support has been provided to 18 projects in various stages including five in development, eight in production, and five in post-production. From the press release: This granting cycle’s supported projects are from 20 countries and territories across five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America), with over half the projects having international roots. Granting focused on projects by artists from historically underrepresented communities, ensuring that these stories are being told from within the communities. This year all […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jun 8, 2021The Gotham Film & Media Institute (formerly IFP), Filmmaker’s parent organization, announced today twenty feature and series projects participating across two labs this month: the Gotham Documentary Feature Lab (May 17-21) for debut non-fiction feature films currently in post-production and the Gotham TV Series Lab (running May 24-28), for outstanding projects in development and written/created by first-time series creators. “We are living through a period of remarkable innovation in the independent film industry. This year marks our second virtual lab series which has helped us to provide greater access to The Gotham’s resources so that creatives can expand their network and further develop […]
by Filmmaker Staff on May 27, 2021All Light, Everywhere—Theo Anthony’s follow up to his feature debut Ratfilm—premiered during this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Now scheduled for theatrical release on June 4, All Light is a sweeping essay-film look at modes of surveillance and the ways they feed racism. Drone surveillance and police bodycams manufactured by Axon (formerly TASER) are just some of the subjects under consideration by Anthony (a 25 New Face of Film in 2015). (And click here to read Anthony’s interview with Sky Hopinka, the cover feature from our most recent issue.)
by Filmmaker Staff on May 18, 2021Last year, Canadian filmmaker Sophy Romvari (who’s previously written for Filmmaker) launched the concept and a campaign for a new online short film platform. The Exquisite Shorts Program is designed to create a new model for short film exhibition. After a development period, the website and submissions are now live and ready to receive short films. Every film that screens in the program will be selected from submissions made through the website. The first short film will be selected by acclaimed Lingua Franca filmmaker, Isabel Sandoval. Here’s a refresher on how the program works: Filmmaker 1 → Picks a short […]
by Filmmaker Staff on May 7, 2021