Authors — Jason Guerrasio

IS YOUR SOUL WEIGHING YOU DOWN?

In preparation for this weekend’s opening of Sophie Barthes‘ philosophical sci-fi dramedy, Cold Souls, go and check out the faux Website for The Soul Storage Company (thanks to Barthes for sending the link). If you don’t know the premise already, the film follows Paul Giamatti (playing Paul Giamatti) who while struggling to tap into the part of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya decides to have his soul removed by The Soul Storage Company. The site includes an introductory video from Dr. David Flinstein (David Strathairn), a FAQ page, an office tour, a phone number (where “operators are standing by”) and you can […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Aug 4, 2009
INDIEGOGO & SNAGFILMS JOIN FORCES

In a press release sent out yesterday the fundraising/promotion site, IndieGoGo, and the documentary film site, SnagFilms, announced a partnership where select IndieGoGo works-in-progress are featured on the SnagFilms site. Three works have been on the site since mid-July and according to the release have received over half a million impressions on SnagFilms and promotional partner sites. Those three projects are: Connected, by Tiffany Shlain – Connected takes audiences on a stream-of-consciousness ride through the interconnectedness of humankind. Pelotero, by Jon Paley – A Dominican baseball story. Tapestries of Hope, by Michaelene Christini Risly – Two activists from two corners […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Aug 4, 2009
Director Chris Fuller on Loren Cass

There’s something to be said about not being eager to please. Chris Fuller’s Loren Cass is an aggressively confrontational debut, all the more so because it is so resolutely restrained in its approach. So seemingly oblique is Fuller’s approach that one feasibly could make it through the entire film and not realize that its subject matter is the aftermath of the 1996 St. Petersburg riots; but on the other hand, that subject matter is so deeply ingrained in the film’s form that it doesn’t matter. Loren Cass doesn’t so much deal with its themes as it ingests them, and then […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 29, 2009
“BAD LIEUTENANT”: SPECIAL EDITION

When a film is labeled controversial on its release, often times with the passage of time things that made it risqué become tamer, leaving the story less effective. Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant is not one of those films. 17 years after being released, Ferrara’s disturbing look at a dirty cop (played by Harvey Keitel in one of his most powerful performances) running rampant on the streets of New York City is still as gritty, horrifying and powerful as when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1992. Receiving a much needed special edition, out this week through Lions […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 28, 2009
BERLINALE TALENT CAMPUS WANTS YOU

The 8th Berlinale Talent Campus will take place Feb. 13-18, 2010 under the theme “Cinema Needs Talent: Looking for the Right People.” Application deadline is Oct. 7. Producers, directors, actors, cinematographers, screenwriters, editors, production designers, film composers, sound designers, film journalists and visual artists from all over the world are invited to apple at, www.berlinale-talentcampus.de. Here’s more from the release: For many filmmakers, teaming up with the right people to inspire and support them and to create a collective vision is the essential element of successful filmmaking. The upcoming Berlinale Talent Campus will tap into these thoughts and ask how […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 21, 2009
“AUDIENCE OF ONE”

Hands down one of my favorite films of 2007 is this funny yet poignant documentary about a driven San Francisco Pentecostal minister who wants to make films. Though I will admit I was a little late on the One bandwagon (I didn’t see the film until we started screening titles to consider for that year’s Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You for the Gotham Awards, which unfortunately, because of the talented crop of titles that year, wasn’t nominated for the award), Michael Jacobs’s film found a lot of success on the festival circuit, winning awards at SXSW, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 20, 2009
“ANITA O’DAY: THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER”

Directors Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden highlight the life and work of jazz great Anita O’Day in this beautifully packaged 2-disc DVD release spotlighting one of the last living female greats from the golden era of jazz. Known as “The Jezebel of Jazz”, Day died at 87 soon after the production of this documentary was complete. But as in her prime, Day comes off as a feisty lover of life in the doc, not shy to speak her mind and unapologetic of the mistakes she’s made in the past. Self-described as “not a singer, but a song stylist”, Day, who […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 20, 2009
SUMMER ISSUE ONLINE

Select stories from the Summer issue are now online. Check out our annual 25 New Faces of Independent Film list. Jeffrey Levy-Hinte talks about his doc, Soul Power. And Lynn Shelton, Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard and the rest of the creative team behind the Sundance sensation Humpday talk about the process to make this poignant comedy. Plus, Roberto Quezada-Dardon follows up on his DSLR piece from the Spring issue with a look at the accessories that are bringing video camera functionality to single-lens reflex cameras. Esther B. Robinson looks at the day jobs working filmmakers are doing. And in his […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 20, 2009
CHARLES DARWIN BIOPIC TO OPEN TORONTO ’09

Announced this morning, the Toronto International Film Festival will open its 34th edition Sept. 10 with Creation, starring Paul Bettany as Charles Darwin and Jennifer Connelly playing his wife. Director is Joe Amiel. The festival describes the film as “part ghost story, part psychological thriller, part heart-wrenching love story. Torn between his love for his deeply religious wife and his own growing belief in a world where God has no place, Darwin finds himself caught in a struggle between faith and reason, love and truth.” TIFF also announced the four Gala Presentations and eighteen Special Presentations. The Boys are Back, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 14, 2009
MEETING DMITRY TRAKOVSKY

Over on Filmmaker Videos, Jamie Stuart interviews Dmitry Trakovsky about his film Meeting Andrei Tarkovsky, which looks at the late auteur through his collaborators and friends. The film is currently playing at the Lincoln Center as part of their Tarkovsky retrospective. Its final screening is Tuesday, July 14 at 1:15 pm. Learn more about the film here.
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 10, 2009

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