Authors — Jason Guerrasio
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JAMES FRANCO & GUS VAN SANT ON “MEMORIES OF IDAHO”
One of the free programs at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival that caught our eye was James Franco and Gus Van Sant‘s installation, Memories of Idaho, which acts as a meditation on Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho and its lead actor River Phoenix. Here’s a discussion Franco and Van Sant had this past weekend with Noah Cowan at the Bell Lightbox about Memories of Idaho. If you’re in Toronto the installation will be at the Lightbox until Sept. 18. Here’s more about it from the TIFF release: In 1991, Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho and its […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 14, 2011 -
OPENING NIGHT FILM & PANELISTS CHOSEN FOR FILM INDEPENDENT FORUM
Drake Doremus‘ Sundance Grand Prize winner Like Crazy will be the opening night film for the 7th annual Film Independent Forum, according to the non-profit. Taking place Oct. 21-23 at the Director Guild of America in L.A., Like Crazy (which Paramount Vantage opens on Oct. 28) will kick off the the three-day forum for emerging and established independent filmmakers that covers production, distribution, documentary and new media. Speakers for the 2011 Film Independent Forum include: Sara Bernstein, HBO Documentary Films Laura Bickford, producer, Duplicity, Che Josh Braun, Submarine Lisa Callif, Donaldson & Callif, LLP Juan Devis, KCET Public Media Arthur […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 14, 2011 -
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL U.S.A. THEATERS ANNOUNCED
In 2010 the Sundance Institute began Sundance Film Festival U.S.A. where a handful of films from that year’s fest screened in select theaters nationwide on one day during the festival. Today Sundance announced the theaters that will take part in the 2012 edition on Jan. 26. The cities and theaters participating are: –Ann Arbor, MI – The Michigan Theatre –Boston, MA – Coolidge Corner Theatre –Brooklyn, NY – BAM –Chicago, IL – Music Box Theatre –Houston, TX – Sundance Cinemas Houston –Nashville, TN – Belcourt Theatre –Orlando, FL – Enzian Theater –San Francisco, CA – Sundance Kabuki Cinemas –Tucson, AZ […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 14, 2011 -
Five Questions with The Patron Saints Directors Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky
Photographers-documentarians Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky use dark humor and unconventional storytelling techniques to look at patients living in a nursing home for their debut feature, The Patron Saints. Known for their Hurricane Katrina short God Provides and their photography highlighted on their site, piegonprojects.com (two reasons why we selected them for our 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2007), Cassidy and Shatzky’s unique eye of making the ordinary look extraordinary has us excited in seeing this premiere at TIFF. Filmmaker: Tell us a little about what your film is about? Cassidy/Shatzky: The Patron Saints is a hyperrealistic […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 14, 2011 -
MAGNOLIA NABS BOBCAT GOLDTHWAIT’S “GOD BLESS AMERICA”
Deadline reports that Magnolia Pictures has bought the world-wide rights for Bobcat Goldthwait‘s latest dark satire, God Bless America. The film will be released through Magnolia’s genre label, Magnet, with a VOD premiere in 2012 followed by a theatrical release. Premiering at this year’s TIFF Midnight Madness section, the film follows a 45-year-old man (Joel Murray) and a teenage girl (Tara Lynne Barr) as they go on a Bonnie and Clyde-esque rampage after the country unites in the ridicule of a simpleminded contestant on a television singing competition. “I feel like the American Empire is starting to crumble, and we’re […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 13, 2011 -
IFP & FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER UNVEIL EMERGING VISIONS
The IFP and the Film Society of Lincoln Center have announced a collaborative program to take place during this year’s New York Film Festival called Emerging Visions. According to the press release, Emerging Visions will take place Oct. 3 at Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center with 25 emerging filmmaking talents attending with a documentary or narrative feature that has been selected from IFP and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s talent pool. They will be paired with an established director or producer who will mentor them through the current filmmaking landscape, offering guidance and connections to filmmakers on both […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 13, 2011 -
Five Questions with Crazy Horse Director Frederick Wiseman
Legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman heads to the Toronto International Film Festival with his latest film on dance, Crazy Horse. Highlighting the famous cabaret in Paris, Wiseman uses his patented verite style to give an unprecedented look inside the work and lives of the women who makes the Crazy Horse legendary. Filmmaker: Tell us a little about what your film is about? Weisman: I Followed the day to day activities involved in the rehearsing and staging of a new show at the crazy horse, a parisian cabaret famous for its beautiful dancers and erotic dances. Filmmaker: Why a verite look […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 12, 2011 -
Five Questions with Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
In the mid ’90s filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky traveled to West Memphis, Arkansas for a documentary they were making for HBO on the gruesome murders of three boys and the trial of the three teens who were charged. The film, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, gave the trail nationwide interest as Berlinger and Sinofsky revelaed a case that was hardly open and shut. Coerced confessions as well as questionable evidence and testimony made viewers uncertain if the three defendants — Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin — were guilty and the fight to […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 11, 2011 -
FREE AT TIFF
There are some great films/events going on during TIFF that are free of charge. See below. This is not a Film Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, Iran (Toronto Premiere) Sentenced to six years in prison and banned from writing and making films for 20 years by the Islamic Republic Court in Tehran, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi waited for the verdict of his court appeal for months. Through the depiction of a day in his life while he’s on house arrest, Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (a documentary filmmaker and former assistant director) offer audiences an overview of the current situation […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 10, 2011 -
FOX SEARCHLIGHT BUYS MCQUEEN’S “SHAME”
Last night Fox Searchlight announced from Toronto it has bought the U.S. rights to Steve McQueen‘s latest, Shame. Starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan, the drama, which is screening at the fest, follows New Yorker Brandon (Fassbender) who shuns intimacy with women but feeds his desires with a compulsive addiction to sex. However, when his wayward younger sister (Carey Mulligan) moves into his apartment stirring memories of their shared painful past, Brandon’s insular life spirals out of control. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and according to the release Searchlight plans to open Shame before the year ends. […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Sep 10, 2011
