Authors — Jason Guerrasio

“THE ART STAR AND THE SUDANESE TWINS” writer-director, Pietra Brettkelly

A large part of my film, The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins, was shot in the extraordinary region of southern Sudan. Its first language is Dinka, its second language Arabic. Casual greetings are unfortunately my limits in both these languages, and this was both the challenge and the beauty of trying to film an observational documentary. My cameraman and I were often running on instinct, interpreting the body language of people we were filming. We’ve both filmed overseas and have gained some familiarity with European and Pacific Island languages. But Dinka in particular has no similarity to anything I’d […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 14, 2008
“BAGHEAD” writer-directors, Mark and Jay Duplass

Penis size was definitely an issue on Baghead. In fact, we could have used a LOT more than 10 percent extra, but we would have been glad to have as much as we could get. Now please don’t think we’re superficial. We generally don’t concern ourselves with such things. We’ve traditionally viewed ourselves as nice, sweet brothers who lean toward more personal, relationship-oriented films like The Puffy Chair. Maybe we were even better off making these sensitive films with the limited equipment God gave us, you know? But Baghead turned out to be one demanding, feisty little bugger. And we […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 14, 2008
“DEATH IN LOVE” writer-director, Boaz Yakin

You always wish you had more of everything: budget, talent, time, emotional courage, personal magnetism, etc., but part of maturing as a filmmaker, for me, means accepting what I have and doing the best I can with it. That doesn’t mean not pushing as hard and as fiercely as possible during every moment of the process — it just means a willingness to fight for the things I have a chance of getting and genuinely letting go of the things I can’t. In this instance, it would have been nice to have 10 percent more willingness from the financiers who […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 14, 2008
“SLEEP DEALER” co-writer-director, Alex Rivera

Rasquachismo. Sleep Dealer is a science fiction set in Mexico. In the script I described everything from exploding buildings and fighter-jet dogfights to remote-control robots. The effects were never the focus of the film — they existed to give a politicized futuristic setting for my characters. When time came to actually produce the insanely challenging visuals, my amazing d.p. and VFX supervisor and I solved many, many problems with rasquachismo. Rasquachismo refers to a spirit in Latino communities of taking what’s at hand, cobbling it together, and making something wondrous out of it. Like using parts of one old car […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 14, 2008
“CHRONIC TOWN” director, Tom Hines

If I could’ve had 10 percent more of something on Chronic Town, I would have to say that it would’ve been 10 percent more length on our extension cords. That may sound odd, but when you have to plug in your production vehicles (which on our budget equaled two minivans) to prevent the oil in your car from freezing overnight, then every inch counts. During the winter in Alaska, you need to plug your car into an outlet to keep the oil in your engine from freezing (it’s advised to be plugged in when it’s below zero, which it was […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 14, 2008
HONORING NONFICTION

If you read our blog often you’ve seen us link to filmmaker AJ Schnack‘s great blog All These Wonderful Things from time to time to get the real and honest take of what nonfiction filmmakers have to go through to get their films shown, and the hurdles they jump to get recognized for the major awards. Well, Schnack is going a step further now by co-chairing a new award for nonfiction filmmakers that will champion the best docs of the year. Set for March 18 at the IFC Center in New York, the inaugural ceremony will recognize all the different […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 8, 2008
GLOBES SCRAPPED

According to a report by Variety moments ago, the Hollywood Foreign Press has announced the Golden Globes’ traditional dinner ceremony will be replaced with a 6 p.m. PST news conference to announce the winners this Sunday.
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 7, 2008
“3:10 TO YUMA”

In remaking the 1957 classic Western starring Van Heflin and Glenn Ford, director James Mangold (Walk The Line) thankfully doesn’t bastardize the solid story or the sanctity of the original. Instead he returns to the source material (an Elmore Leonard short story) and creates this battle of wills between a struggling rancher and the notorious leader of a band of outlaws with respect to the genre and a kick in the pants for a new generation of viewers. Though I would hardly call it the best Western since Unforgiven (as a Houston Chronicle blurb boasts on the DVD cover), teaming […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 5, 2008
Rising Voices

In Denzel Washington’s second directing effort, the Oprah Winfrey produced The Great Debaters, he takes what he learned from his debut, Antwone Fisher, and uses it to make the inspirational true story of one small all-black school’s rise to the top of the college debating ranks in the Jim Crow South. Washington also stars in the film as the rebellious Melvin B. Tolson. Known for his American Modernist poetry and a contemporary of the Harlem Renaissance, in the ‘30s Tolson was a professor at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. There he coached the debate team and in 1935 his team […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 21, 2007
DIFF: A WEEK IN PICTURES (PART 2)

This series of photos will show you Dubai outside the festival walls. A LOOK AT DOWNTOWN DUBAI’S TOWERING SKYSCRAPERS FROM POOLSIDE OF THE HABTOOR GRAND RESORT, WHERE MOST OF THE MEDIA WERE STAYING. THE SKYLINE OF THE FUTURE. FOR EVERY BUILDING THAT’S FINSHED, THERE ARE AT LEAST THREE AROUND IT THAT ARE STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. HOW MANY CRANES CAN YOU FIND IN THIS SHOT? ACCORDING TO A REPORT, 30% OF THE WORLD’S CRANES ARE BEING USED IN DUBAI. GIRDLOCK ON ONE OF DUBAI’S THREE MAIN ROADWAYS, AL SUFOUTH ROAD, CAUSED A LOT OF HEADACHES GETTING TO AND FROM EVENTS. THREE […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 14, 2007

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