Authors — Lauren Wissot
-
Bright Ideas
CosyMo’s Solar Cinema, a solar-powered, mobile movie theater that brings socially engaged art films to underserved communities, is the brainchild of Dutch filmmaker Maureen Prins, who, ironically, is based in Tilburg, Holland’s rainy southern city. Now in its seventh year, Prins’s sustainable cinema has traversed both Europe and Latin America, with the activist artist hoping to “conquer the world and create an international network of Ecocinemas that distribute and show films everywhere.” To that end, Prins has been screening films throughout Europe since 2010, partnering with such organizations as France’s Cine sin Fronteras, Croatia’s Pula Film Festival, Malta’s Cinemastik, Slovenia’s Marindol Children’s […]
by Lauren Wissot on Oct 21, 2013 -
Arthouse in the Caribbean: The Trinidad + Tobago Film Festival 2013
Now in its seventh year, the Trinidad + Tobago Film Festival is both a celebration of Caribbean cinema and of the young country itself, which only gained independence from its British rulers, after a long series of turnovers through the hands of Spain, France, The Netherlands and Courland a little over 50 years ago. (Though I’ve covered many film festivals both in the U.S. and abroad over the past few years, this was the first time I was required to stand for the singing of a national anthem on opening night.) And while many international festivals struggle for a taste […]
by Lauren Wissot on Oct 8, 2013 -
More Than Saunas and Kaurismäkis: The Second Finnish Film Affair
“Love & Anarchy” may have been the motto of the 26th Helsinki International Film Festival, which took over the Finnish capital the last ten days of September, but hospitality and order ruled the three-day Finnish Film Affair. The industry event, which takes place during the fest and is now in its second year, was created in 2012 to highlight Finnish films and connect international professionals (mostly sales agents, distributors, and programmers) with the Nordic country’s surprisingly robust film scene. To that end, works in progress were presented alongside prestigious festival hits. And an abundance of networking opportunities at nightly parties […]
by Lauren Wissot on Oct 7, 2013 -
Leading the Way in Non-Traditional Distribution: Jonathan Goodman Levitt’s Follow the Leader
Jonathan Goodman Levitt’s Follow the Leader may have recently won the Jury Prize in the Feature Film Competition at the 2013 Northside Festival in Brooklyn, but its DIY distinction lies far beyond what’s captured in front of the lens. Over the course of three years, Levitt’s doc trails a trio of high school class presidents (and aspiring U.S. presidents) – all male and all hailing from one of the original 13 Colonies (Virginia, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania). Even more remarkable than these teenagers’ evolving attitudes, though, is the director’s distribution game plan, deployed with the targeted precision of a political campaign. […]
by Lauren Wissot on Aug 27, 2013 -
Tall Stories
Presented as a “live screening,” Katerina Cizek’s Web-based interactive piece, HIGHRISE/Out My Window, was a mesmerizing highlight of the “Expanding Documentary” exhibition at the 2010 edition of IDFA. Now, nearly three years later, Cizek is poised to extend her artistic exploration of urban living to the Web pages of The New York Times. Peeking out from its paywall, the Grey Lady has nabbed the director and her National Film Board of Canada producers to collaborate on a forward-thinking op-ed doc series on the subject of vertical housing. Set to launch in the fall, it consists of four short documentaries, the […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jul 18, 2013 -
Christine Turner on Homegoings
This article was orginally published in February 2013 to coincide with the film’s premiere at MoMA’s Documentary Fortnight. Homegoings opens theatrically today at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem and airs tonight on POV. Just in the nick of time for Black History Month, and debuting at the 2013 Documentary Fortnight: MoMA’s International Festival of Nonfiction Film, is Christine Turner’s Homegoings, a poetically crafted exploration of the history of African-American funeral traditions. Told via the Harlem neighborhood’s legendary funeral director Isaiah Owens – who found his calling as a small child, burying all deceased animals he stumbled across in his South […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jun 24, 2013 -
Going Digital in the Desert: Currents 2013 New Media Festival
Perhaps the one word that best describes the Currents New Media Festival, an annual event hosting an international array of artists that steams into Santa Fe for the last half of June, is “overwhelming.” This year cutting edge-curious New Mexicans and tourists alike are being treated to futuristic video installations and interactive artwork, art-apps and animation, multimedia performances and experimental documentaries (including Denis Côté’s disturbing study in the banality of human evil towards animals, Bestiaire) – all taking place inside El Museo Cultural, a cavernous warehouse in the Railyard District. Then there are the satellite happenings. Digital Dome screenings – […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jun 22, 2013 -
American Doc: Five Tips for Nonfiction Filmmakers
Recently, I was on a panel at the Little Rock Film Festival titled “Cinematic Nonfiction: Not Your Parents’ Documentary Film.” As our moderator Robert Greene, the director of Fake It So Real, and I waxed rhapsodic over the state of nonfiction filmmaking in Denmark, I realized that my own doc philosophy has evolved over the years – as I’ve noticed more and more that Americans lag behind much of the world when it comes to quality doc-making. While a lot of nonfiction aficionados like to chalk up this disparity to generous government subsidies in Europe, the problem actually lies much […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jun 11, 2013 -
Kicking Ass in Clintonland: The Little Rock Film Festival
“A great film is made with love and time. Then it knocks you on your ass.” Such was the guerrilla tagline for the seven-year-old Little Rock Film Festival, and the same could be said regarding fests themselves – and writing about them, for that matter. Truth be told, I was initially on the fence about heading south to cover a festival in a state I was hard-pressed to locate on a map, and knew only through its past racist history and present-day Jeff Nichols films. Fortunately, my sister pointed out why passing up the chance to visit Little Rock would […]
by Lauren Wissot on May 28, 2013 -
Talking with Michael Di Jiacomo and John Turturro about 1-900-Tonight
One of the most frustrating things about covering film festivals is making discoveries that few movie lovers will ever see. Filmmaking is an industry after all, and as such, artistry will always play second fiddle to marketability. Even so, I was quite surprised to learn that one of my favorite films from the 2011 edition of the prestigious Karlovy Vary International Film Festival never found U.S. theatrical distribution. Surely someone could have figured a way to sell a John Turturro-starring, NYC-set story about two lost souls on opposite ends of an adult chat line? (Especially considering Turturro last year appeared […]
by Lauren Wissot on May 3, 2013
