Authors — Michael Pattison
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How Global South Filmmakers Find Funding Through Film Festivals in the Global North
Besides providing much-needed visibility and prestige, film festivals are also marketplaces and training venues, in which first- or second-time filmmakers can gain valuable entrepreneurial guidance. This is of particular importance considering that a film’s heaviest production costs are incurred after it has been shot. Indeed, while shooting a film has arguably never been cheaper or easier, filmmakers still face numerous obstacles when it comes to actually getting their work viewed. Editing, color-correction, subtitling, grading and mixing — but also pitching, marketing, selling: these form the practical difference between a film acquiring some kind of shelf life and disappearing before it has […]
by Michael Pattison on Nov 2, 2015 -
“It’s Good For You To Experience Disasters”: Oliver Laxe on His Forthcoming Feature Las Mimosas
Currently in post-production, Oliver Laxe’s second feature, Las Mimosas, is an ambitious follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut feature, You All Are Captains. Shot in Morocco, where the French-born Spaniard has lived for the best part of a decade, the film has been four years in the making. Produced by Zeitun Films and co-financed by Rouge International (France) and LaProd (Morocco), Laxe’s sophomore feature also received support from several funding schemes at film festivals, including Torino FilmLab and CPH:Forum. With Zeitun Films aiming to unveil the film at another major festival in 2016 (Captains debuted at Cannes in 2010), footage […]
by Michael Pattison on Oct 12, 2015 -
Medium-Length Highs Over Fragmented Landscapes: FIDMarseille
Diversity’s the aim of every city’s game, but Marseilles really does have everything. Greek in origin, Roman by design, Arabic in flavor, French in architecture and Mediterranean in climate: this encouragingly rough-edged melting pot is an appropriate setting for a film festival like FIDMarseille. Eschewing the standard but arbitrary practice of dividing films based upon format or duration, FID throws all of its selections together: fictional shorts, feature-length documentaries, mid-length essay-films and just about every hybridized bastard form in between. At a time when festivals are increasingly wary of upsetting sponsors and other funding bodies, appealing where they can to […]
by Michael Pattison on Jul 7, 2015 -
Resist, Ye Andalusians!: Seville European Film Festival 2014
The local, national and continental share a happy space at Seville European Film Festival (SEFF). Now 11 editions strong, the Andalusian capital’s chief annual film event boasts a range of movies as healthily varied as southern Spain’s autumnal weather: here a morning shower, there a midday sun, here an established auteur, there an unknown debutant. While diversity is the aspiration of many a film festival, the cost is often quality. Now under artistic director José Luis Cienfuegos for three years, though, SEFF has done well to carve out its current position as the festival calendar’s prime place to discover quality […]
by Michael Pattison on Nov 18, 2014
