Authors — Mike Plante
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Short Film Confessions Redux
Thirteen years ago, I wrote an article for Filmmaker: “Confessions of a Short Film Programmer.” In my introduction, I hinted at the most brutal clichés filmmakers should avoid (uncleared movie posters on the walls, a protagonist drinking from a Jack Daniel’s bottle, revealing a character to be a mime), but I didn’t want to completely wallow in the negative. After all, as a programmer of short films at Sundance, I’m fortunate to have such a cool job, even if it also happens to be the only job I’m capable of doing professionally. Since the publication of that article, the world […]
by Mike Plante on Mar 8, 2018 -
SAM GREEN’S LOVE SONG AT SFIFF
One of the highlights of the 2012 San Francisco International Film Festival, which boasted a great lineup of films and filmmakers, was the new “live documentary” by Sam Green, The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller, featuring Green and Yo La Tengo live on stage. The notion of the live documentary is exciting as a new film movement, a far more powerful one than the overrated reemergence of 3-D. As part of their Buckminster Fuller exhibit, SFMOMA commissioned Green to create a live documentary on Fuller in the spirit of the filmmaker’s previous work Utopia in Four Movements. Fuller is […]
by Mike Plante on May 7, 2012 -
POSTER ARTIST ADRIAN KOLARCZYK
In the mainstream film world, it seems like the art of the poster is long lost. The glory days of stylish art and creative interpretation has given way to big text and giant celebrity heads. But there is hope in the indie world, and from an unusual location. Adrian Kolarczyk is in his early 20s, from outside of Krakow, Poland – and he makes movie posters. I met him through the Off + Camera Film Festival, a fest I help program an American film section for. Kolarczyk came to see a film we programmed, Alex Ross Perry’s Impolex. Easily one […]
by Mike Plante on Oct 13, 2011 -
RAN INTO TIM LEAGUE
At Sundance, the mastermind of Alamo Drafthouse and tanlines. “Jason Eisener’s HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN is going to burn a swath of destruction across the collective faces of Sundance badgeholders. I can’t wait.” Photo credit – Elijah Wood at the Fight For Your Right to Party Party.
by Mike Plante on Jan 22, 2011 -
Exit Through The Gift Shop
A year after legendary street artist Banksy’s film Exit Through the Gift Shop premiered at Sundance 2010, it still feels vital and fun upon its DVD release, a great roller coaster ride that is not only an entertaining mystery but a pinpoint observation on today’s art world. The film explores the underground street art scene and its anonymity, then segways into the notions of art vs. vandalism, appreciation vs. random collection, and spontaneity vs. calculated hype. When its screening was announced right before the festival, people either thought, “holy shit, Banksy made a film?!?!” or “what’s street art?” As the […]
by Mike Plante on Jan 18, 2011 -
UNDERGROUND MODES OF DISTRIBUTION #1
1. make a extreme documentary that almost drives you insane 2. go to airport 3. accidentally film naked woman in wheelchair with cat 4. convince security that its not performance art, keep camera 5. put on youtube 6. wait til CNN calls you (less than 24 hrs later) to air the video 7. promote upcoming DVD release John Maringouin (Running Stumbled, Big River Man) captured this scene in Oklahoma City yesterday. TSA eventually covered her up and then questioned John as they thought he staged the whole thing. There’s something funny about John – he got arrested while filming Steve-O […]
by Mike Plante on Dec 1, 2010 -
Robert Machoian & Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck
When they met as undergrads at CSU Monterey Bay, Robert Machoian and Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck had different styles but found a third when working together. “A lot of my early work was pushing what people can process with quick cuts and juxtaposition of image,” Ojeda-Beck says. And “I was really exploring duration,” Machoian adds — “what can be done in a single shot and really raw, raw sound, mainly straight off the mic.” Their short films together display a handle on classic arthouse film style. Visuals are the key, along with luscious colorful imagery and solitary characters in simple situations, with […]
by Mike Plante on Jul 17, 2010 -
Inside Envision: Jennifer Arnold’s A Small Act
Presented by the IFP and UN, Envision is a daylong program dealing with the addressing of global issues through documentary. It takes place Saturday, July 10, and you can learn more here. Jennifer Arnold’s A Small Act is one of two features that will be screened at the event. As an impoverished boy in Kenya, Chris Mburu received the fortune of one person’s small donation. When WWII-survivor Hilde Back anonymously sponsored an African child’s education, Chris not only went through school but also became a Harvard-educated human rights lawyer for the UN, all unbeknownst to Hilde. So inspired, Chris and […]
by Mike Plante on Jul 8, 2010 -
JIM FINN AT ANTHOLOGY
What happens when you take an independent American filmmaker, a fetish for Communist memorabilia, and subtract all irony? Pretty much the films of Jim Finn. From May 27-June 2, the Anthology Film Archives will be playing the shorts and features of Jim Finn. Disclaimer: I have shown his films at film festivals I work for and commissioned Finn to make a Lunchfilm. The Busby Berkeley of propaganda, Finn has made three features with a lo-fi indie style that mixes larger Hollywood genre trappings in a big bowl. The results are funny, but also packed with socio-political commentary. Seems hard to […]
by Mike Plante on May 24, 2010
