Authors — Paula Bernstein
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Portland’s Historic Hollywood Theatre Caters to Cinephiles with 70mm
Within the course of one week in late December 2015, the historic Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon made movie news twice. First, the non-profit theatre announced it would open The Hollywood Theatre @PDX, a new airport theatre which will highlight short films telling stories specific to Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Then, none other than Quentin Tarantino showed up after a screening of The Hateful Eight (in 70mm, of course!) and took part in an impromptu Q&A. Both instances were indicative of The Hollywood Theatre’s efforts to court cinephiles with innovative programming, community outreach, and 70mm projection. As film audiences increasingly opt to stay home and […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 21, 2016 -
Weather Advisory: How Climate Change is Changing Location-Based Film Shooting
Throughout the history of cinema, from It’s a Wonderful Life and Doctor Zhivago to Fargo and The Ice Storm, filmmakers have relied on snow to create authentic settings and magical worlds. But in the age of climate change, capturing snow on film has become a serious challenge for filmmakers no longer able to count on the real thing, as was the case with last year’s The Hateful Eight and The Revenant. Of course, filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Alejandro Iñárritu have the financial resources to enable them to wait for snowfall, generate artificial snow, create CGI snow, or any combination […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 21, 2016 -
Watch: 100 Years/100 Shots, Official Selection of Tribeca 2016
Jacob T. Swinney’s latest supercut 100 Years/100 Shots, a compilation of the most iconic shots from some of the most memorable films of the past 100 years, screened as part of Tribeca N.O.W. at the Tribeca Film Festival. “While many of these shots are the most recognizable in film history, others are equally iconic in their own right,” Swinney explains in the video’s description on Vimeo. “For example, some shots pioneered a style or defined a genre, while others tested the boundaries of censorship and filmgoer expectations. If anything, I want this video to be a reminder as to why we all love cinema so […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 20, 2016 -
Sundance’s Missy Laney Joins BitTorrent to Collaborate with Filmmakers
Last week, BitTorrent announced that it had hired Missy Laney as the company’s new Director of Creative Initiatives. Laney, who has spent years at the Sundance Institute as the Manager of their Artist Services Program, will focus on collaborating with filmmakers to build sustainable distribution strategies and guide platform development for creators. While at Sundance, Laney led their creative funding initiative with Kickstarter and oversaw digital and direct-to-fan distribution efforts. During that time, Laney guided over 250 filmmakers through successful crowdfunding campaigns, including Sean and Andrea Fine’s Oscar Award-winning Innocente, Adam Nimoy’s documentary For the Love Of Spock, and David Alvarado and Jason […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 18, 2016 -
Tribeca 2016: Five Questions for Kicks Director Justin Tipping
The Tribeca Film Festival kicked off on April 14 with the opening night premiere of Justin Tipping’s Kicks, an ambitious coming-of-age film set in an inner city enclave in Northern California. Though it’s Tipping’s feature debut, he’s far from a novice filmmaker, having already won a Student Academy Award and the Lexus Short Film competition. The semi-autobiographical Kicks focuses on 15-year-old Brandon (newcomer Jahking Guillory in a breakout performance), who buys himself a sweet new pair of “kicks.” But when the local hood snatches them, Brandon goes on a mission to retrieve his new stolen sneakers with his best buddies’ help. Along the […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 15, 2016 -
Trailer Watch: Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation
Though it won’t hit theaters for nearly six months, The Birth of a Nation got its first trailer today — and it’s a stunner. The film — written, directed, produced and starring Nate Parker — wowed critics and audiences at Sundance earlier this year, where it won both the Audience Award and Jury Award and sold to Fox Searchlight for a record $17.5 million, making it the biggest Sundance deal of all time. Set to Nina Simone’s cover of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” the trailer artfully presents snippets of the story, which follows Parker’s Nat Turner as becomes the leader of the 1831 slave rebellion. […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 15, 2016 -
Five Questions with AWOL Director Deb Shoval
The below article was originally published during last year’s Tribeca and is being reposted today timed to AWOL‘s release on digital platforms (iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, etc.) and preceding its week-long run at the IFP Made in New York Media Center. Tickets are available here. The love story of Deb Shoval’s AWOL plays out against the backdrop of a depressed coal town in Pennsylvania. The protagonist is Joey (Lola Kirke), a plucky 19-year-old who sees the Army as the only way out of town until she falls for Rayna (Breeda Wool), a married mother of two who can’t afford to leave her trucker husband. […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 15, 2016 -
Camden International Film Festival Calls for Entries to Points North Fellowship
The Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) is now accepting submissions for its Points North Fellowship, which provides grants bringing six teams of filmmakers to participate in the Points North Pitch at the Camden International Film Festival from September 15-18, 2016. For the first time in 2016, all selected Points North Fellows will receive a $2,000 cash grant sponsored by the Chicago Media Project and an individual donor. The six projects selected for the Points North Fellowship will receive two All Access passes to the festival, five nights of accommodations and a round-trip flight to Maine. The Fellowship takes place before, during and even […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 13, 2016 -
Facebook Unveils an Open-Source 360-Degree Video Camera
Facebook introduced Surround 360, a high-end video camera, today at F8, the company’s annual developer conference in San Francisco. In reality, Facebook unveiled a reference design for the VR video camera, which it plans to release as an open-source project on GitHub this summer. In other words, Facebook will not be producing the camera. Instead, Facebook is open-sourcing the camera in order to encourage developers to take the design and create their own version of the camera. “In designing this camera, we wanted to create a professional-grade end-to-end system that would capture, edit, and render high-quality 3D-360 video. In doing so, we hoped to meaningfully […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 12, 2016 -
Report from the Green Room Cast and Crew Premiere in Portland
It was a homecoming of sorts for Green Room writer-director Jeremy Saulnier, actors Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Macon Blair and other members of the local cast and crew when they attended a special screening of the film at The Hollywood Theatre in Portland, Oregon on April 9. The last time they had gathered in Portland it was to shoot the grisly thriller, which was both set and filmed in Oregon in fall 2014. Green Room marks Saulnier’s latest effort since the critically acclaimed revenge thriller Blue Ruin. Written and directed by Saulnier, Green Room premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Director’s Fortnight before screening […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 11, 2016
