Authors — Paula Bernstein
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5 Questions for Raising Bertie Director Margaret Byrne
Raising Bertie follows three young men over the course of five years as they grow into adulthood in Bertie County, a rural African-American-led community in North Carolina. Director Margaret Byrne had originally set out to make a short film about The Hive, an alternative school for at-risk students. But when the school was shut down due to lack of funding, she saw the potential for a broader project about the underfunded rural educational system and how it affects African American boys, in particular. Shot in intimate verité style, the film follows Reginald “Junior” Askew, David “Bud” Perry, and Davonte “Dada” Harrell […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 8, 2016 -
Gary Hustwit Launches New Virtual Reality Content Studio with Top Filmmakers
There’s so much buzz about Virtual Reality technology, but to really catch on with a broad audience VR needs compelling original content to drive the new medium. “It’s kind of a chicken and egg thing,” filmmaker Gary Hustwit (Helvetica) told Filmmaker. “You’ve got to have enough players out there and headsets out there for people to be able to watch VR and for people to understand what it is. At the same time, you’ve got to have content that gets them to try it and also hooks them.” With the launch of Scenic, a new Virtual Reality content studio focusing on […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 7, 2016 -
Steve McQueen’s Latest Film? A (NSFW) Burberry Ad Shot in 70mm
Director Steve McQueen hasn’t made another feature since winning an Academy Award for Best Picture for Twelve Years a Slave in 2014. He had been plugging away on the new HBO series Codes of Conduct, which the pay cable network described as Six Degrees of Separation meets Shame. But despite a cast including Paul Dano, Helena Bonham Carter and Rebecca Hall, HBO scrapped the project after initially giving it a six-episode order. But McQueen has kept busy with short film projects including All Day, a 9-minute video installation featuring Kanye West. Of course, he’s no stranger to the short film format, having made some 20 short films since he was an […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 7, 2016 -
Watch: Inside the Rooms of No Home Movie, Take 2
Late last week, we published a video essay from Kevin B. Lee, chief video essayist at Fandor, about the spaces in Chantal Akerman’s final documentary, No Home Movie. Lee estimated that about 70% of the film took place within the walls of the filmmaker’s dying mother Natalia’s apartment. To re-orient himself in Natalia’s apartment, Lee reorganized the footage by room. Initially, he edited the video to music, using Schubert’s Impromptu D. 899 Op. 90 No. 3, not coincidentally the same music used in Michael Haneke’s Amour, which also follows an elderly woman’s demise. But after receiving some complaints, including from the distributors of the film, Lee reassessed […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 5, 2016 -
Watch: Swiss Army Man: The Film That Polarized Sundance
Swiss Army Man, the debut feature from acclaimed music video directing duo The Daniels (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), divided audiences at Sundance 2016 like no other film. Now you can get a peek at the controversial film in its first trailer (above). Following its premiere, Variety declared that the film “could win the festival’s award for the most walk-outs, as a continuous stream of audience members kept standing up and bolting for the door throughout the film.” The premise of the dark comedy is certainly pretty bizarre. Paul Dano plays Hank, a man marooned on an island who is about to commit suicide. […]
by Paula Bernstein on Apr 4, 2016 -
Watch: No Home Movie Room by Room
Chantal Akerman’s final film, No Home Movie, takes on a deeper resonance following the Belgian filmmaker’s death in October 2015. The film is a documentary tribute to her dying mother, Natalia a.k.a. Nelly and an exploration of their relationship. As with all of Akerman’s work, there’s a deeply autobiographical element to the film — even more so now that we know it was to be her last. In the above video essay from Fandor, Kevin B. Lee has reorganized the film’s footage by each room in the apartment to emphasize how Akerman explores each space to reflect her relationship with her dying mother. Beginning April 1, No Home Movie […]
by Paula Bernstein on Mar 31, 2016 -
The Witch Gets a Creepy New Trailer for its Return to Theaters
Whether you missed The Witch in its first time in theaters or you’re ready to return for a second helping of horror, you’ll get a chance to see Robert Eggers’ stunner this weekend. In advance of its return to theaters on Friday, April 1, distributor A24 has released a new trailer (above) for the festival favorite, which initially premiered at Sundance in 2015. Back in February, The Witch gave A24 its biggest weekend opening ever, earning $8.8 million. Having already earned $24 million at the box office, it seems likely to edge out A24’s award-winning Ex Machina, which has grossed $25.4 million. Set in […]
by Paula Bernstein on Mar 30, 2016 -
Nonfiction Filmmakers Invited to Oregon Doc Camp
Now in its third year, Oregon Doc Camp, presented by Women in Film Portland, invites experienced documentary filmmakers to gather in an intimate, informal setting and work on career development. The event will run from May 12-15, 2016 at Silver Falls Lodge and Conference center in Sublimity, Oregon. This year’s programming will be centered around the themes of narrative storytelling and independent distribution, with a three-day program consisting of workshops, lectures, case studies, screenings and a master class, as well as the opportunity to screen works-in-progress. Director Jennifer Grausman, who most recently directed and produced the feature documentary Art & Craft and previously directed and produced […]
by Paula Bernstein on Mar 29, 2016 -
Guy Maddin on The Saddest Music in The World and His Interactive Seances
It only seemed fitting that Portland-based folk musician Michael Hurley would perform a short set of sad songs before the screening of Guy Maddin’s 2003 experimental melodrama The Saddest Music in the World on Friday, March 25 at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland. Maddin himself was in attendance for the sold-out screening, which was presented as part of the Hollywood’s Mississippi Records Music & Film Series. In introducing the film, Maddin said it was a treat to “show this movie I barely remember making. I think what I recall is the movie is about a sad song contest, so Michael [Hurley], I […]
by Paula Bernstein on Mar 29, 2016 -
Short Films Take Flight at the Portland International Airport
Movie theaters in airports have become a bona fide trend, with the Portland International Airport the latest airport to jump onboard. Passengers at many airports throughout Asia can already watch movies before their flights. But until recently, U.S. airports were slow to try the idea. In 2014, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in Minnesota introduced a movie theater that shows art films with programming courtesy of The Film Society of Mpls–St. Paul. And last year, travelers at Miami International Airport were treated to silent film comedy classics as part of a Pop-Up Cinema program. Most recently, the non-profit Hollywood Theatre in Portland announced it would open a new airport […]
by Paula Bernstein on Mar 25, 2016
