Authors — Sarah Salovaara
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Listen: At SXSW, Jim Cummings on the Dangers of a Hollywood that Caters Exclusively to the Young Adult
Yesterday at SXSW, ornana producer Jim Cummings gave a 15 minute extrapolative talk on his Medium article, “We’re the Bad Guys.” In an impassioned plea for better popular content, Cummings explains how Hollywood has reduced their output to a derivative franchises, geared towards a young adult age bracket that are somehow consumed by mass demographics. There isn’t the symbiotic relationship between creator and audience that should, and often does, exist in independent film. His mini keynote is available online, and well worth listening to in full, but I’ve outlined a few of his points below. Traditional film advertising is obsolete, so […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 17, 2015 -
“You Can’t Make This Stuff Up”: Alison Bagnall on Funny Bunny
Funny Bunny, Alison Bagnall’s third feature, opens with a man shuffling door to door in suburban, middle-class Philadelphia. He’s not pitching bibles, but rather, a means to an end of the childhood obesity epidemic. Gene (Kentucker Audley) is just one player in the off-kilter, quasi-love triangle that takes center stage in Bagnall’s idiosyncratic film, as he’s soon joined by a well-off man-child — the aptly named Titty (Olly Alexander) — and a reclusive, emotionally tenuous young woman named Ginger (Joslyn Jensen), who makes a living peddling her bunny’s ailments on the web. Much like her 2011 two-hander The Dish & The Spoon, Bagnall displays a deft touch for […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 13, 2015 -
Dan Berger on Why Oscilloscope is Selling Their 35mm Prints on Craigslist
A somewhat unsettling Craigslist ad made the rounds on Twitter on Wednesday night, offering up “indie film prints” for the grand total of $1. The dollar was a placeholder, but the offer was very much real: Oscilloscope was “cleaning (ware)house” and looking to sell 35mm prints of Wuthering Heights, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and a handful of others to the highest bidder. Though the post is now flagged for removal, I reached out to Oscilloscope’s Dan Berger about why the company was trying to find a new home for their own property. Immediately, he assured me that the future availability of […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 13, 2015 -
Fandor to Finance Original Shorts Program
Yesterday, Fandor announced the creation of its FIXshorts program, which invited participants in its FIX initiative to submit a budget and proposal for a short-form production. 5 out of the 34 proposals were selected to receive 50% project funding from Fandor, while the other half will be raised on Kickstarter, promoting a “hybrid process to help filmmakers use several modern fundraising and marketing tools to complete and distribute their projects.” Fandor will provide crowdfunding rewards (including monthly subscription trials) and assist with outreach, in addition to ensuring distribution on the streaming platform. The program will run twice annually, with more projects in consideration for support come […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 13, 2015 -
Five Questions with 7 Chinese Brothers Director Bob Byington
7 Chinese Brothers, Bob Byington’s latest, takes its title cue from an REM song, so the familial rapports on display might not be exactly what you suspect. Jason Schwartzman stars as Larry, a boozed-up, bedraggled sad sack, who punctuates his big gulp binges with extended visits to his grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) and her supervisor (Tunde Adebimpe) in a nearby nursing home. Things start to look up when he takes a gig at the local Quick-Lube, where he develops an instant crush on his boss, Lupe (Eleanore Pienta), even if her interests plainly lie elsewhere. Filmmaker spoke to Byington about his satirical treatment of […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 12, 2015 -
Exclusive SXSW Clip: Ben Powell’s Barge
World premiering in SXSW’s Visions section on Saturday is Ben Powell’s Barge, a project featured in IFP’s Spotlight on Documentaries Project Forum back in 2012. Aboard a towboat bound for New Orleans, Powell introduces us to the hands on deck, one of whom, Larry, is depicted in the exclusive clip below. Said Powell of his subject, “I wanted a well-rounded documentation of the crew and every position on the boat. On the last shoot I met a cook named Larry. He happened to be new to the kitchen after working as a deckhand for years. It seemed appropriate thematically to include […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 12, 2015 -
“I’m Pretty Sure She Saw Something”: David Robert Mitchell on It Follows
Lo-fi horror films have enjoyed a modern renaissance ever since The Blair Witch Project, and while the quality of the genre is often overcast by the sheer quantity of its offerings, the profit margins all but ensure Blumhouse and comrades’ staying power. As such, it’s nice to see an aesthetically exacting, relatively high-concept pallet cleanser take its turn in the spotlight. Last year, we had The Babadook, and this year, all signs point towards David Robert Mitchell’s absurdly entertaining, expertly crafted It Follows as the genre’s banner breakout. Mitchell’s sophomore film has myriad virtues — a Carpenter-worthy score from Disasterpeace, and a foreboding use of wide pans, for starters — but it’s […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 11, 2015 -
Watch: Eric Rohmer’s Uncertain Perspectives
I post my fair share of video essays, but arguably the most useful ones are the most specific, breaking down a filmmaker’s craft into a more ‘teachable’ method. Kevin B. Lee’s essay on the blocking, editing and camera perspectives at work in Eric Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale is a prime example of the aforementioned. Lee clearly demonstrates how Rohmer crafts a world of uncertainty through reverse shots and eyelines, just as easily as he can lead the audience to side with a different character from one shot to the next via his cinematography.
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 10, 2015 -
Watch: Albert Maysles on The Beales
Last Friday, a day after Albert Maysles’ passing, Grey Gardens opened for a 40th Anniversary run at New York’s Film Forum. The new 2K digital restoration of the 1976 documentary, courtesy of Janus Films, will roll out in limited cities over the next couple of months, and the Criterion Collection has released a brief interview with Maysles on his working relationship with the Beales, in which he speaks about the women’s setbacks and their fascinating — not to be confused with abnormal — qualities. For reminiscences on Maysles and his work, I’d recommend this piece by Richard Brody, which speaks to the undying […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 9, 2015 -
Tribeca Film Festival Announces 2015 Spotlight and Midnight Sections
Rounding out this week’s program announcement for the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival are the Spotlight and Midnight Sections, along with a handful of Special Screenings and Works-in-Progress. The Spotlight selection includes several world premieres, such as Tim Blake Nelson’s Anesthesia; Thought Crimes, directed by Erin Lee Carr, daughter of the late, great David; David Gelb’s A Faster Horse; as well as Sundance banner titles Sleeping With Other People, Cartel Land, The Overnight, Slow West, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead, and more. The festival is also presenting a Special Screenings section, full of “eventized” affairs, like the world premiere of Mary J. Blige – The London Sessions, followed by […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Mar 5, 2015
