Authors — Sarah Salovaara
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Trailer Watch: Matt Wolf’s Teenage
Oscilloscope Laboratories has released the trailer for 25 New Face Matt Wolf’s inventive documentary Teenage, which uncovers the genesis of youth culture at the turn of the 20th century. Comprised of archival material, recreations and narration lifted from diary entries — courtesy of Jena Malone and Ben Whishaw’s dulcet tones — the film had its world premiere at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival and will be released in New York on March 14. According to a recent Vogue article, Wolf is currently at work on a documentary about Eloise illustrator Hilary Knight at Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner’s production company.
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 12, 2014 -
Tribeca Film Festival Announces “Innovation Week”
The Tribeca Film Festival has made significant strides to transform their trend-buoyed cachet into a boundary pushing enterprise. Last year, TFF introduced Storyscapes, a transmedia installation that probed the intersection of technology, interactivity and installation art, and this year, De Niro and Co. are extrapolating from the initiative, launching a full blown “Innovation Week.” From April 21-26, the festival hopes to become ground zero for hackers, screenwriters, engineers and venture capitalists alike, with a program centered around the Fifth Annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards (TDIA), Future of Film Live with Aaron Sorkin, Tribeca Hacks <Mobile>, a TFI Interactive summit, the Games […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 12, 2014 -
Shanks FX Demonstrates the Low-Budget Illusions of the Space Flight
Before there was Gravity, there were sliders and stop-motion. In their latest informational video, the masterminds at Shanks FX demonstrate the old-fashioned illusion of the space flight, as seen in Star Wars, Close Encounters, Star Trek and beyond. With a mere DSLR, some rigging and a model, they’re able to produce animated sequences of ships in flight.
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 11, 2014 -
Hannah Fidell’s A Teacher To Be Adapted At HBO
While the internet wages on about whether or not the cinematic True Detective is fit for the small screen, HBO is pressing ahead on the ever-thinning gap between film and television. Yesterday, the premium cable channel announced that 25 New Face Hannah Fidell’s A Teacher would be getting the adaptation treatment. Michael Costigan, upon seeing the film at 2013 Sundance, enlisted Fidell and Daniel Brockhurst, former showrunner of the UK Shameless, to executive produce and write the series. Mark and Jay Duplass, who are gearing up to shoot their own HBO series Togetherness, will also executive produce, with Fidell directing the potential pilot. This […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 11, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Richard Ayoade’s The Double
Given the breadth of his reverential cannon, it’s surprising that the number of Dostoyevsky adaptations remains relatively slim. The English comedian Richard Ayoade has brought a noted flourish to his translation of The Double, the Russian giant’s novella about a man haunted by his far more confident and aggressive doppelgänger. Well received at Toronto and Sundance, the film, which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska, will open in the U.S. on May 9, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. I, for one, am interested in seeing the typecast Eisenberg working to convey some bull-headed magnetism as the titular character.
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 10, 2014 -
Ken Burns Finds New Audience with “Past Is Present” App
“There is no such thing as history,” Ken Burns says at the top of this short promotional clip for his new iPad app, Past Is Present. It’s more like a series of recurrences: “not cycles, but patterns.” To help the average eye better examine such connections, Don MacKinnon conceived, directed and produced this interactive exploration of common threads in Burns’ work. Clips from the likes of The Civil War and Baseball are grouped by both theme and time period, allowing its user to make scenes “20 years apart, suddenly interrelate in a new way.” Burns offers up interviews and his own clip assemblies, determined by […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 10, 2014 -
“The Misery of Some People:” Paolo Sorrentino on The Great Beauty
Since its premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty has enjoyed much critical and theatrical success — alongside the more unwanted La Dolce Vita comparisons and projected criticism of the Berlusconi era. In speaking with the filmmaker behind this alternately bombastic and meditative examination of a writer adrift in the eternal and ostentatious city, however, one senses that Sorrentino’s intentions were not nearly as biting as some have gathered. Yes, there is a Bishop more infatuated with food than God, a woman who strips for the love of the profession, a child who earns millions by having […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 7, 2014 -
SFFS Announces Documentary Film Fund Finalists
The San Francisco Film Society has announced this year’s finalists for the Documentary Film Fund, which is set to divy up $75,000 next month. Open to nonfiction films in post-production, the Fund has previously supported such Sundance titles as Narco Cultura, American Promise and the Oscar-nominated Cutie and the Boxer. Making the list is Western, the Ross Brothers’ follow-up to Tchoupitoulas, and Blood Brother director Steve Hoover’s Gennadly. The Fund is made possible by Jennifer Battat and the Jenerosity Foundation, and you can view the full list of finalists below. Anatomy of an American Dream — John Ryan Johnson, director Antoine Hood is a charismatic 28-year-old former college basketball […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 6, 2014 -
Airborne Footage from the 6K RED Dragon
A few weeks back, I posted a breakdown of the camera packages selected by this year’s Oscar-nominated cinematographers. RED was nowhere to be found. After a long delayed release, the 6K RED Dragon finally hit shelves this summer alongside some pretty nice test footage from Mark Toia. Making another case for ARRI’s underling is some new airborne footage from Freefly, shot with a 11-16 mm lens. In places, the images are so clean, they almost look computer generated.
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 6, 2014 -
Submissions Open for IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs
Debut directors with either documentary or narrative features in post-production should highly consider submitting to the IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs. Their track record — An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, Blue Caprice, Concussion, Our Nixon, Pariah, to name a few — speaks for itself. A year-long mentorship program, the Labs are designed to support filmmakers through the lengthly process of completing, marketing and distributing their first films. Available exclusively to features with a budget under $1 million, the Labs pair filmmakers with leading industry personnel for three distinct programs throughout 2014. You can read more about the program and apply here. The deadline for documentaries […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 5, 2014
