Authors — Sarah Salovaara
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Exclusive: Fandor Announces Second Round of Original FIXshorts, Including Tombstone Rashomon from Alex Cox
In March, Fandor announced the creation of their FIXshorts program, which funded and offered streaming distribution to 5 short form proposals from FIX filmmakers. For the second round of the initiative, Fandor is expanding their reach to include the likes of Alex Cox: his short Tombstone Rashomon (and six of his features) will receive an exclusive premiere on Fandor, along with four original short films from FIX filmmakers to round out the pack. Cox is currently funding his film on Indiegogo, while the other four projects will be partially financed by Fandor before raising the rest of their budgets on Kickstarter, with monthlong campaigns […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 15, 2015 -
Trailer Watch: Celia Rowlson-Hall’s MA
Here’s your first look at MA, the debut feature from one of our most recent 25 New Faces, Celia Rowlson-Hall. The dialogue free film just received its world premiere in the Venice Days section of the Venice Film Festival, and I was fortunate enough to catch a work-in-progress screening back in April at Tribeca. Be sure to keep an eye out for it on the circuit in the coming year.
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 10, 2015 -
Laura Poitras, AJ Schnack and Charlotte Cook Launch Field of Vision, The Intercept’s Documentary Unit
Today it was announced that Laura Poitras, AJ Schnack and Charlotte Cook will collaborate to launch Field of Vision, the visual journalism arm of The Intercept, of which Poitras serves as a co-editor. The trio will work together to commission between 40 and 50 short-form nonfiction films each year, with the first season debuting on The Intercept on September 29, following the world premiere of Poitras’ Asylum as part of “Field of Vision: New Episodic Nonfiction” at the NYFF on September 27. You can expect new work from 25 New Faces Iva Radivojevic and Dustin Guy Defa, along with Poitras d.p. Kirsten Johnson, […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 9, 2015 -
Trailer Watch: Josh Mond’s James White
Here’s the first trailer for Josh Mond’s Sundance winner James White, starring Cynthia Nixon and Christopher Abbott as a cancer patient and her alcoholic son. As his mother leans on the eponymous character for emotional stability, James spirals into self-destructive pattern, in what’s a tightly controlled, affecting character study. The Film Arcade will open James White on November 13, 2015.
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 8, 2015 -
Programmer Ryan Edgington on Videology’s Move to Theatrical Runs with Mark Duplass Production Creep
In a flurry of recent announcements that include the launch of Metrograph, a repertory and indie cinema on the Lower East Side, and the expansion of Greenwich Village’s IFC Center, New York is beating back against the so-called deterioration of the theatrical experience. The Williamsburg bar-video rental store-screening room Videology, along with its neighboring Spectacle, is also dipping its toe into the weeklong run, with an exclusive release of Patrick Brice’s first film, Creep, on the heals of its extended runs of Drafthouse titles Roar and The Tribe. Filmmaker spoke to programmer Ryan Edgington about the venue’s transition, if “eventizing” is necessary to draw audiences, and what else […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 4, 2015 -
“One of the Basic Questions of Directing is When Are You with Someone and When Are You Not?”: Eskil Vogt on Blind
Blind, the feature directorial debut of Joachim Trier’s co-writer Eskil Vogt, is an aesthetically spick-and-span Nordic nightmare, a meditation on loneliness, illness and responsibility. If its effects are a bit sneakier than the wrecking ball to the chest approach of Oslo, August 31, it’s due to the meticulousness of its script, and the complex interplay among its many principal characters. Ingrid (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) has recently lost her sight, and spends her days cooped up with her computer while her husband Morten (Henrik Rafaelsen) is at work. Unable to relate to the outside world, Ingrid retreats into her imagination, crafting an interwoven tale of […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 3, 2015 -
Watch: Red Lighting in the Films of Martin Scorsese
A new site called Film Scalpel is devoted to not just the production of video essays, but also understanding their grammar and exemplary practitioners. Among their first handful of videos are four takes on different motifs in the work of Martin Scorsese, with a thoughtful look at his use of red as it historically relates to tinting and black and white compositions. Check that out above, and read below for some context. Just as silent movies were rarely silent, black-and-white films were not often simply black and white. In the silent era, the techniques of tinting and toning were commonly used to add a dash of […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 2, 2015 -
Trailer Watch: Alexander Sokurov’s Francofonia
Peppered with documentary elements, Alexander Sokurov’s Francofonia returns the director to similar territory of his much heralded Russian Ark, this time among the hallowed halls of Paris’ Louvre. The film will explore the relationships between art and culture, war and power, throughout the centuries of the museum. Francofonia premieres in competition at Venice and will be shown in the Masters program at TIFF. Check out the first trailer above.
by Sarah Salovaara on Sep 1, 2015 -
Watch: Diametric Composition in Two Days, One Night
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are consistently lauded for their naturalistic brand of social realist dramas, but this video essay from Marshall Shaffer digs a little deeper, putting forth Two Days, One Night as an argument for the brothers’ masterful (and largely undiscussed) use of composition. Through varied backdrops and physical obstacles, the brothers repeatedly cleave their frames in two, reflecting the emotional discord between Sandra (Marion Cotillard) and her co-workers. The favoring of subtle and organic barriers, Shaffer argues, provides a nice contrast to the exacting compositions of Kubrick, Anderson, and other directors who are frequently cited as the gold standard.
by Sarah Salovaara on Aug 27, 2015 -
Why the Kickstarter Film Festival is Expanding to 32 Screens for its Fifth Edition
Previously, the Kickstarter Film Festival showcased everything from feature film excerpts to apps funded on the site over the course of one evening in Brooklyn, Los Angeles and London. For the 5th edition, Kickstarter has pared down the lineup to include two features and three shorts, while expanding their geographical reach, as the program will now be presented in 32 screens across the country on October 15, for free with RSVP. Filmmaker spoke to Kickstarter’s Film Partnerships Lead Dan Schoenbrun about this new iteration, which seeks to bring the platform’s films to their widest audience yet. Filmmaker: What was the decision behind the move from three cities […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Aug 26, 2015
