Authors — Scott Macaulay
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R.I.P., Documentary Great Albert Maysles
The legendary documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles passed away last night, reported The Criterion Collection on the day it is rereleasing one of his most indelible and influential works, Grey Gardens (co-directed with David Maysles, Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer). He was 88. With David, his brother, Albert Maysles made “direct cinema” documentaries that were politically and socially impactful upon release and aesthetically groundbreaking for generations of filmmakers to follow. The 1969 documentary Salesman (co-directed with Charlotte Zerin) captured the everyday sorrows of ordinary people — in this case, door-to-door Bible salesman — toiling in the shadows of both the American […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 6, 2015 -
Screwball Comedy, Marriage and Filmmaking: Lawrence Levine and Sophia Takal on Wild Canaries
A loose-limbed caper comedy that lovingly mashes Hollywood screwball conventions with Brooklyn relationship drama, Lawrence Michael Levine’s sophomore picture, Wild Canaries, tries two things most independent films don’t, and largely succeeds. It’s narratively complex — maybe not Inherent Vice-level, but this mystery thriller about an engaged pair of armchair detectives investigating a possible murder in a rent-controlled apartment is strewn with crosses, double-crosses, disguises and clues. Even more impressively, Wild Canaries shoots for a quality that is often a byproduct of independent cinema but not a goal: entertainment. Inspired, says actor/writer/director Levine, by the “Nick and Nora” Thin Man movies […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 5, 2015 -
Tribeca Film Festival Announces 2015 World Narrative, Documentary Competition and Viewpoints Selections
The Tribeca Film Festival today announced the first half of its 2015 slate — 51 of the 97 films, including both its World Narrative and Documentary competitions. Nearly one quarter of this year’s festival directors are women, including quite a few directors with titles anticipated by Filmmaker readers. These include cinematographer Reed Morano’s directorial debut, Meadowland; Pamela Romanowsky’s adaptation of Stephen Elliot’s true-crime memoir, The Adderall Diaries; Rikki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s latest, In My Father’s House; Vanessa Hope’s look at China’s role on the world stage through the story of former Utah governor Jon Huntsman and his adopted daughter, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 3, 2015 -
Davey Foundation Offers Grants for Short Films; Deadline March 15
From filmmaker and Davey Foundation board member Dustin Guy Defa comes word of the upcoming deadline for the Davey Foundation, which will give three grants to filmmakers 35 years and younger for the production of short films. Ben Kegan’s The First Men won the Davey’s single grant last year. This year, two grants have been added, and the awards mix cash with in-kind services and mentorship. Full details below: The Davey Foundation was created to honor the life of David Ross Fetzer and his commitment to the film and theater arts. For 2015, the foundation is handing out three short […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 2, 2015 -
For Your Film Set or Living Room, Dean Fleischer-Camp’s “Hyper-Generic” Prop Posters
When, in 2013, I spoke to Dean Fleischer Camp about his exquisitely deadpan web series, Catherine, created with Jenny Slate, I immediately wanted to know about its production design. How did he come up with its uncannily bland, generically discomforting visual spaces? The director told me that his inspirations included the ’90s TV show Kids in the Hall as well as Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom, but that part of the show’s visual aesthetic came from the porn-movie sets he was renting as a location. Now, Camp writes with word of a new project that furthers the aesthetic he’s been […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 2, 2015 -
The Cooler Bandits Screening and Discussion at Columbia University on February 26
Followed by what promises to be an amazing discussion between filmmakers and subjects alike, John Lucas’s documentary The Cooler Bandits will be screened Thursday, February 26 in New York at Columbia University. The event is free and open to the public. For Filmmaker, Alix Lambert wrote about the film and talked to Lucas while The Cooler Bandits was in post-production. An excerpt: The Cooler Bandits is the film’s title as well as the crew consisting of Charlie, Donovan, Frankie, and Poochie, who were all teenagers in 1991 when they spent the better part of the year robbing restaurants. Collectively they […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 24, 2015 -
How Do You Take a Meeting? Learn How at the IFP’s Made in New York Media Center
There are resources to help you pitch your screenplay, and even articles for writers and directors on how to behave at a general meeting, but a broader discussion of how producers, directors and anyone else in the film business should play it when work talk moves off email to IRL is strangely absent from our tutorial landscape. Our friends at Tangerine Entertainment, Amy Hobby and Ann Hubbell, aim to change that with their workshop, “How to Take a Meeting,” occurring at the IFP’s Made in New York Media Center on March 3. Full information is below, and note the special […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 24, 2015 -
Bruce Sinofsky, 1956 – 2015
Documentary director Bruce Sinofsky, whose Paradise Lost Trilogy collaborations with Joe Berlinger caused the release of the wrongly-convicted West Memphis Three, died this morning of complications from diabetes. Sinofsky’s passing was reported by Berlinger on Twitter. Sinofsky and Berlinger were nominated for an Academy Award in 2011 for the final film in the Paradise Lost trilogy, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory — the culmination of a filmic and legal odyssey that began in 1996 with Paradise Lost: The Child Murders of Robin Hood Hills. In a 2011 Filmmaker interview, Sinofsky remembers the series beginning: When we went down to Arkansas, for […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 21, 2015 -
Andrew S. Allen and Jason Sondhi on the Relaunch of Short of the Week
“A new way to watch films” is what the venerable platform for short films, Short of the Week, promises in its freshly relaunched edition, online now. Founders Andrew S. Allen and Jason Sondhi have done a top-to-bottom redesign — a clean look that also makes both searching and streaming easier. Indeed, the new Short of the Week acknowledges that a viewer today is as likely to watch a short on a large phone or streamed through a device like Chromecast to a television as on a laptop window. Filmmaker readers should recognize both Allen and Sondhi’s names as the two […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 19, 2015 -
Shooting Romance in NYC with the iPhone 6
Here’s a nifty behind-the-scenes featurette on the iPhone 6 shooting of Tristan Pope‘s short film, Romance in NYC. The film is shot entirely from the first-person perspective, like Lady in the Lake and Enter the Void, and the mobility of the iPhone enabled the director/camera operator to play the role of the first-person protagonist. As you’ll see in the video, Pope lets his own hands and arms enter and exit frame, aided by variety of gear — including a Gorillapod — as well as well-choreographed production assistants.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 17, 2015
