Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Fort Tilden, The Great Invisible Take Top Prizes at SXSW
Beating back chilly, sub-normal temperatures, the season finale of True Detective and the myriad distractions of its surrounding program — referencing the new SXSports category, one independent film stalwart snarled to me, “Don’t try to tell me that sports are now creative” — SXSW Film put a capper on its 2014 edition by awarding Sarah-Violet Bliss & Charles Rogers’ Brooklyn beach comedy Fort Tilden and Margaret Brown’s Deepwater Horizon doc, The Great Invisible, its top prizes. Other awards included a “special jury award for courage in storytelling to the lead actor and screenwriter of Collin Schiffli’s Animals, David Dastmalchian. (The […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 12, 2014 -
Vivian Kubrick, Stanley’s Daughter, Posts Photos of Her Young Life on the Set
As detailed at Dangerous Minds — and originally in this Reddit thread — Stanley Kubrick’s reclusive and estranged daughter Vivian has posted via Twitter a series of photos detailing her childhood in and around her father’s films. As Paul Gallagher at Dangerous Minds speculates, “The pictures may be viewed as a possible attempt at some form of reconciliation as Vivian has been allegedly out of touch with her family since joining the Church of Scientology in 1999.” Gallagher links to a Raw Story article, which has more: In fact, some knowledgeable folks have theorized that some of the pain that […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 11, 2014 -
25 Picks for the 2014 SXSW Film and Interactive Festivals
Airline fares entered the stratosphere weeks ago, hotels were booked months ago, and SXSW begins today. As always, I’m interested in film and tech. Regarding the latter, Jenna Wortham at the New York Times checked in with a number of the big companies that launched in Austin in the past and found that many, like Foursquare, are skipping it. In their place are tech start-ups from Africa, South Korea and Brazil. Scanning the program, I see fewer rock star speakers (is Chelsea Clinton a rock star speaker?) and many folks from on-the-horizon tech like personal health management and computing wearables. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 7, 2014 -
SXSW Teaser: Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe in Unicorns
A film I’ve been looking forward to for some time is Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe in Unicorns, which I saw in rough cut at the IFP Narrative Lab. I was tremendously impressed with what I saw then, particularly the emotional sensitivity of its direction and central performances. The film is now finished, and premiering at SXSW. And there’s a Kickstarter campaign. Check out the new teaser above, read information from the filmmakers about the film below, and consider donating: I Believe in Unicorns is Leah Meyerhoff’s debut feature film which tells the story of a teenage girl who gets in […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 7, 2014 -
Lily Baldwin Premieres A Juice Box Afternoon, First Episode in New Short Film Series
Filmmaker and dancer Lily Baldwin premieres here at Filmmaker the first episode in her new series of short films, The Paperback Movie Project. Each short “is an interpretation of a novel and explores the fluid relationship between a reader and the book’s characters.” The debuting piece is titled “A Juice Box Afternoon,” and it tells “the story of Anne Morrow Lindbergh through her own writing as she comes of age, meets Charles Lindbergh, and experiences flight in more ways than one.” Following her breakthrough at SXSW 2012 with the dreamscape thriller Sea Meadow,Baldwin’s next short, Sleepover LA, will world premiere […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 6, 2014 -
Vimeo Execs Talk New $10 Million Investment for Direct Distributing Filmmakers
Vimeo announced today a $10 million investment in direct financial support and online services for eligible creators distributing their work using Vimeo on Demand. “The direct distribution movement gains momentum every day,” said Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor in a statement, “and we are fully committed to empowering creators with a vibrant alternative to the ad-dominated online video ecosystem for monetizing content.” Vimeo’s $10 million fund will support the following initiatives. From the press release: Expansion of Crowdfunding Program: Vimeo is expanding on its crowdfunding program announced at the 2014 Sundance Festival by extending access to part of its $10 million […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 6, 2014 -
Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva Premiere #PostModem Online
Miami-based filmmakers Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva — two of Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces — have been touring the festival circuit with their short film, #PostModem, which they describe like this: “[It’s] a comedic satirical sci-fi pop-musical based on the theories of Ray Kurzweil and other futurists. It’s the story of two Miami girls and how they deal with the technological singularity, as told through a series of cinematic tweets.” For the first time this insanely infectious riff on virality and uploaded consciousness is online. Watch it above, and try to keep its K-Pop-styled song out of your head.
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 6, 2014 -
Michelangelo Antonioni on the Utility of Mystery
Michelangelo Antonioni’s work is known for, in addition to many other things, a certain open-endedness in its exploration of theme and narrative. But, you may be surprised to learn that the writer/director could be a bit more on-the-nose in his scripts. At Dangerous Minds, Paul Gallagher references a 2005 interview in The Guardian with Peter Bowles, who plays a drunk partygoer in Antonioni’s Blow-Up. In the original script, he had a monologue that nailed the themes of the movie. However, before shooting, Antonioni decided to cut it. The actor, feeling the speech was “essential to the film,” confronted Antonioni, pleading […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 5, 2014 -
SXSW Trailer Premiere: She’s Lost Control
Following strong notices in Berlin, Anja Marquardt’s debut feature, She’s Lost Control, receives its U.S. premiere at this week’s upcoming SXSW Film Festival. The intense psychological drama, executive produced by writer/director Oren Moverman, considers the meanings and cost of intimacy through its focus on a professional sex surrogate. Premiering here at Filmmaker is the film’s newest trailer.
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 4, 2014 -
Simple Machine to Award Micro-Festival Grants
Simple Machine, the online distribution platform connecting filmmakers to non-theatrical venues, is offering quarterly $1,000 grants to new small, innovative film festivals. “How can we more fully explore the possibilities of hyper-local events designed to create an effective context for contemporary cinema?” asks Simple Machine’s creator, Nandan Rao, in a statement. “How can we push the film-festival concept into smaller, more intimate nooks and crannies in our societal fabric? What new terms are needed to describe the formats of communal movie watching that resonate with us today? These are the questions we’re hoping our grant-winners will help to answer.” The […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 3, 2014
