Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Trailer Watch: 12 Years a Slave
Set in the years leading up to the Civil War, and based on Solomon Northup’s 1853 autobiographical memoir, Steven McQueen’s new 12 Years a Slave tells the story of a free New York State black man kidnapped and travelled down South, where he is sold into slavery. The film chronicles his attempts to stay alive and maintain his spirit as he dreams of the day when he can be reunited with his family. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Northup, Michael Fassbender a harsh slave owner, and Brad Pitt a Canadian abolotionist. The film was shot on 35mm by Sean Bobbitt and opens […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 16, 2013 -
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Director David Slade on His First Shoot
Filmmaker Paul Stone has launched a great online interview series, “My First Shoot,” which features filmmakers talking about their first time on set as directors. What’s particularly interesting about it is the perspective the passing of time affords. These aren’t directors talking about the shoots they wrapped last week. No, in many cases these are experienced directors reflecting back, pulling from their memory banks, and constructing lessons that can only be gained by the perspective continued practice provides. An example is provided by the latest interviewee, Twilight Saga: Eclipse director David Slade. I interviewed Slade for Filmmaker during the Sundance […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 15, 2013 -
Trailer Watch: Ectotherms
Ectotherms is the feature debut of Miami-based filmmaker Monia Peña, and it mixes fiction, documentary, the Miami landscape and black metal. Peña was influenced, she writes, by Cuba’s “Imperfect Cinema and many derivations of realism,” by her collaborators as well as by the people she met along the way. The suitably mysterious trailer is above, and here’s the synopsis: ECTOTHERMS: organisms that rely on external heat sources When teenager Chelsey finds her grandmother dead, she knows life without the old Cuban woman who raised her will never be the same. So she skips school with her brother Cassidy and his […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 14, 2013 -
Ryan Coogler Talks with Ava DuVernay about Fruitvale Station
A year ago next week Filmmaker audiences met for the first time writer/director Ryan Coogler, as we featured him in our 2012 “25 New Faces” list. Here’s my profile: Ryan Coogler remembers the first moment it occurred to him to become a film director. Having grown up in Oakland, Coogler was on a football scholarship to Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., where he had to take a creative writing class. The assignment was to write about a personal experience, and Coogler wrote about the time his father almost bled to death in his arms. He handed it in, and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 12, 2013 -
Asif Kapadia and Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) Document Guantanamo Force-feeding Procedure
Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) submits himself to the force feeding procedure hunger-striking Guantanamo Bay prisoners are currently undergoing twice a day in this painful short video by Senna director Asif Kapadia. As Ben Ferguson describes in The Guardian, the video was directed using the testimony of a hunger striker, Samir Mokbel, provided by the prisoners’ rights organization Reprieve: There was no rehearsal: after all, no acting would be required. He swapped his black leather jacket, jeans and designer shoes for an orange jumpsuit. In an instant, he was no longer Mos Def – rapper and Hollywood star – but a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 9, 2013 -
U.S. in Progress Accepting Submissions for American Indie Post Funding
A joint program between the American Film Festival in Wroclaw and the Champs Elysées Film Festival in Paris, U.S. in Progress is a twice-yearly showcase for American independents that should be on the radar of all indies seeking post financing and services. The events present American independent works in progress to groups of European buyers, with two films each year winning post service packages. It’s the only European event devoted exclusively to American independents. The Wroclaw edition is upcoming, October 23 – 25, and has an August 15 deadline for submissions. (And, there’s no submission fee.) The Paris edition recently […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 9, 2013 -
Letters from Blocked Filmmakers: David Rosfeld
Is it possible to be blocked even after you successfully complete your film? If you asked me at the start of this series, “Letters from Blocked Filmmakers,” I would have answered no. You could be frustrated, disappointed or even angry, perhaps, but the realization of an artistic goal should have transmuted that feeling of blockage into something else… Or, at least, that was the rationale behind this column. With “Letters from Blocked Filmmakers,” I wanted to create a space on this site for those whose films aren’t getting made but whose voices are still very much worth hearing. I also […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 9, 2013 -
David Fincher Shoots Rooney Mara in Luscious Black and White
David Fincher directed this beautiful Calvin Klein commercial starring his Girl with a Dragon Tattoo muse, Rooney Mara. Karen O. provides Mara’s interior soundtrack as the actress moves from subway to concert hall. At Movie City News, Ray Pride gives the spot a loving meditation: The glimmering of inconsequence… Angles on cafe to compare with Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; Rooney Mara walking same cadence as cyclist in zebra crossing; sugar crystals in coffee instead of Godardian cream; cuttingly crisp and creased white blouse under fitted form of lightest black leather blouson of highest odor; taffeta dress knee-length as girl-kick […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2013 -
Leaked Teaser Suggests Fascinating M.I.A. Documentary
Apparently frustrated by Interscope’s tardiness in continuing the production of a documentary on M.I.A. he was directing, Steve Loveridge staged a guerrilla action this weekend by uploading a five-minute teaser to YouTube, embedding it on his Tumblr. “Reblog the shit out of this and maybe they’ll wake up,” he wrote. The action did not go over well. Interscope pulled down the clip, and a Roc Nation exec sent Loveridge one of those entertainment industry “I’m really pissed off but, hey, bro, s’all cool” emails, noting that the upload “screws with” the label’s marketing and PR efforts while assuring Loveridge that […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2013 -
Alix Lambert and Sam Chou Launch Crime: The Animated Series at MoCA
Published in 2008, Alix Lambert’s Crime is one of the most fascinating books on the subject, bringing together in one gorgeously-produced volume interviews with various artists and dramatists who have chronicled crime as well as actual criminals themselves. But the book is just one element of Lambert’s practice surrounding this topic. Her Crime has taken the form of gallery shows, theater pieces and now, animated films. This week Lambert and animator Sam Chou will launch Crime: The Animated Series at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. From MoCA: MOCATV presents a screening of short animated episodes from our […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2013
