Authors — Scott Macaulay
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25 Films I’m Anticipating at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival
Here’s the secret to compiling a list of films to see at a festival: go through the catalog and figure out what excites you. And then write down those anticipations. That’s all I’ve done here — given the catalog one pass and pulled out 25 films that will be at the top of my list. A number of these films are ones I’ve known of before, including quite a few from filmmakers who made our “25 New Faces” lists as well as those in the IFP Narrative Lab, where I’m a mentor. But there are others from promising young filmmakers […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 17, 2013 -
David Lowery Talks Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
David Lowery made our “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2011 on the basis of his fantastic short film, Pioneer. Now he’s got the most buzzed-about film at Sundance this year with Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck. Here he talks about that film and the journey it took to get there.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 17, 2013 -
Sundance Trailer Watch: Kink
James Franco presents Kink, a documentary about the San Francisco BDSM film studio, Kink.com. Director Christina Voros is one of our 25 New Faces and James Franco is… well, he’s James Franco. From the production notes: If porn were high school, they’d be the goth table. Director Christina Voros and producer James Franco pull back the curtain on the fetish empire of Kink.com, the Internet’s largest producer of BDSM content. In a particularly obscure corner of an industry that operates largely out of public view, Kink.com’s directors and models strive for authenticity. In an enterprise often known for exploitative practices, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 16, 2013 -
Trailer Watch: Lost Rockers
American Hardcore directors Paul Rachman and Steven Blush are back with Lost Rockers, a documentary on great rock ‘n roll performers who have been buried beneath the sands of time. They include Chris Robison, Gloria Jones, David Peel, Bobby Jameson, Evie Sands, Cherry Vanilla, and Gass Wild and Johnny Hodge of the Lightning Raiders. Rachman and Blush have just released this new teaser, and you can read more about the film at its website.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 16, 2013 -
Sundance Festival Director John Cooper Previews the 2013 Fest
It’s a ritual here at Filmmaker — a pre-festival chat with Sundance Festival Director John Cooper about the films, filmmakers and what the annual Park City event might have to say about the big picture of independent film. Our style at Filmmaker is to refer to people by their last names, but in the case of Cooper, that’s doubly appropriate — that’s what everyone calls him. In our talk he was his usual unflappable self, seeming to have lost known of the palpable enthusiasm he evinced at the 2010 edition, the first after he and his Programming Director Trevor Groth […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 16, 2013 -
The Berneys Return to Distribution with the Revived Picturehouse and a Netflix Deal
Distribution veterans Bob and Jeanne Berney are returning to the business of releasing movies with Picturehouse, reviving the distribution brand Bob Berney headed in the mid-’00s. Reports Michael Ciepley in the New York Times, the Berneys, along with a group of investors, have bought the Picturehouse name and logo from Warner Bros. and have signed a deal with Netflix, which will release the company’s films following their theatrical release. A first picture is already lined up: “a 3D action movie,” Metallica Through the Never, starring the band. From the New York Times: On Tuesday, Mr. Berney said he is seeking […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 15, 2013 -
Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva Explore the Singularity with “MegaMega Upload”
Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva screen their latest short, #PostModem, at the Sundance Film Festival this week, but today they’ve dropped “MegaMega Upload,” the music video that takes over the movie at one point. The filmmakers say of #PostModem, “[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.” I saw the short at Borscht 8 this year; Mayer and Leyva’s lo-fi riff on uploaded consciousness is super smart. Indeed, you […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 14, 2013 -
Five Questions for Sebastien’s Deborah Twiss
New York-based Deborah Twiss burst on the scene as the co-writer and star of the 1997 thriller, A Gun for Jennifer. The film achieved cult success in the U.S. and abroad, and since then Twiss has built a diverse career by juggling multiple hats. For Eric Schaeffer’s After Fall, Winter, she co-produced and acted. For School of Rock: Zombie Etiquette, she starred and wrote. She wrote and directed her own feature, In Between, in 2005, and she also regularly appears in both mainstream movies (Kick-Ass) and television (Law and Order). Now she’s producing and wrote the screenplay for a psychological […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 9, 2013 -
David Bowie Returns with a New Single and a Tony Oursler Video
After the pleasant shock of learning that there’s a new David Bowie single — a beautiful, Berlin-referencing melancholic ballad reminiscent of his Thin White Duke days — I was even more thrilled to see that the accompanying video is directed by one of my favorite artists, Tony Oursler. Check out the song and the video above.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 8, 2013 -
Josh and Benny Safdie Take On the Illegal Wildlife Trade
Directors Josh and Benny Safdie (Daddy Longlegs) take on the illegal wildlife trade in The Trophy Hunter, a PSA made for the Turtle Conservancy and supporting Traffic.org. Here’s how the group describes the video: This year we are sending out a video whose content may be difficult for some viewers. However, the video highlights an important issue: the illegal wildlife trade and its role in the global extinction crisis. This holiday we are supporting TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade-monitoring network (traffic.org). The illegal wildlife trade is the third largest illicit trade after drugs and arms and is responsible for the extinction […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 6, 2013
