Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Coffee and Celluloid Looks at the Panasonic GH3
At his excellent filmmaking blog Coffee and Celluloid, Joey Daoud posted this short video review of the just-released Panasonic GH3. From the sounds of it, this seems like a great next version of the camera, with better controls, sturdier construction, Quicktime recording instead of just AVCHD, and a better bit rate. You can read Daoud’s quick thoughts on the camera here and watch the video above.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 10, 2012 -
Cary Fukunaga Explores Relationships and Landscapes in Kenya
Filmmaker Cary Fukunaga recently traveled to Kenya to shoot what is described as “a trailer with no feature attached” for the fashion brand, Maiyet. Nowness has run an excerpt, and describes the project here. Against the arresting backdrop of the East African bush, Haley Bennett portrays a young woman at a crossroads in life in this daring film by the critically acclaimed director Cary Fukunaga, commissioned by the distinguished fashion brand Maiyet. “We showed up in Africa with a one-line idea of what we were trying to do,” says the young auteur, whose cast and crew spent three days in […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 10, 2012 -
“Blacklists,” Caveh Zahedi and Thom Powers
As one of the three journalists contacted by documentary film programmer Thom Powers last Spring about Caveh Zahedi’s The Sheik and I, I wanted to weigh in on the controversy that erupted this week following Zahedi’s accusation that Powers has “blacklisted” his picture, which opens today from Factory 25. After watching Zahedi’s YouTube video and then reading Powers’ response, I decided to talk to both men to explore the situation in more detail. Then, in the midst of writing this, I noticed Eric Kohn’s post at Indiewire this morning, which exhaustively discusses the film, the timeline of Powers and Zahedi’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 7, 2012 -
Trailer Watch: Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color
The follow-up to his Sundance Grand Prize-winning cult classic, Primer, Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color is one of the most-anticipated films of Sundance 2013. Here’s the just-released teaser trailer.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 4, 2012 -
iPad App Vision Machine Reinvents the Independent Digital Comic
Filmmaker Greg Pak (Robot Stories) has released his graphic novel Vision Machine as an iPad app and, in the process, is pointing the way towards new storytelling formats and new production and distribution partnerships. Set in the year 2061, Vision Machine is a dystopian thriller revolving around augmented reality technology not unlike Google Glass. Touching on issues like privacy and digital rights, Vision Machine was funded by the Ford Foundation as an awareness tool, and after it was completed Pak teamed up with ITVS to reimagine it as an iPad app. After learning about Vision Machine from producer Karin Chien, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 4, 2012 -
How to Do a Festival Q&A
The credits roll, there is applause, and not too many people walked out. The festival premiere of your debut film is over. You relax, a year’s worth of stress magically departing your body. Sure, there will be tough times ahead; distribution is difficult. But, for the moment, you congratulate yourself on a job well done. But don’t relax too much, warn a trio of festival heads. Your next big job as a director looms sooner than you think. The audience Q&A you’ll lead in just a minute or two is surprisingly important when it comes to your film’s future life. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 3, 2012 -
The Shameless Satire of Lana Del Rey
“The cleverest piece of cultural criticism” to appear in 2012 is from none other than media-made pop singer Lana Del Rey, argues n+1‘s Christopher Glazek in the year-end edition of Artforum. Indeed, Rey’s two recent videos, which have an outsized, ’80s ambition to them, are fascinating jaw-droppers. Here, Glazek gets at why: Men hardly ever speak in Del Rey’s videos. Their silence also permeates Ride. This more recent video follows the life of a streetwalking saloon singer in Big Sky Country who spends her days and nights among the motorcycle-gang members she picks up and services on the road. Although […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 2, 2012 -
Larry Clark is a Vegan
Here’s Larry Clark on Nowness talking about his career, his new film Marfa Girl, crooks in the movie business, the MPAA and becoming a vegan. “Life begins at 69,” says the 69-year-old Clark. “And I’m not talking about the sex act.”
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 30, 2012 -
Moonrise Kingdom Takes Best Picture at the IFP Gotham Awards; Beasts’ Zeitlin Wins Two
Wes Anderson’s ’60s-set ode to childhood imagination and romance, Moonrise Kingdom, picked up the Best Picture Award at the IFP Gotham Awards Monday night at Cipriani’s in New York. Winning two awards was Beasts of the Southern Wild director Benh Zeitlin, who won both the Breakthrough Director Award as well as a newly inaugurated Bingham Ray Award, for “filmmakers who bring a distinctive vision to the world.” The latter award came with $10,000 and $60,000 worth of equipment rental from Panavision. The Breakthrough Actor award went to Emayatzy Corinealdi for her portrayal of a convict’s faithful wife in Ava DuVernay’s […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 26, 2012 -
Memories of Mexico
Filmmaker Iva Radivojevic keeps a wonderful Tumblr where she posts short films derived from her world travels and couples them with broader musings on cinema, art and politics. Last year, Radivojevic made fantastic documentary shorts shot during the Occupy Wall Street protests. Now, just uploaded, is a very different kind of short that uses cut-out animation to both isolate the sounds and sights of a small Mexican town as well as function as a kind of representation of memory. Here’s how she introduces it: In April I took a little trip down the Mexico. I purposely left the camera at […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 21, 2012
