Authors — Scott Macaulay

CASSIDY AND SHATZKY’S “FRANCINE” DEBUTS IN BERLIN

David Rooney’s Hollywood Reporter review of Brian Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s tough, piercing American independent character drama Francine, which premiered this week in Berlin, is masterful. As noted also by Jeffrey Wells, Rooney approaches the film on its own terms, and distills in his prose strengths that would be ignored or misconstrued by another critic. From the review: A minimalist, image-based character study that is almost impossibly fragile and yet emotionally robust, Francine is a legitimate discovery. It’s propelled by Melissa Leo’s remarkable title-role performance, rigorous in its honesty and unimpeded by even a scrap of vanity. Made on a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 15, 2012
BRENT HOFF EXPLORES THE SCIENCE OF LOVE

Screenwriter and director Brent Hoff, who we selected for this year’s 25 New Faces list, has a short out today that’s perfectly timed for Valentines Day. Called The Love Competition, it’s included as part of the next issue of Wholphin, will play at SXSW, but is now online courtesy of Wired and Wholphin. The Love Competition looks at the neurochemistry of romance, pitting a group of contestants against each other as their brains are scanned while they are thinking of their lovers, their ex-lovers, or perhaps just the concept of love itself. Hoff, who won a Tribeca Sloan Prize for […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 14, 2012
THE BAD BOY ROMANCE OF “MOVING TAKAHASHI”

Jason Sondhi, along with Short of the Week partner Andrew Allen one of our “25 New Faces” this year, handpicked today’s Valentines Day selection, “Moving Takahashi.” Directed by Josh Soskin and well acted by rising star Boyd Holbrook and newcomer (at least to me) Kristin Malco, the Kickstarter-funded short is part of what Sondhi calls the “bad boy romance” genre. It’s about a young mover (Holbrook) who discovers that the daughter of the family whose house he’s moving has, in a suicide attempt, swallowed pills that will kill her in 20 minutes. What’s the bad-boy element? You’ll have to watch […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 14, 2012
DEADLINE NEARS FOR THE 2012 VIMEO AWARDS

February 20 is the deadline for submitting to the 2012 Vimeo Awards, which will be presented during this year’s Vimeo Festival + Awards, June 7 – 9 in New York City. Filmmaker Magazine is a sponsor of the awards, which go to original works in 13 different categories that premiered July 31, 2010 and February 20, 2012, or which never premiered at all. For 2012, Vimeo has assembled a pretty amazing group of judges, including actor and director James Franco; Parks and Recreation Star Aziz Ansari, 2012 Oscar Nominee Lucy Walker; documentarian Steve James; Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood; Scott Pilgrim vs. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 14, 2012
Paul Dano And Stoya Trailer Flatscreen

One way to break into directing has always been to find a young, unsigned band and offer to do a music video. A new way: make a trailer for a book. These days, there are more and more trailers for books, and many of them take the form of short films. All you need is one hot independent film actor (Paul Dano) and one hip crossover porn star (Stoya). Case in point: the mumblecore-meets-porno stylings for Adam Wilson’s debut novel Flatscreen, forthcoming from Harper Perennial. Wilson is the Associate Editor of the New York Egoist, a blogger for BlackBook Magazine, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 10, 2012
INTERVIEWING MALDIVES PRESIDENT MOHAMED NASHEED

While at the Toronto Film Festival this year I interviewed Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed and director Jon Shenk about their climate change doc, The Island President. The film is focused entirely on Nasheed’s efforts combating climate change and greenhouse emissions, showing how his stewardship of the environmentally fragile island state can be a model for others looking to enact more progressive policies. One question I had while watching the doc was how well his environmental activism played at home. The domestic policies of the Maldives are largely absent from the doc. Today, reports the BBC, Nasheed has resigned amidst widespread […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 7, 2012
“BOOSTER,” “PAVILION” HEAD TO SXSW VIA KICKSTARTER

I’ve added some new projects to Filmmaker‘s curated Kickstarter page, including two IFP Narrative Lab projects selected for premieres at SXSW in March. The first is Tim Sutton’s gorgeous Pavilion, an eerie tale of adolescence that is breathtakingly shot and hauntingly directed. (It also has one of the most gorgeous websites around.) The second is Matt Ruskin’s intense character-based thriller Booster. Both films are well on their way to completion but are short the final finishing funds that will allow them to make their premiere dates. And, of course, both have some decent rewards. For $750, Sutton will give a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 7, 2012
DON CORNELIUS, R.I.P.

Sad to hear this week of the death of Don Cornelius, whose Soul Train is burned into my adolescent TV memory. From Bruce Handy at Vanity Fair (who opens with a quote from “American Pie”). I know it’s corny quoting from “American Pie.” But it is February, and like a lot of people, I felt a genuine sense of loss and sadness at the news that Don Cornelius, the creator and host of Soul Train, died of gunshot wounds Wednesday morning in Los Angeles—a possible suicide at the age of 75. The show premiered in Chicago in 1970 and aired […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 4, 2012
BEN GAZARRA, R.I.P.

Ben Gazarra, 1930-2012. From my favorite movie of his, John Cassavete’s Killing of a Chinese Bookie.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 4, 2012
ROTTERDAM PHOTOS AND NOTES

For almost two decades I’ve been traveling to the International Film Festival Rotterdam immediately following Sundance, struggling to keep my jet lag at bay while I attend a few Cinemart meetings, hit the informal but productive Cinemart cocktail hours, and delve into the fest’s always excellent and eclectic program. This year several fellower Sundancers made the trip as well, including sales agent Ryan Kampe, producer Adele Romanski, the IFP’s Amy Dotson, the Sundance Institute’s Anne Lai, and director Terrence Nance, whose An Oversimplification of Her Beauty was programmed here and was one of the Park City’s true discoveries. Above is […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2012

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