Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Sundance Film Festival
The majestic chords of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet blasted through the doors of the New Frontiers exhibition space at Sundance this year, beckoning viewers into a dark room with a wall-size screen and, in a bin, those staples of the modern multiplex, 3D glasses. Donning the glasses, you were confronted with a looped, three-minute mash-up of history as seen through the lens of Hollywood cinema. Composited across the 3D canvas, like some kind of American Museum of Natural History diorama on acid, were the great characters who, by our repeated viewing, resonate as deeply in our consciousness as real historical […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 17, 2012 -
Into the Zone: On Geoff Dyer’s Critical Memoir about Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker
Originally appearing in our Spring, 2012 print issue, my short report on Zona, Geoff Dyer’s fascinating critical memoir on Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker is being reposted today timed to the film’s run at Lincoln Center and forthcoming release by Criterion. — SM My first Tarkovsky film, my gateway picture, was his penultimate, Nostalghia, at the Olympia Theater near Columbia University in Morningside Heights. The seats slanted one way, the screen slanted the other, and there was a leak in the ceiling. Water dripped from the roof into a bucket on the floor, blending into Tarkovsky’s typically excellent sound design of distant […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 17, 2012 -
Editor’s Letter
There was an interesting exchange of views on the Filmmaker blog afew weeks back about documentaries and the changing nature of story. The posts had to do with Doug Tirola’s documentary All In – The Poker Movie, which won the Best Documentary prize at CineVegas a few years back but was then re-shot and re-edited for theatrical release just this year. The reason for all that extensive work was “Black Friday.” After the film’s premiere the Feds shut down multiple online poker sites, thus fundamentally altering (and dating) the world depicted in the movie. The blog posts had to do […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 17, 2012 -
Decisive Moments
“All you need for a movie is a gun and girl,” Jean-Luc Godard famously wrote in one of his journals. But, of course, to make a good movie, you need others things too. An observant, imaginative eye helps, as does fresh context and a director’s understanding of the community containing that gun, that girl and, inevitably, the guy who stands behind — or in front of — the trigger. Restless City, the exciting dramatic feature debut of Nigerian-born photographer and music-video director Andrew Dosunmu, has all of these elements, and it mixes them into a hauntingly sensual take on the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 17, 2012 -
Parting Shot – Marina Abramovich
The sitter approaches the chair and sits, gazingat the woman directly across the table separating them. There’s a pause as the woman senses that the sitter is there, in the chair. Then the woman lifts her head, opens her eyes and stares directly at the sitter. And at that moment … what? The subtle yet powerful expressions that course through artist Marina Abramovic’s face are near impossible to describe. Warmth, yes. Empathy, surely. But overwhelmingly, just presence. For those moments, the sitter is with Abramovic only. They are present, and there is no one else in the world. “Only connect,” […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 17, 2012 -
Production Portal
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 17, 2012
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ENVISION PROGRAM STREAMS LIVE TOMORROW
Envision 2012, a program presented by IFP, the United Nations and the Ford Foundation exploring the subject of “Stories for a Sustainable Future,” will be streamed live tomorrow on the Envision website. Launching this evening and continuing Tuesday, the Envision sessions are filled with talks concerning the role documentary film can have in shaping discussion and action on pressing global issues. Filmmakers Jessica Yu, Rachel Grady, Alexandra Cousteau, and Lixin Fan, among others, will be presenting, and special guests include Don Cheadle and Michael Franti. Tune in tomorrow beginning at 9:30 AM for this thoughtful and engaging event. A complete […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 16, 2012 -
VIA HOLOGRAM, TUPAC PERFORMS AT COACHELLA
This is some kind of watershed. Dre and Snoop Dogg were joined by a hologram of the late Tupac Shakur at Coachella this weekend. Audience response was reportedly mixed, with some creeped out by the hologram’s “What’s up Coachella!” “The place just went silent. People are genuinely horrified by the Tupac hologram,” tweeted the L.A. Weekly. Others on Twitter, however, said the crowd went nuts for it. Watch it below.
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 16, 2012 -
MUSIC VIDEO: “HEART OF GLASS,” ELISE
Blondie meets Jeanne Dielman in this cover by Elise. Don’t know who the director is.
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 15, 2012 -
Amazon Studios Revises Terms for Writers
About 18 months ago I blogged about the new Amazon Studios venture, in which screenwriters submit their projects to the internet commerce giant for crowdsourced development and possible production. There was a lot of initial interest in Amazon Studios when it was announced, but I, like many other observers, found the terms shockingly poor for writers. I asked, why would you give “a company with a $74 billion market cap an 18-month free option on your original project?” Especially when, according to Amazon Studio’s original terms, there were scenarios in which that original work could have been exploited with you […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 14, 2012
