Authors — Scott Macaulay
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GODARD’S “SOCIALISM” AND THE SHIPWRECKED COSTA CONCORDIA
As Xan Brooks notes in The Guardian, the shipwrecked cruise liner Costa Concordia played an eerie starring role in Jean-Luc Godard’s Socialism. He writes: Anyone who sat through Film Socialisme may have suspected that the Costa Concordia was heading for trouble. The cruise liner was the setting for the first “movement” of Jean-Luc Godard’s ambitious, infuriating 2010 picture, serving as a self-conscious metaphor for western capital ploughing through choppy waters. In Godard’s film, the Concordia plays the role of a decadent limbo where the tourists drift listlessly amid the ritzy interiors. The passengers include a UN official and an elderly […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 17, 2012 -
City Limits
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 16, 2012
Following up his impressive debut, Reprise, Joachim Trier uses a Pierre Drieu La Rochelle novel and the Norwegian capital to create the beautifully somber Oslo, August 31st. By Scott Macaulay -
FILMMAKER LAUNCHES CURATED KICKSTARTER PAGE
With thanks to the good folks at Kickstarter, today we debut our curated page on the crowdfunding platform. At Filmmaker Magazine on Kickstarter you’ll always find a half dozen or so projects that we believe deserve your support. These will be projects by filmmakers we support through the magazine or site (like, for example, those from our annual “25 New Faces” list), those whose work has impressed us in the past, or perhaps just those whose project descriptions are particularly compelling. And while film and video projects will, naturally, comprise the bulk of our recommendations, I hope to sprinkle in […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 16, 2012 -
JOE SWANBERG DEBUTS “MARRIAGE MATERIAL” FREE ON VIMEO
While director Joe Swanberg is in the midst of issuing his one-year, four-film DVD subscription series through Factory 25, he has uploaded a new film, Marriage Material, to Vimeo, where it can viewed free until the end of the month. From the Vimeo page a description of the film: Emily and Andrew, a young couple living in Memphis, agree to babysit their friend’s 6-month-old for a day. The experience causes them to examine their own relationship and their feelings about marriage and children. Marriage Material is shot by Adam Wingard, whose You’re Next opens later this year from LionsGate. It […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 16, 2012 -
FILM INDEPENDENT ANNOUNCES 2012 SPIRIT AWARD FILMMAKER GRANTS
Congratulations to Without writer/director Mark Jackson (one of Filmmaker‘s 2012 25 New Faces), producer Sophia Lin (Take Shelter), director Heather Courtney (Where Soldiers Come From) and directors Benjamin Murray and Alysa Nahmias (Unfinished Spaces) for winning Spirit Awards today at the event’s nominee brunch in Los Angeles. Jackson, Lin and Courtney received unrestricted grants of $25,000 from, respectively, Audi, Nokia and Piaget, while Murray and Nahmias received a $40,000 marketing and distribution grant that will go towards the release of their feature. (Note: I served on the jury for the Jameson grant.) The complete press release follows. LOS ANGELES (January […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 14, 2012 -
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS FROM “PARIAH” DIRECTOR DEE REES
Focus Features has just uploaded three short videos about the making of Dee Rees’ Pariah, which continues to open around the country. Here are she and two of her actors talking about the homework assignments they received while on set.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 13, 2012 -
THE CINEMA AND ECONO-DISASTER TOURISM OF GREECE
Financial writer (Snap Judgement), documentary film producer (The Burger and the King) and Athens Biennial artist David Adler just returned from Greece, and files a report on the Frieze blog. He opens, “‘Athens is the new Berlin.’ This hopeful phrase, constantly repeated by visitors to the 3rd Athens Biennale, and by the artists who have moved to Athens to take advantage of the cheap rents and cultural climate, may or may not be true. There are many contenders for the title – Buenos Aires, even Warsaw – but what is indisputable is that Athens is the leader in EU econ-disaster […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 13, 2012 -
CREATIVE CAPITAL ANNOUNCES 2012 FILM AND VIDEO GRANTEES
At a reception last night at the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York, Creative Capital announced its 2012 Film & Video and Visual Arts grantees. Among the media artists are a number of names familiar to Filmmaker readers, including 25 New Face directors Cam Archer, Matt Porterfield and Yance Ford. Others who received grants include L.A.-based director Nina Menkes, veteran experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs, and Rooftop Films head Mark Elijah Rosenberg, who, as a director, will tell “a multimedia, fictional story of an astronaut heading to Mars alone on a one-way mission.” “Our grantees span artists from 27 years old […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 13, 2012 -
Sideways Author Rex Pickett on Success, Rejection and Sequels
In this episode of Brad Listi’s Other People Podcast, novelist Rex Pickett discusses the origins of his book Sideways, the basis for Alexander Payne’s hit movie. Pickett has written a sequel to Sideways called Vertical, and in the podcast he talks about why he’s self-published it. There’s a lot here about a writer’s take on the movie business, how success doesn’t protect you from rejection, and, uh, Pickett also has a few things to say about producer Michael London.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 13, 2012 -
SUNDANCE TRAILER WATCH: “SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS”
This trailer for the LCD Soundsystem movie looks fantastic! The band’s amazing, the show was great, and now there’s this movie… I’m glad it exists. (Click on the headline above if you don’t see the video embed.)
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 13, 2012
