Authors — Scott Macaulay
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ECRAN TOTAL PUBLISHES FILM ACQUISITION PRICES
In America we’re used to seeing box-office results each Monday, but for American movies the sometimes more relevant figures — their foreign sales — are guarded trade secrets. Many producers, unable to get hard numbers for their comps, cling to outdated models and “percentage of the budget” charts when making business plans. That’s why the yearly feature by the French trade Ecran Total , published today here at Cannes, is so startling. By obtaining the contracts filed by French distributors at the public funding org, the CNC, the journal prints the acquisition prices of foreign films, taking the temperature of […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 18, 2011 -
TRAUMA AND MYSTERY IN “THE RETURN”
What happened over there? That’s the question people keep asking Kelli (Linda Cardellini), the protagonist of Liza Johnson’s skillful debut picture, The Return, playing here in Cannes in the Director’s Fortnight section. Her friends, a counselor, a husband — they all assume some trauma occurred during her deployment, some event that has estranged this blue-collar worker, mother of two, and National Reservist from the reassuringly quotidian elements that made up her former life. The movie begins at the airport as Kelli returns home, but there are no yellow ribbons, and none of the welcoming crowds found in many stateside Iraq […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 17, 2011 -
JONATHAN CAOUETTE AT THE CANNES DOCUMENTARY LUNCH
When Filmmaker polled our editors and came up with the 10 Best Films of the ’00s, on our list was Jonathan Caouette’s Tarnation. Ahead of its time in its iMovie-edited home brew of diaristic lo-fi doc footage, Tarnation vividly depicted the relationship of the filmmaker to his memorably unstable mother. At Cannes this year, Caouette is back with his not-a-sequel, Walk Away Renee (pictured), dipping into the same footage trove but augmenting it with new material. This new footage consists of Caouette traveling cross-country to check his mom into assisted living, and sci-fi scripted sequences positing an alternate reality version […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 17, 2011 -
ON WOMEN FILMMAKERS AND NOT WRITING ABOUT FILMS AT CANNES
For several years whenever I haven’t attended one of the major festivals, I’ve obsessively surfed to all the various film sites several times each day, hoping to soak up enough buzz and read enough reviews to feel connected — to feel like I’m somewhat there. And, invariably, I’m a little disappointed that there’s not more. Yes, there are reliable sources to turn to. Jeff Welles is always a fast and flavorful with his postings, mixing his first-person experience with industry news and commentary. Ann Thompson catches the pulse of the business, and Eric Kohn is mind-bogglingly quick with his review […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 14, 2011 -
MARC MAURINO’S “INSIDE THE MACHINE” SOLD TO CBS FILMS
Yesterday Deadline reported that Marc Maurino’s spec script, Inside The Machine, sold to CBS Films. Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson are producing for Contra Films. I want to wish Marc a huge round of congratulations for this sale. Last fall, I posted a series of pieces strolling down Filmmaker‘s memory lane. In each, I looked back at a single issue of the magazine, and in the second post Marc responded in the comments section with his own story. He wrote about how he discovered Filmmaker Magazine at a film festival and how it made him want to get into independent […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 12, 2011 -
FilmNation’s Glen Basner at Cannes
For the three-year-old FilmNation, the 2011 Cannes Film Festival is a big deal. That’s not just because the company’s market slate is substantial, containing projects by Terrence Malick, John Hillcoat and, as executive producer, James Cameron, but because the young New York-based sales and production company has, for the first time, two films in the festival. The company is repping both Pedro Almodovar’s latest Competition title, The Skin I Live In (pictured above), as well as American indie Jeff Nichol’s Sundance hit, Take Shelter, screening in the Critics Week section. FilmNation was launched by international sales veteran Glen Basner just […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 12, 2011 -
Trailer Watch: The Skin I Live In
Here’s the teaser for Pedro Almodovar’s Cannes-bound The Skin I Live In. It’s been described as a horror film, and this clip does have a bit of Franju in it. (Click the headline if you can’t see the clip.)
by Scott Macaulay on May 9, 2011 -
THE ONLY CAT VIDEO YOU’LL FIND HERE
I know cat videos and the internet go hand in hand. But for years I’ve resisted. Until now. Because it’s amazing. Here, a cat being given a bath. (Click on the headline if you don’t see the video.)
by Scott Macaulay on May 9, 2011 -
TRAILER WATCH: “MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE”
Less than one year after Sean Durkin’s short, Mary Last Seen, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival comes this new trailer for the feature that resulted from it. (Click on the headline if you don’t see the video.) Durkin was one of our “25 New Faces” of 2010, and now his feature, which premiered at Sundance, has its international premiere at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. From Jason Guerrasio’s interview with Durkin: I made Mary Last Seen to have something to send out with the feature script,” Durkin admits. But after taking a second pass at the edit […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 5, 2011 -
AMY SEIMETZ BEGINS “SUN DON’T SHINE”
From an email from director, actress and producer Amy Seimetz: I am making my next feature– Sun Don’t Shine. I have started a ChipIn site for it. 10% of the funds raised will be donated to a shelter for abused women and children in Florida, which I volunteered at in high school. Feel free to donate what you can or pass it along. You can read more about the film and donate here. …And yes– our donation to the shelter is a hint to the plot. Here’s more from the film’s website, which contains a blog with updates on the […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 5, 2011
