Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Director Catherine Breillat on Sleeping Beauty
For many adults, The Sleeping Beauty, whether in Charles Perrault’s original telling or the Brothers Grimm’s, is the quintessential fairy tale. It has spawned countless retellings in the form of animated films, ballets, and children’s book adaptations. Now, iconoclastic director Catherine Breillat tackles the tale but on her own terms. For Breillat, The Sleeping Beauty is a doorway into the world of childhood fantasy in general as her young princess, cursed to die on her 16th birthday, travels through time and space, going on a series of adventures that underscore the fearlessness of a child’s imagination — and the adult […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2011 -
SUNDANCE DIRECTOR’S LAB BLOG: KASI LEMMONS, PART 2
Filmmaker Kasi Lemmons (Talk to Me, The Caveman’s Valentine, Eve’s Bayou) attended this year’s Sundance Director’s Lab as an advisor, and here is a blog report about her experience. I’ve been back in Manhattan for a few days, but my head is still on the Mountain. I’m thinking about the fellows, who are shooting and editing their final scenes. The progress and maturity of vision that I witnessed while I was there was incredible. I saw the filmmakers grow and stretch and discover themselves in the process. The rigorous shooting schedule taught them how to organize their day so that […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 29, 2011 -
TRAILER WATCH: DAVID CRONENBERG’S “A DANGEROUS METHOD”
The trailer for David Cronenberg’s latest, A Dangerous Method, which is about Carl Jung’s relationship with a female patient and his clash with Sigmund Freud, is online. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Viggo Mortenson. According to The Playlist, Knightley has a “lengthy neurotic monlogue” that “steals the show.” Indeed, her extreme physical angularity may never have been used to such good effect as it appears to have been used here.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 21, 2011 -
SUNDANCE DIRECTOR’S LAB BLOG: KASI LEMMONS
Filmmaker Kasi Lemmons (Talk to Me, The Caveman’s Valentine, Eve’s Bayou) attended this year’s Sundance Director’s Lab as an advisor, and here is a blog report about her experience. It challenging to put into words an almost magical experience, but I’ll try. I’m here at the Sundance Filmmaker’s Lab. I’ve been here since Sunday. I’m happy and energized and exhausted. The feeling is familiar. I always experience it on the mountain. The mountain to me is Sundance and Sundance is the mountain. The mountain is always magical. I’ve been here many times as an advisor. Usually there’s at least three […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 21, 2011 -
Apple Releases New Final Cut Pro X; Our Review To Follow
UPDATE: Read David Leitner’s first take on Final Cut Pro X here. This morning Apple released its long awaited, ground-up rethink of its professional editing software, Final Cut Pro. Available for $299 from the Apple Store, the new FCP is both drastically lower in price than the previous version and contains numerous improvements, including, wrote David Leitner at NAB this Spring, a “dramatically revamped interface, 64-bit processor capability, no more RAM ceiling of 4GB, and continual background rendering by means of unused CPU cycles.” Leitner’s takeaway then: With FCP X, Apple is returning to the one-size-fits-all ethos of the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 21, 2011 -
SUNDANCE DIRECTOR’S LAB BLOG: HOLDEN ABIGAIL OSBORNE
Writer/director Holden Abigail Osborne — one of Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces of 2010 — is currently at the Sundance Resort in Utah, developing her screenplay Adelyne as one of eight fellows at this year’s Director’s Lab. In the words of Sundance, “Each fellow has the opportunity to rehearse, shoot and edit selected scenes from his or her screenplay in a workshop environment, where the focus is completely on creative exploration and discovery.” Osborne is reporting on her experience in a pair of blog posts, the first of which is below, in the form of her notebook pages.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 20, 2011 -
WME’S GRAHAM TAYLOR ON ENTREPRENEURIAL FILM
Today’s morning read is WME Global head Graham Taylor’s keynote speech at the Los Angeles Film Festival, a smart and entertaining walk through not only his own career but the trajectory of independent film’s past and future. Since his speech references Hollywood blockbusters, perhaps it’s appropriate that it starts with Taylor’s own origin story, beginning in Portland, Oregon, where he grew up with an economist father and artist mother — two influences that will intertwine throughout his career. Another part of that origin story: Reservoir Dogs, the film that blew him away and made him want to be involved in […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 19, 2011 -
ROBERT GREENE’S FATHER’S DAY SHORT
Filmmaker Robert Greene, whose Kati with an I was one of our Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You Gotham Award nominees last year, has posted on this Father’s Day a 20-minute short about his grandfather, Goodbye Engineer. Check it out below. GOODBYE ENGINEER from prewarcinema on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 19, 2011 -
IFP NARRATIVE LAB RECAP #3: TIM SUTTON
Filmmaker Tim Sutton (pictured) attended the IFP Narrative Lab with his feature Pavilion. Here is his short report about the week. FROM THE VACUUM TO THE ABYSS (Or how I stopped worrying and learned to love the IFP narrative lab)So I’ve spent years in “development hell.” Not the development hell you may be picturing — the round, padded, gymnasium-sized room where young filmmakers with dreams go to take their medication, age in fast motion, and walk zombie-style around the place, bumping into stacks of scripts while, behind a one-way mirror, Hollywood executive types in sharp lab coats laugh wickedly. (Oh, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 18, 2011 -
IFP NARRATIVE LAB RECAP #1: ELISABETH HOLM
Producer Elisabeth Holm attended the IFP Narrative Lab with Keith Miller’s Welcome to Pine Hill (pictured). She filed this short report on her experience. IFP Narrative Lab Recap: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Releasing Your Film But Were Afraid To Ask The emotional highs and lows endured over 45 hours of last week’s IFP Narrative Lab are only paralleled by the peaks and valleys of middle-school dodgeball. As I trust any filmmaker who’s been lucky enough to gain the mentorship will say, the IFP Labs are highly intense, immersive, illuminating, engaging, challenging, rewarding, and exhausting. I am currently […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 17, 2011
