Authors — Scott Macaulay
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DONALD KRIM, 1945 – 2011
Sad news today: the passing of veteran independent distributor, Kino’s Donald Krim, who has been responsible for the U.S. release of many of the best films ever made. Throughout his long career, he handpicked excellent world cinema titles as well as the best of the American independents, creating one of the most enviable libraries around. Remarkably, Krim’s taste remained on the cutting edge even in his later years — witness last year’s release of the extraordinary Dogtooth. He will be missed. Below is the press release we received from Kino. May 20, 2011 – Donald B. Krim (b. October 5, […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 21, 2011 -
JAMIE STUART AT LINCOLN CENTER
Filmmaker‘s Jamie Stuart has moved uptown where he’s documented the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s build of their new Elinor Bunin theaters. He’s made four new pieces, characteristically backlit, and in black-and-white, and they have premiered at Vanity Fair, which also runs an interview with him. Below is his sit-down with Executive Director Rose Kuo, and a video in which he geeks out on all the new gear. And here, from the interview, is his take on the filmmakers of the future: Traditionally, the director’s job is to oversee things, and make decisions while you have a cameraman who shoots […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 20, 2011 -
LARS VON TRIER IS CANNES’ “PERSONA NON GRATA”
I missed the Wednesday morning Melancholia screening, having to moderate a table at the Producers Network breakfast the same time, but afterwards I happened to catch a snippet of the press conference. I tweeted a few comments, namely ones in which the director talked about this relationship with the film’s d.p., who started the project by telling him not to behave like so many “old or middle-aged directors and make [his actresses] younger and more naked.” “Don’t tell me that,” Von Trier said he told the cinematographer. Watching press conferences on those little TVs in the basement of the Palais […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 20, 2011 -
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 Many producers, unable to get hard numbers for their comps, cling to outdated models and “percentage of the budget” charts when making business plans.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
