Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Trailer Watch: Mia Hansen-Løve’s Bergman Island
Writing out of Cannes, Blake Williams reviewed Mia Hansen-Løve’s latest, Bergman Island, a meta-fictional drama about a female filmmaker’s marriage to a fellow director and the ways in which she mines her life, creative anxieties and influences for narrative material. About the film, which jumps between the filmmaker’s (played by Phantom Thread‘s Vicki Krieps) exploration of the Baltic island where Ingmar Bergman lived and shot several of his films, her conversations with her partner (Tim Roth) about her efforts to crack her third act, and imagined scenes from the film to be, which feature Mia Wasikowska and Joachim Trier-regular Anders […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 7, 2021 -
Trailer Watch: Wild Tigers I Have Known (15th Anniversary Edition)
When I recently interviewed Cam Archer about his latest short, His Image, the director told me that he has been revisiting old projects, creating new high-definition scans and working on new edits. The first of those projects to see the light of day is out October 26, and a trailer has just dropped. Via video label Altered Innocence comes a 15th anniversary edition of Archer’s debut feature, Wild Tigers I Have Known, in what’s billed as a “2021 Edit and Mix.” Bonus features on the disk include: -Pull-out Poster by Michael Gillette -Deleted Scenes -A 2021 Interview with Lou Stumpf (who […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 1, 2021 -
Trailer Watch: Todd Haynes’s The Velvet Underground
“The artist is not with society, he’s different,” says Mary Woronov in the just-dropped trailer for Todd Haynes’s fantastic documentary, The Velvet Underground. It’s an apt pull-quote for a film that’s more about the band and the culture they arose from, reacted to and fermented than any rise/fall/redemption-styled rock narrative. Set against a few of Velvet hits (“Sweet Jane,” initially in a drone-y, slowed-down live version; “Here She Goes Again”; “Venus in Furs”) the trailer gives a glimpse of the film’s elegant graphics, masterful use of archival (not just VU concerts but experimental films of the day) and smart musicology. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 30, 2021 -
“I Wanted To Find Real People Who Were Going Through Real Problems in an Unreal Place”: Lance Oppenheim on His Hulu-Screening Doc, Some Kind of Heaven
The recently announced results of the 2021 U.S. census produced a number of headline takeaways: for example, the nation’s white population declined for the first time, Hispanics have become California’s largest ethnic group, and metropolitan areas were the beneficiary of declining population in over half of America’s smaller counties. And among those growing metropolitan areas, one, in Florida, stood out as the most quickly expanding: The Villages. Over the last decade, the over-55 retirement community saw its population increase by nearly 40%; it now encompasses 60,000 homes, with more on the way. Seeing The Villages show up in an official […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 27, 2021 -
The Gotham Announces Public Programming for 2021 Virtual Gotham Week Conference
The Gotham Film & Media Institute, Filmmaker‘s publisher, announced today the public programming for its upcoming Gotham Week Conference, which will take place virtually from September 19 – September 24. Covering audio, doc and narrative feature filmmaking, and TV, the series of events will, according to the press release, “take a deep look at how the media and entertainment industry is reinventing itself in the wake of the pandemic as well as the increased attention on diversity, equity and inclusion.” Filmmaker is partnering with The Gotham for a keynote series, Conversations in Creativity. This issue’s cover filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 17, 2021 -
The Gotham Adds Four New Board Members: Alina Cho, Franklin Leonard, Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar and Celia Winchester
The Gotham Film & Media Institute, Filmmaker‘s publisher, announced today four new additions to its Board of Directors. Alina Cho, Franklin Leonard, Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar and Cecilia Winchester are the new members who are joining, said Jeffrey Sharp, Executive Director of The Gotham, “at this very exciting inflection point in our 42-year history. All four have distinguished themselves in their respective fields and will play a vital role in supporting our ambitious plans for the future.” Co-chairs Anthony Bregman and Jim Janowitz added, “The Gotham Board of Directors welcomes our newest members in recognition of their support and commitment to this […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 11, 2021 -
With a New Charles Burnett-Intro’d DVD, DEDZA Films Raises Voices of Young, Emerging Filmmakers
In June Dedza Films and Kino Lorber announced their first collaborative release, an anthology picture, Who Will Start Another Fire, containing nine independent short films by young emerging filmmakers hailing from underrepresented communities. Dedza’s first curatorial and distribution project, the film has already been released through Kino Lorber’s virtual cinema platform, playing day-and-date on TVOD and in select arthouse theaters. And this week there’s physical media: a DVD that features an introduction by Charles Burnett. All told, it’s a robust roll-out that augurs well for the vitality of this new voice in discovery and distribution. The filmmakers included in the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 10, 2021 -
Film at Lincoln Center Announces 2021 NYFF Main Slate
Jane Campion, Joel Coen, Gaspar Noe, Joachim Trier, Mia Hansen-Love, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Todd Haynes and Pedro Almodovar are some of the heavy-hitting directors whose work will receive U.S. premieres at the 2021 New York Film Festival. Just announced is the main slate, which features many returning veterans as well as filmmakers appearing at the festival for the first time, including Rebecca Hall, Saul Williams and Alexandre Koberidze. Two filmmakers — Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Hong Sangsoo — are represented by two titles. The festival runs September 24 – October 10, and proof of vaccination will be required at all venues. Festival […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 10, 2021 -
“We Called the Wide-Angle Lens ‘The Violence Lens’….”: Director Orson Oblowitz on His Hallucinatory Psychodrama, The Five Rules of Success
When we first meet X (Santiago Segura) in an extended moving camera shot that follows him exiting a state penitentiary, the length of the sentence he’s just completed is signaled by the contents of the box of vintage tech and media he carries: an outdated computer monitor with the clear plastic revealing its circuit board; tech-nerd, unfashionable over-the-ear headphones; the Trainspotting soundtrack CD. He takes the bus home — a one-room apartment minimalist in all the wrong ways (no “apartment therapy” here), which The Five Rules of Success director Orson Oblowitz, acting as his own cinematographer, captures with a kind […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 6, 2021 -
Sundance Festival Director Tabitha Jackson Announces Details of 2022 Event; Vaccinations Required for In-Person Utah Events
Festival director Tabitha Jackson announced today details of the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, which will take place in Park City, Utah and across various Satellite Screen venues January 20 – 30, 2022. Most significantly, after 2021’s virtual edition, Sundance 2022 will be an in-person event. The festival will require attendees of events in Utah to be fully vaccinated, with further details about health precautions and mask-wearing to be issued in the coming months. The festival will also be larger than last year’s scaled-down edition but still smaller than the pre-pandemic 2020 festival. For further details, read the complete letter from […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 3, 2021
