Authors — Scott Macaulay

GIRLS ROCKS ON

In Filmmaker‘s Fall issue we published And Nothing But the Truth, filmmaker Arne Johnson’s thoughtful meditation on issues of truth and reality as they play out in documentary film practice. Now, you have a chance to see how Johnson resolved these issues for himself in his charming and energetic doc, Girls Rock! The film is currently playing in NY, LA, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Chicago, Seattle, and Portland. Click on the link above to learn more, and check out the trailer below.
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 11, 2008
SMALL CAN BE GOOD

Over at his CinemaTech blog, Scott Kirsner responds responds to an article in the Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern entitled “Size Matters.” In the article, Morgenstern questions whether the viewing medium of handheld devices will lead to artistic cinematic innovation and seems to think it will not. I’m incredibly interested in this subject and will be writing more on it in the future. I said at my SXSW panel that I’m mystified why more independent filmmakers haven’t tried to create innovative content for the web, but, unlike Morgenstern, I don’t think the answer is because the medium of the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 11, 2008
SXSW #1

Here at Filmmaker you’ll read about the films playing at the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) at Austin, Texas, but to get the festival you need to understand that films aren’t the only game in town. There’s of course music — SXSW started as a music fest, and, mid-week, when it changes over, the crowded streets will really explode –- but there’s also SXSW Interactive, which focuses on new media and gaming. And then there’s the conference part of SXSW. In the huge Austin Conventional Center, which is the hub of the festival, panels and small group discussions with […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 10, 2008
MARY BRONSTEIN ON THE RENART PODCAST

Okay, I’ve posted, MySpace’d and Facebooked you all to death about Ronnie Bronstein’s Frownland, which opens tomorrow at the IFC Center. You know you have to see it, right? You will be graded on it on the upcoming final. And if you’re in Austin for SXSW, as I’ll be, you can score some extra credit by seeing Mary Bronstein’s debut feature Yeast, which premieres there. Mary is Ron’s wife, she co-starred in Frownland, and he was one the cinematographers of her movie. Greta Gerwig also stars. If you want to learn more about it, listen to Mary on the Renart […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 6, 2008
SAG ALEVES INDIE STRIKE ANXIETY

The Screen Actor’s Guild has confirmed on its website news that has been floating around the indie world for a few weeks: that SAG will offer “guaranteed completion contracts” to indie productions so that they will be unaffected by a possible strike. What’s great about the SAG news, aside from quite valuably allowing indies to make a living during a labor stoppage, is that it implicitly acknowledges that all producers are not represented by the AMPTP and should not be affected by issues that primarily affect studio moviemaking. From the website: Guaranteed Completion Contracts are only available to independent productions […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 6, 2008
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS’ GARY GYGAX, R.I.P.

Gary Gygax, co-creator of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons (with Dave Arneson), died on March 4th. He had been in poor health for some time, and apparently died of heart problems. I saw notice of his death on Boing Boing earlier in the week, took a second to recognize Gygax’s name, and then kept on surfing through the site. Later, though, I thought a bit more about Gygax and his cultural contribution and decided to write something here for a couple of reasons. First, I’ll cop to having been a bit of a D&D geek for a couple […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 6, 2008
UP STREAM

Eric Kohn emailed to tell me about a new online magazine he’s involved with called Stream. From the introductory notice posted on the site: Stream is a new magazine devoted to filmmakers who want to exploit new technologies in producing, promoting and distributing their work. It’s not as complicated as it sounds: We wish simply to be enablers. Filmmaking is the cultural phenomenon of our times, in the way that rock n roll was a generation or two (or three) ago. Once upon a time, any kid could pick up a cheap guitar and make their own noise. Now that […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 4, 2008
KARINA LONGWORTH GOES BEHIND THE BLOG

Over at Film in Focus, Karina Longworth is the latest profile in the “Behind the Blog” series. Currently the editor of Spoutblog, Longworth talks about her favorite posts, her work day, and her history as a blogger, excerpted below: I’m a rare specimen, in that I’ve been a “professional” movie blogger from the jump–meaning, from the very early days of Cinematical through the present, I’ve always been paid to do it, and I’ve more or less treated it like a career. I have great admiration for those who self publish out of a labor of love, but I wouldn’t know […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 4, 2008
PLEASE GO SEE FROWNLAND AT THE IFC CENTER!

I’m posting this short review by Richard Brody that appeared in the New Yorker this week as the first of a trickle of postings, message board missives, MySpace bulletins, and FaceBook alerts that will soon develop into a deafening roar of digital noise converging towards one important goal: to get you to see Frownland this weekend in New York at its world theatrical premiere at the IFC Center! If you’ve been following this blog over the last year, you know of our huge love for this film. I first saw it a year ago at SXSW and was on the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 4, 2008
THIS ELECTION IS GETTING TOO BIZARRE…

According to The Huffington Post, the Hillary Clinton campaign released this video demonstrating the support of Jack Nicholson: UPDATE: Over at his The Chutry Experiment, Chuck Tryon explores the semiotics of this advertisement, noting that many of Nicholson’s characters are rebellious anti-establishment types, and muses on the collision between these associations and the Clinton campaign. Meanwhile, The Caucus blog at the New York Times discusses this video as well and, as a poster in the comments thread below concludes, doubts that it came from the campaign itself.
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 1, 2008

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