Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Clip Premiere: Thomas Balmès Sing Me a Song
Releasing tomorrow, January 1, 2021, on digital platforms is Thomas Balmès’s Sing Me a Song, which finds the French documentarian returning to the town of Laya in Bhutan, the scene of his excellent 2014 documentary Happiness, to learn how one of its subjects, an eight-year-old monk named Peyangki who’s now a teenager, is dealing with the late arrival to his monastery of the internet and social media. Needless to say, the combination of adolescence and technology has created profound changes in Peyangki’s life — changes that provide insight into the ways in which these forms of communication have changed all […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 31, 2020 -
Filmmaker‘s 20 Most Popular New Posts of 2020
To rhyme with the year, I’ve expanded this year’s roundup of our most popular posts, as determined by Google Analytics, from 10 to 20. It’s full of both expected entries — our 25 New Faces scores highly every year — as well as a few surprises. It also shows the dominance of TV and streaming, or perhaps the ’20 decline in theatrical exhibition. So many of the articles on this list — which aren’t “a best of the year,” although many are indeed that — are the ones that intersected best with search analytics, caught viral waves, or rode along […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 30, 2020 -
Movie Theaters to Receive Billions in Relief Funds as Part of the Save Our Stages Act (Updated)
December 28, 2020 update: After delaying his signature by several days, President Trump signed the COVID-19 relief package containing the Save Our Stages act. The final specifics of the act, as released by Senator Chuck Schumer’s office, can be found at the conclusion of this article, which has also been updated. Small and mid-sized movie theaters will receive a portion of $15 billion in funds contained within the COVID-19 relief package being voted upon by Congress today. In addition to $600 stimulus payments, an extension of the $300/weekly enhanced federal unemployment benefit and further Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, the package […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 21, 2020 -
SFFILM Selects Kiran Deol and Jon K. Jones to Receive 2020 Sloan Science in Cinema Fellowship
Filmmakers Kiran Deol and Jon K. Jones have been selected by SFFILM to receive Sloan Science in Cinema Filmmaker Fellowships, which will support the development of their narrative feature screenplays. The grants are part of Sloan’s “efforts to support programs that cultivate and champion films exploring scientific or technological themes and characters,” according to a press release. The fellowships come with $35,000 grants, virtual residencies at SFFILM’s Film House, access to SFFILM’s Artist Development programs, and connections to a science advisor and others in the Bay Area science and tech communities. From the press release: From an open call for […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 21, 2020 -
Sundance Film Festival Announces its Full 2021 Program
The Sundance Institute announced today the full program — all categories! — for its 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Unspooling January 28 – February 3, the festival will occur both online, via a “feature-rich, Sundance-built online platform,” as well as, public health and safety requirements permitting, in person at Satellite Screens at venues across the country. Selected are 72 feature films from 29 countries, with 38 first-time feature filmmakers in the mix. Fourteen of the films and projects were supported in some way by Sundance Institute, and 66 features are world premieres. These films were chosen from 14,092 submissions including 3,500 feature-length films. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 15, 2020 -
SFFILM and Kenneth Rainin Foundation Announce Winners of Fall 2020 Rainin Grants and New Pilot Grant for Filmmakers with Disabilities
SFFILM, in partnership with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, announced today eight new recipients of its SFFILM Rainin grants along with two recipients of its new SFFILM Rainin Filmmakers with Disabilities Grant. The grants provide early stage screenwriting and development support, with the latter grant a new pilot program “to provide additional support to Rainin applicants whose films specifically address stories from the disability community.” Among the grant winners are two projects from filmmakers appearing on Filmmaker‘s 2019 25 New Faces: Sephora Woldu and Alison O’Daniel. O’Daniel also interviewed Sound of Metal‘s Darius Marder in our current issue. The SFFILM Rainin […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 14, 2020 -
Trailer Watch: Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland
The first trailer for Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which has been scoring critic’s nods all season (it just place first in Indiewire’s critic’s poll), just dropped. Wrote Steve Dollar out of the New York Film Festival, “McDormand’s performance, which maps as much brooding interiority as it surveys Fran’s uncertain road ahead, is the unvarnished, flinty thing Oscar nominations are made of, and the mutual intensity of focus that she shares with Zhao locks in on the most minor of details. It’s a story of ‘how’ as much as ‘why,’ and the way scenes build up out of the smallest moments, glances, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 14, 2020 -
Trailer Watch: Eli Daughdrill’s Faith
Eli Daughdrill, who posted here in 2017 during the crowdfunding campaign for his new feature, Faith, now sees that film finished, in release, and with a new trailer. It’s a picture about faith and religion that, as Lindsey Dunn writes at 1 of My Stories, avoids the tropes of faith-based storytelling and “offers representation of a Christian in crisis in a way that feels authentic, refreshing, and uncomfortable.” Check out the trailer above and find the film on-demand through Vertical Entertainment at iTunes, Amazon Video and more.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 4, 2020 -
Sundance Announces Live and Online Presentation Details of Its 2021 Festival
The Sundance Institute announced details of its 2021 edition — plans that will see Sundance offer titles to home audiences via a custom-designed online platform while socially-distanced live events (continent upon local health and safety guidelines at the time of the screenings) will occur in Park City, Utah as well as at a number of “satellite screens” across the country. Running January 28 – February 3, 2021, the Sundance Film Festival will stream its more than 70 features in three-hour blocks throughout the day, with films beginning simultaneously “to preserve the energy of a Festival,” according to the press release. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 2, 2020 -
Slamdance Announces 132 Features, Shorts and Episodics; Fest Passes Free Until December 31
The Slamdance Film Festival announced today the 132 features, shorts and episodic programs that will comprise its hybrid 2021 edition. Running February 12-25, the festival is billing the program “its most accessible festival ever,” and with good reason. All films, Q&A’s and panels will be available on Slamdance.com, AppleTV, Roku, Firestick and YouTube; “early adopter” passes will be free until December 31; and regular passes are only $10. Additionally, there’s a new section, Unstoppable, showcasing creators with disabilities. The festival’s live component will consist of a two-night drive-in presentation in Joshua Tree open to the public on February 13th and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 30, 2020
