Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Trailer Watch: Blade Runner 2049
A trailer that needs no introduction — especially after countless image drops, promos and even a teaser for the trailer. Here are Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling and Robin Wright in director Denis Villeneuve’s sequel to Ridley Scott’s iconic Blade Runner.
by Scott Macaulay on May 8, 2017 -
Has Reservoir Dogs Aged Well?
While its opening salvo, in which Quentin Tarantino’s legacy is rated against four other directors — three of whom are still fondly thought of here at Filmmaker — is a bit harsh, Evan Puschak’s video appreciation of Reservoir Dogs, QT’s first feature, digs into some of the aspects that make it a still-compelling watch a quarter of a century (!) later. And after you watch, check out Alex Rockwell’s interview with Tarantino upon the film’s release. (HT: Kottke.org)
by Scott Macaulay on May 5, 2017 -
Sundance Announces New Creative Distribution Fellowship with Columbus, Unrest
The Sundance Institute announced today a new initiative aimed at filmmakers going the DIY distribution route. The inaugural projects supported by the Creative Distribution Fellowship are two recommended independent films that premiered this past January at Sundance: Columbus, by Filmmaker 25 New Face :: kogonada, and Unrest, a documentary by director and subject Jennifer Brea. In the press release, Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Columbus and Unrest are perfect examples of the creative spirit of independent filmmaking, and this new Fellowship will provide them with resources, mentorship and tactical support to pioneer independent pathways to audiences. This […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 2, 2017 -
Film Clip: Tormenting the Hen, from Writer/Director Theodore Collatos
Previously at Filmmaker, Theodore Collatos engaged in a dialogue about filmmaking with fellow director Christopher Jason Bell and penned an article about shooting his latest feature, Tormenting the Hen, in just six days. Now that latter film is receiving its premiere tomorrow at the Independent Film Festival of Boston, and Collatos has provided Filmmaker with an exclusive clip. Watch above, and read the synopsis below: When playwright Claire is invited to set her latest political work at a rural theatre company, her fiance Monica tags along for a much-needed vacation. Upon encountering Mutty, an enigmatic neighbor with a gross lack […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 27, 2017 -
Coffee, Sake and Ambien: Writer/Director Richard Shepard on His Tribeca ’17 Short Film, Tokyo Project
An unexpected pleasure at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Tokyo Project is a romantic drama with a psychological twist starring Elisabeth Moss and Ebon Moss-Bacharach and directed by Richard Shepard, whose career traverses dark comedies like The Matador and Dom Hemingway as well as some of the most memorable episodes of TV’s Girls. But what’s unexpected about this story of two American wanderers who hook up in Tokyo while both seemingly escaping their normal lives is, simply, its existence. The half-hour work is beautifully acted and shot (by Giles Nuttgens), coursing with a kind of romantic cinephilia, and, unlike other […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 26, 2017 -
Tribeca 2017: Five Questions for Flames DP Ashley Connor
Flames marks cinematographer Ashley Connor’s third feature collaboration with filmmaker, artist and performer Josephine Decker — she previously lensed Decker’s Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and Butter on the Latch — but this time there’s a twist. Decker “co-directed for a long time” (see the film and you’ll understand) with director Zefrey Thowell, and the movie bracingly, explicitly details the emotional, sexual and psychosexual gyrations of their turbulent eight-month relationship. The pair would often call Connor over to film a recreation of something that happened to them just a day earlier — like a bout of lovemaking leading to a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 25, 2017 -
Tribeca 2017: Alon Benari on the VR Thriller, Broken Night
Currently running at the Tribeca Film Festival’s Virtual Arcade, Broken Night is a psychological thriller featuring a quarrelling couple (Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola), an intruder and a handgun. Distilling these elements into 11 taut minutes, the piece throws viewers not just into the action but into the unsteady point-of-view of the short’s protagonist, the wife played by Mortimer, who is trying to reconstruct the events of one violent evening for an investigating police detective. Using a VR headset and browser-based player, Broken Night allows viewers to slip in and out of the wife’s POV, making for her character the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 24, 2017 -
IFP Announces 10 Projects Selected for 2017 Screen Forward Labs
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), Filmmaker‘s publisher, announced today the ten projects taking part in its third annual Screen Forward Lab for story-driven, serialized projects. Among the projects, which span web series, VR and cross-platform storytelling, are works set in the world of extreme sports, gentrified Brooklyn, and a youth rehab center. Characters include young scouts and their scoutmasters, a gay-curious heterosexual woman, and angry black women — the latter in the series, Angry Black Women. Screen Forward Lab creators begin their program today with five days of workshops and seminars at the Made in New York Media Center, where […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 24, 2017 -
Tribeca 2017: Exclusive Clip, Mark Grieco’s A River Below
“We need action!” That’s Richard Rasmussen, one of the two main subjects of Mark Grieco’s Tribeca documentary premiere, A River Below, in this exclusive clip provided to Filmmaker. The film, Grieco’s follow-up to the Sundance-premiering Marmato, has its first screening on April 22. Here, from the press materials, is a further description: A River Below is a gripping journey into the Amazon that follows a Brazilian wildlife TV star and a renowned marine biologist as they each attempt to save the endangered pink river dolphin from being hunted to extinction. As we burrow further into the Amazon, the film takes […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 20, 2017 -
28 Films, TV and VR Pieces We’re Excited About at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival
Kicking off tonight with an all-star Radio City concert following the premiere of the Clive Davis doc, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, the Tribeca Film Festival once more offers a near-overwhelming array of new work spread across not just film but TV, VR, gaming and music. The program has been slimmed down this year, say the programmers, but the below list of works we’re excited about could still stretch many times fold. Nonetheless, from myself and our various Tribeca contributors this year, here are 28 works we have reason to excitedly anticipate. The Departure. Lana Wilson follows up her abortion […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 19, 2017
