Authors — Scott Macaulay
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At Cannes 2017, The Square Wins Palme d’Or; Coppola Best Director; and Lynne Ramsay’s Latest Wins Two
Here, as they are announced, are the winners of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. Palme d’Or: The Square, Ruben Östlund. Special Prize for the 70th Anniversary: Nicole Kidman Grand Prix: 120 Beats Per Minute, directed by Robin Campillo Jury Prize: Loveless, Andrey Zvyagintsev Best Actress: Diane Kruger, In the Fade Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here Best Director: Sofia Coppola, The Beguiled Best Screenplay: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lathimos and Efthymis Filippou) and Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here) The Camera d’Or (given to best first film): Jeunne Femme/Montparnasse Bienvenue, directed by Leonor […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 28, 2017 -
Trailer Watch: Josh and Benny Safdie’s Good Time, Starring Robert Pattinson and Benny Safdie
One of my most anticipated films of the summer is Josh and Benny Safdie’s Good Time, which premieres in a few days in the Main Competition of the Cannes Film Festival. The first trailer has just dropped from A24, and it shows Robert Pattinson as a bank robber trying to get his accomplice — his brother, played by Benny Safdie — sprung from Rikers Island. Jennifer Jason Leigh appears as well as Buddy Duress, who co-starred in the Safdies’ previous Heaven Knows What. It’s a heartbreaker of a trailer scored to an original song by Oneohtrix Point Never and Iggy […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 16, 2017 -
IFP Announces 10 Films Chosen for its 2017 Narrative Lab
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), Filmmaker’s publisher, announced today the projects selected for the 2017 edition of its Narrative Labs. A program designed for first-time filmmakers currently in post-production on narrative films, it provides resources and mentorship on all the activities that go into finishing a film and taking it out into the world, from work with music and sound, to locking picture, to festival and distribution strategies. The program begins today and runs through May 12 at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP located in DUMBO, Brooklyn. Commented IFP Executive Director Joana Vicente in a press release, […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 9, 2017 -
Trailer Watch: Woodshock, Written and Directed by Kate Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy
There was a mini-boomlet a few years ago in cinematic fashion films, and Kate Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy, the two sisters who are the designers for the fashion label Rodarte, were behind several of the best. Working with the director Todd Cole, the films were stunningly beautiful, fitfully mysterious and emotionally ambiguous. Now, the sisters have directed their own first film, out this September from A24. The trailer, posted above, is an absolute knockout — my favorite trailer posted in the last two days. Here’s the press release copy: The exquisite feature film debut of visionary fashion designers Kate and […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 9, 2017 -
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
