Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Indie Housewarming
When IFP Minnesota was deciding whose name to place above the exhibition galleries in its new space in St. Paul’s Vandalia Tower, executive director Andrew Peterson and its board of directors didn’t go the obvious route. There’s not a corporate sponsor logo in sight. Instead, the organization named the gallery after two local photographers, Ann Marsden and Gus Gustafson, both of whom were avid chroniclers of the Minneapolis/St. Paul arts community before they each passed away in recent years. Along with IFP Minnesota’s offices, four classrooms and two editing suites, the Marsden/Gustafson gallery opened to the public and members this […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2016 -
Sundance Announces New “Art of Nonfiction” Initiative Supporting Innovative Documentary Filmmaking
“There has been a very vibrant conversation over the last several years about content in documentary,” says Tabitha Jackson, Director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. “And when I came to Sundance two years ago, I said, ‘I want to help make a conversation about form and process as loud and vibrant as the one going on about content.’” Announced today by the Sundance Institute is the first step in that process, a new “Art of Nonfiction” initiative that, over the course of a year, supports a curated group of filmmakers exploring creative formal, story and craft possibilities in […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 18, 2016 -
David Bowie, 1947 – 2016
I’ve been listening to David Bowie’s new Blackstar all week, and its lyrical ruminations on mortality — some aching, some cheeky — are inescapable. Still, the idea that these were prompted by anything more than an impending 70th birthday didn’t occur to me. It seemed unbelievable that David Bowie would not be around for a little while longer. So, it’s a sad day to wake up to the news that Bowie has died. So meaningful, influential and vital through so many different periods of our lives. For me, the Berlin trilogy, my first arena show, The Man Who to Earth, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 11, 2016 -
Vilmos Zsigmond, 1930 – 2016
Legendary cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, who shot a string of iconic pictures for Robert Altman, Steven Spielberg, Michael Cimino and Brian DePalma, among others, died January 1, Variety reports. Hungarian-born, Los Angeles-residing, Zsigmond was a steadfast proponent of shooting on film his entire life, and he was known for innovative techniques — such as flashing the stock on films like McCabe and Mrs. Miller — and his ability to create unique looks for his various movies. His work encompassed rugged styles in films like Deliverance or The Sugarland Express to composed, dense, painterly work in Heaven’s Gate. He won an Oscar […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 3, 2016 -
5 Questions for Yosemite Writer/Director Gabrielle Demeestere
Distracted fathers and sons left to their own devices; father surrogates and the salve of friendship — these are the themes that circle around Gabrielle Demeestere’s lovely and composed feature debut, Yosemite, which opens today in New York from Monterey Media at the IFC Center. Based on two short stories by James Franco (taken from the same collection that led to the film Palo Alto), as well as Demeestere’s own original material, Yosemite is set in 1985, when pre-adolescent dangers are symbolized by mountain lions descending from the wilds into this Northern California town, and when father-son bonding trips into […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 1, 2016 -
Michael Mann Interviews Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu about The Revenant
Here’s a pairing! Two notoriously obsessive, driven, perfectionist and demanding directors in an on-stage dialogue. The DGA hosted this talk between Alejandro González Iñárritu and Michael Mann about the former’s epic frontier saga, The Revenant. Says the director of Heat and Miami Vice, The Revenant “embraces the totality of life, nature and experience… not like anything I’ve seen before.” Check out the detailed, candid conversation above or below.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 1, 2016 -
Christmas Surprise Tracks from LCD Soundsystem and Radiohead
Here’s hoping this becomes a new tradition — surprise releases from great bands that are actually pretty good! The first, what will become a seasonal classic for melancholics everywhere, is from a band that technically doesn’t even exist anymore: LCD Soundsystem. And the second is an unused theme for the James Bond film Spectre by Radiohead. First, here’s what LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy wrote to accompany “Christmas Will Break Your Heart”: so, there’s been this depressing christmas song i’d been singing to myself for the past 8 years, and every year i wouldn’t remember that i wanted to make it […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 25, 2015 -
Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson Talk 70mm on Christmas Eve
One of the nice things about a Weinstein Company Christmas Day release of a film by Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight) is that the accompanying marketing material is necessarily cinephilic. Take this yuletide chat between Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson, shot in Tarantino’s home theater and moderated by Deadline’s Pete Hammond. Over forty minutes long, it deals with topics like the lifespan of the celluloid format (Tarantino says it has experienced “a reprieve”) as well why both he and Anderson like using the format for shooting films largely set in interiors. Check it out above.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 25, 2015 -
Section 181, Film Production Tax Incentive, Reinstated (and Retroactive!) in 2016 Spending Bill
Great news for independent film producers: the omnibus spending bill passed by Congress this week and signed by President Obama contains a reinstatement of Section 181, the tax provision that incentivizes film and television production by allowing for immediate deduction of production costs up to $15 million. What’s more, the provision, which expires December 31, 2016, was made retroactive to include costs spent during 2015. (In recent years, Section 181 was retroactively renewed for the prior year at the beginning of the next fiscal year; in 2015, it was allowed to expire completely, and many observers didn’t expect to see […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 19, 2015 -
Showtime Unveils a New Twin Peaks Teaser
We’ll just start by apologizing up front — at Filmmaker, you know, we don’t report on every trailer, one-sheet or still photo released in support of projects of interest. These things are marketing items, you know? Advertisements. But I suspect we will be making an exception for Twin Peaks, especially now that David Lynch is back behind the camera of this Showtime 25-years-later series. A new teaser has just dropped. It’s not much, but it’s something.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 18, 2015
