With backing from Google, Andreessen Horowitz, Qualcom and movie studio Legendary Entertainment — and an on-staff Chief Futurist in the form of science-fiction author Neal Stephenson — the somewhat mysterious Magic Leap is one of the most fascinating tech start-ups around. For the vision — not virtual reality but augmented reality — the company is going for, check out their startling home-page. For the current reality, check out the video above, which is a real-world demo of some galaxy clusters hovering over an ordinary workspace. For an explanation of why this simple video is more impressive than the rigged concept […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 26, 2015For its 25th anniversary year, the IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards served up an eclectic mix of nominees from films all over the budgetary and aesthetic map. The best picture nominees include two films budgeted well under $1 million — with one of them shot on an iPhone — and are split between titles consisting of star-driven casts and casts comprised of total newcomers. The Best Feature nominees announced today are Todd Haynes’s Carol; Marielle Heller’s The Diary of a Teenage Girl; Josh and Benny Safdie’s Heaven Knows What; Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight; and Sean Baker’s Tangerine. Heller’s film, in addition, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 22, 2015Any filmmaker who has been around the block knows something about reactions to films — when you’re first praised for the cinematography, something has gone wrong. And when a critic spends more time on plot description than on analysis or commentary, well, then, he or she is just aiming to hit their word count. I thought of these two truisms while watching Review, the latest short from Filmmaker 25 New Face Dustin Guy Defa. Watch it above.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2015Are you a good writer, knowledgeable about new developments in film and new media, and a reader of Filmmaker? Filmmaker is currently seeking a Contributing Web Editor. This is a paid, part-time position, averaging 10 hours per week, and it involves daily writing and posting to this site. In addition to possessing strong writing, reporting and editing skills, our ideal candidate will have experience with filmmaking itself, including production, post-production and business issues. Our Contributing Web Editor will report on developments of interest to our filmmaking audience, including reports on new equipment and technologies, software and events as well as […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2015Miami-based filmmaker Carla Forte is one of the three filmmakers I’ll be speaking to tomorrow night at the Miami Beach Cinematheque, and our talk sits right in the middle of the Indiegogo campaign for her latest feature, Ann. Forte is a performer, screenwriter and director, as well as Executive Director of Bistoury Physical Theatre and Film. Read the information below, check out the video above and consider donating to her campaign. From Forte’s Indiegogo page: Ann is a feature film narrating the story of Ruben, a lower-class visual artist who has decided to abandon his tormented life by taking refuge […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2015I’ll be moderating a Q&A tomorrow night, Thursday, October 22, in Miami with three of the city’s most compelling and original filmmakers: Jillian Mayer, Monica Pena and Carla Forte. It’s the closing night of this edition of the Miami Beach Cinematheque’s “Speaking in Cinema” series, and we’ll be discussing the individual works by these directors that have played at this series as well as the filmmakers’ general practice and thoughts on the Miami scene. Filmmaker readers will be familiar with Jillian Mayer’s work as she, along with partner Lucas Leyva, were selected for our 25 New Faces list in 2012. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2015On Wednesday, October 28, Filmmaker Magazine will be presenting at the IFP’s Made in New York Media Center a Master Class on filmmaking with the provocative Paris-based, Argentinian auteur Gaspar Noé. As his latest film, Love, a romantic melodrama with hardcore sex and shot in 3D, prepares to hit American screens, we’ll be screening Noé‘s first, rarely-screened picture, Carne, and then discussing his subsequent work. With its widescreen cinematography, William Castle-ish flourishes and spasms of ultra-violence, Carne, a tale of a racist horse-meat butcher in the South of France bent on avenging what he believes to be the rape of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2015Kentucker Audley might have been reading Mike Ryan’s “TV is Not the New Film,” in which the producer concedes that TV is dominating our cultural conversation right now. And he’s decided to do something about it. Audley has taken to Kickstarter to sell a simple item of apparel that will tell the world that, yes, you’re a movie fan.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 16, 2015Ben Weissner and the gang at Ornana — Filmmaker 25 New Faces in 2012 — have just passed along this video for “The Girl in the Yellow Dress,” a single from Pink Floyd guitarist/vocalist David Gilmour’s new solo album. Explains Weissner about the video’s hand animation: His creative team had seen Confusion Through Sand (which has been re-edited to play at his live concerts) and were drawn to the dimensionality and movement in that style, so they asked if we’d bring a similar technique to their song. The music video is made of about 9.000 frames of animation that were […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 13, 2015Under the Skin filmmaker Jonathan Glazer and design hero Neville Brody, alongside creative agencies 4Creative and DBLG have “rebranded” iconic U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 with jagged new fonts and a deliriously weird, vaguely Kubrick-ian series of station IDs. Glazer’s four narratively-linked shorts fit more comfortably into his recent film work than they do any kind of television advertising, with their mysterious creatures, magenta rock formations and high-tech science laboratories. As for the fonts, well, back in the day, we at Filmmaker used to spend late nights with our late, great designer Wayne Van Acker geeking out over Brody’s work for […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 3, 2015