Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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“There’s Nothing in the Story That Predetermines That the Creature Becomes a Monster”: The Makers Of Frankenstein A.I. On Being Optimistic At IFP Week 2018
What is Frankenstein A.I.? The name itself is something of a Janus symbol, looking back to classic literature—an early work of horror and, lest we forget, of science-fiction—while looking forward to our potentially human-less future. And like Mary Shelley’s creature itself, it’s something of a patchwork, stitched together from different mediums. It’s part installation, part theater, part audience participation, part improv, even part dance. It’s not quite film, though there is a screen with moving images. Whatever it is, it premiered—under the full name Frankenstein A.I.: A Monster Made By Many—at Sundance last winter, earning raves and awe. Perhaps most […]
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“We Just Have To Go One Gentle Step After Another”: Members of England’s The Space Arts Council On Embracing New Digital Platforms at IFP Week 2018
To be in the arts right now is to be excited and scared, often at the same time. The old ways are dying, but no one actually knows what the new ways even are. There’s so much potential in the digital landscape, but it’s unclear how it can be used—to find audiences, to fix old (and new) problems, to maybe even make money. These are issues that consume those involved with The Space, an English arts council set up at the BBC not only to fund art but to find new ways to get them out into the world. “There […]
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‘Nobody Wanted This Story’: Paula Eiselt And Heidi Reinberg On Making 93Queen At IFP Week 2018
Here’s a typical story about a documentary (or an indie, or occasionally even an experimental film): It cruises the festival circuit, likely at Sundance. It builds up buzz. Perhaps it collects some awards. It scores a distributor. Several months — or even a year, now and then even years — later it opens in theaters, riding on hazily recalled accolades and hopefully at least polite reviews. It is or isn’t a success, and there’s a chance it spends eternity lost in the vast bowels of iTunes. Some people (and a few reviewers) assume this is the tale of 93Queen, Paula […]
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‘We Know You, But You Guys Don’t Know Us’: Female Filmmakers Talk Diversity And Inclusivity At IFP Week
Gender and inclusivity are two key buzzwords floating about the film world these days, but how are these ideas being implemented? Are they being implemented? And are these issues always binary, black and white? Talking to filmmakers who aren’t Caucasian, male and/or cis, you don’t get clear-cut answers. You don’t always get encouraging answers, though you sometimes do. One gets the impression that this is an industry struggling with ideas that may change it radically, and that some people — even well-meaning allies — are still glomming onto old traditions. These issues were confronted directly during IFP Week, particularly at the […]
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TIFF 2018 Critic’s Notebook 8: In My Room, Wavelengths
Here’s what I did not expect to see last Monday: Béla Tarr, hunched by a door before the fourth and final screening of the experimental Wavelengths shorts programs so crucial to my annual TIFF experience. I’d missed a trick–news that he’d be with us had been tweeted out that morning, but I’m glad I didn’t know. Dropping in one of the crucial film figures of the last 30 years was a shock to the system; the red-carpet clutter unavoidably inseparable from nearly any festival faded away, and for a few minutes there was just Tarr, as stringent as expected, talking about the young […]
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“Hype First”: Maxi Cohen on the Genesis of the IFP
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the IFP and its Film Week, filmmaker Maxi Cohen contributes the following guest essay on that moment of inception. — Editor Sandra Schulberg and I were in the train station after the 1978 Rotterdam Film Festival. I had presented Joe and Maxi, a film about my relationship with my father1, and Sandra had presented two movies produced for the PBS Visions series, The Gardener’s Son by Richard Pearce and Over-Under-Sideways-Down by the Cine Manifest collective. Marc Weiss had helped to arrange U.S. Indie Films in Rotterdam which they dubbed “Hollywood without Make-Up.” […]
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Keep Calm and Doc On: The 8th Open City Documentary Festival
As a longtime docuphile who prides myself on keeping up with the latest developments in cinematic nonfiction both at home and abroad, I’m embarrassed to admit I’d never heard of the Open City Documentary Festival before an invite to the eight-year-old London fest landed in my inbox. But between OCDF’s touted focus on documentary first and foremost as an art form, and my morbid curiosity about/solidarity with any film festival functioning amidst the chaos of Brexit, I was immediately sold. And, fortunately, this year’s OCDF did not disappoint when it came to showcasing a nonfiction lineup filled with under-the-radar artistry […]
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Rachel Weisz, Jon Kamen to Receive Tributes at the 2018 IFP Gotham Awards
IFP, Filmmaker‘s publisher, announced today that Rachel Weisz and Jon Kamen will receive, respectively, the Actress Tribute and Industry Tribute at the 2018 IFP Gotham Awards, to be held November 26 at Cipriani Wall Street, New York City. From the press release: “We are thrilled to be honoring Rachel with the Actress Tribute this year. Throughout her career she has carefully chosen projects ranging from thought-provoking independent films to thrilling studio blockbusters. Rachel consistently seeks out complex roles and delivers unforgettable portrayals of spirited and intelligent characters. We look forward to celebrating her lasting contributions to the art of film,” […]
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This is 40: IFP Celebrates IFP Week’s 40th Anniversary
With tomorrow’s kickoff, IFP, Filmmaker‘s publisher, celebrates the 40th anniversary of its IFP Week and its own 40th anniversary year. The Fall print edition of Filmmaker includes a commemorative supplement, produced by IFP, which contains, in addition to many fantastic archival photos, this article by Paula Bernstein on the event’s history. Tickets to some of the public events at IFP Week are still available and can be purchased here at the link. — Editor “Only one year out of film school, I soaked it all up like a sponge,” says Oscar-winning producer Adele Romanski, recalling her first time attending IFP […]
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Projecting the IFP: IFP Week’s Original Technical Director David Leitner on His Celluloid Nailbiters
I was technical director of the Independent Feature Film Market from 1986 to 1993, and a member of the Independent Feature Film Market Committee from 1989 to 1993. I attended all prior IFP markets too, starting with the first one, a sidebar to the New York Film Festival. Those early IFFMs were a DIY affair, as scrappy, often broke indie filmmakers maneuvered to squeeze every advantage out of this novel new showcase, navigating its opportunities and inventing new ones. Nothing like it had existed before on the American indie scene. Two memories in particular are dear to me. The first […]
