Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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“Do Not Be Daunted by the Magnitude of the Challenge in Front of You”: Assia Boundaoui on Her Surveillance Doc, The Feeling of Being Watched
An Algerian-American raised in Bridgeview, Illinois, just south of Chicago, journalist and filmmaker Assia Boundaoui grew up being watched. The FBI has been aggressively spying on her predominantly Arab-American community at least as far back as the ’90s, despite the fact that the law enforcement organization uncovered very little lawbreaking in the process. And now Boundaoui has turned the tables — or rather the lens — on the Federal Bureau with her debut feature, The Feeling of Being Watched (an alumnus of Spotlight on Documentaries at IFP Week). The film’s a nonfiction journey that takes Boundaoui from dogged FOIA requests […]
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Fighting Eventfulness Deficit at the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival
Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre is a 1926 Art Deco show palace that first hosted vaudeville shows and silent movie screenings accompanied by the bass-note oscillations of a Wurlitzer Hope Jones Unit-Orchestra Pipe Organ. The classic venue is symbolic of its city, which made it the ideal spot for the Bay Area premiere of a the debut feature by another Oakland icon: activist, musician and now writer-director Boots Riley, who came of age as a moviegoer at the venue. “I saw Star Wars here,” he told an audience that packed the house during the recent San Francisco International Film Festival, where the […]
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How to Deliver Your Film to a Festival (2018 Edition)
Back in 2015, I wrote an article for Filmmaker on the best practices for delivering an exhibition copy of your film to festivals. In the ensuing two and a half, almost three years, I’ve received a lot of positive feedback, including a few panicked emails from filmmakers submitting their films to a festivals I worked at. Now in 2018, my editors have asked me to update it. Why the update now? Allow me the use of a clumsy and imperfect technical reference to Moore’s law that computing power doubles every eighteen months and the same has happened to available filmmaking […]
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IFP Announces Inaugural Audio Story Lab
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), Filmmaker‘s parent organization, announced today the projects selected for the inaugural Audio Story Lab, IFP’s first foray into supporting makers with serialized audio projects. The two-day intensive program runs April 26-27 at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP. Based off the long-running IFP Filmmaker Labs and, more recently, the Screen Forward Labs dedicated to serialized content creators, the IFP Audio Story Lab will support groundbreaking audio artists with the necessary tools and mentorship to move their projects and careers forward. As part of IFP’s ongoing commitment to diversity, the IFP Audio Story Lab inaugural […]
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Canyon Cinema 50, Art of the Real and Emile de Antonio in NYC, Week of 4/27
A few weeks ago my Twitter feed abruptly devolved into a long argument about The Canon: is it just an ossified collection of movies made by white men that should be junked? I don’t think The Canon is a fixed, immutable body of work, never to be added or subtracted to — it’s being constantly reshuffled, with films and filmmakers rising and falling in prominence. Repertory houses have a major part to play in that process, which I note while in the position of wanting to commend a smattering of series and screenings kicking off this weekend in NYC, none of […]
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Lumpy-Throated and Teary in Nyon: Visions du Réel 2018
So soon after Thessaloniki International Doc Fest I wasn’t expecting to be all that inspired to write about yet another festival, but an unexpected invitation saw me traveling to Nyon, Switzerland for the last few days of the 49th edition of Visions du Réel, an event I’ve been curious about for quite a while. But even after just a brief 72-hour visit, Visions inspired me greatly in the quietest, most refined of ways — the festival created a flawlessly professional but relaxed atmosphere to mingle and take in the beauty of the town, where every well-dressed denizen looks like they […]
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23 Films (and Virtual Reality Works) We’re Looking Forward to at the Tribeca Film Festival
Well, the curtain has already risen, but I’ve yet to see a film — I’m heading to my first screening in about 90 minutes. So, it’s not too late for my annual list of movies I’m looking forward to at the Tribeca Film Festival. This list is just what it sounds like — anticipated movies based on buzz, knowledge of the filmmakers, word of mouth, etc. And it’s heavily skewed towards premiere titles that haven’t been reviewed yet. A quick note that this list has been easier to put together this year simply due to the sheer number of films […]
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Documentary in the Time of Fake News at The 21st Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
This year’s 21st edition of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (April 5th-8th) boasted everything a doc geek would want in a top tier fest — strong selections, a nurturing southern hospitality, and many easily approachable big-name documentarians. And, as in year’s past (seven to be exact), the not to be missed, A&E Indiefilms Speakeasy conversations, which bring together some of the deepest thinkers in doc-making to discuss career and craft — and also to wrestle with some of the most pressing issues facing filmmakers (and the general public) today. Such was the case with one Friday afternoon Speakeasy I […]
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#DocsSoWhite: The Gatekeepers at The 21st Annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Recently, I’d been pondering why the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival always tops my must-attend U.S. doc fest list. Like few fests in the U.S. or Europe, Full Frame truly walks the walk — it’s a top tier, mainstream nonfiction festival in which the people in power are almost exclusively women. Indeed, one look at the 10-member staff page on the Full Frame website reveals just two male faces (only one of which is white). Then there are the attendees, the other ingredient that makes Full Frame truly special — as many folks of color as white. The one thing […]
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Davey Foundation Offers Grants for Short Films; Late Deadline May 15
In years past, we’ve highlighted the Davey Foundation’s annual grant for short films, and while we missed posting about this year’s edition in time for the regular deadline, the late deadline of May 15 still applies. This year, three $5,000 grants are being offered; one includes a gear incentive package, while another also offers a $2,500 Utah filmmaker grant. This is the festival’s fifth year; past recipients have included Lauren Wolkstein’s Beemus, It’ll End in Tears and Fry Day, by 2017 25 New Face of Film Laura Moss. Guest jurors for this year’s edition are Sophia Takal (Always Shine, Green) and Adam Salky (I Smile […]
