Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
-
Cannes Day Three: Expendables Tanks and Political Turmoil
The outside world’s political problems are intruding more than usual on the Cannes Film Festival. Some relevant items: • A few days ago, Turkish culture minister Omer Celik was excited about coming to Cannes and bullish about the development of his country’s film industry. In an interview with Variety, Celik managed to more or less duck questions about Turkey’s attempted recent bans on YouTube and Twitter (“Turkey is a country with rule of law. Access to certain social-media sites such as Twitter and YouTube has been limited on legal grounds”). But Tuesday’s deadly coal mine collapse in the city of […]
-
Welcome to the Terrordome: Sundance London (April 25-27, 2014)
Over one long weekend at the end of April, the third annual edition of Sundance London — a slimmed-down, satellite companion to its 30-year-old US forebear — took place. The first thing to note about the festival is the sheer oddness of its location. The films screen at a characterless (though decently-appointed) Cineworld multiplex inside the O2 Arena, a corporate enormo-dome that hosts everything from musical concerts to live comedy to darts tournaments. The O2 is situated at the Greenwich peninsula on the south bank of the River Thames, roughly six miles to the east of central London, where most […]
-
Cannes Day Two: Travel Chaos, Russian-Ukrainian Cooperation and Surveillance
It’s day two of Cannes and initial reviews are starting to come in. Some items of related interest: • Thanks to an ongoing nationwide government worker strike over a four-year proposed pay freeze, travel to and from the festival is tricky, what with extensive flight delays and cancellations. Among those caught in the turmoil: the band Spandau Ballet, the subjects of a documentary set to premiere tomorrow. • At the Russian Pavilion, events kicked off with a showcase for Ukrainian-Russian co-productions. A tricky proposition given the current political climate, but producers Natalya Mokritskaya and Mila Rozanova were there to show […]
-
Cannes Opening Day News: Steak ‘N Shake, French Cinephilia and Chinese Wolves
Filmmaker Magazine‘s coverage of the Cannes Film Festival will begin soon. Today is day one; here are some contextual items of interest while waiting for the first reviews and interviews to roll in. • Fandor‘s David Hudson rounded up the largely scathing reviews for opening night selection Grace of Monaco, as well advance writing on the festival, including interviews with festival heads Gilles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux, on the defensive against charges that (among other things) Cannes recognizes the same safely-established world cinema directors year after year. • The main jury convened for a press conference, where head juror Jane […]
-
Help Support Rooftop Films 2014 Season!
Temperature rise can mean crumbling Antarctica glaciers, but, in New York at least, it also means the arrival of Rooftop Films. Now, this essential screening series is crowdsourcing a membership drive on Indiegogo that will support what is a killer 2014 line-up. Join by Wednesday at midnight and receive, in addition to tickets and season passes, bonus gifts including mugs, posters, DVDs and admission to VIP events. Check out this year’s lineup (which includes, this Saturday, our current cover film, Obvious Child) at the Rooftop site and consider joining — in the next day! — at the Indiegogo page.
-
IFP Announces Documentary Line-Up For its Annual Filmmaker Labs
IFP ANNOUNCES DOCUMENTARY LINE-UP FOR ITS ANNUAL INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER LABS 2014 Marks the 10th Anniversary of Yearlong Mentorship Program Brooklyn, NY (May 12, 2014) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) announced today the ten documentaries selected for the 2014 Independent Filmmaker Labs, IFP’s annual yearlong fellowship for first-time feature directors. The creative teams of the selected films, chosen from a national pool of 200+ submissions, are currently attending the first week’s sessions – The Time Warner Foundation Completion Labs – taking place May 12-16 in New York City. The Narrative Lab selections will be announced in June. The Independent Filmmaker Labs are […]
-
Economical Storytelling at the MINY Media Center by IFP Demo Day
Given the bullpen of entrepreneurial ventures populating its space, it seemed only fitting that the MINY Media Center by IFP would have an inaugural demo day. At their campus in Dumbo, Brooklyn last Thursday, four of the Media Center’s “incubators” offered a ten-minute pitch before fielding questions from a panel of experts — a first from all two of the demo days I’ve attended, that proved a welcome inclusion. The central undercurrent running across the four startups’ presentations was economical storytelling, or, how to tell stories in the most effective manner possible. Blank on Blank, the brainchild of media producer David Gerlach, […]
-
Movies As More Than Afterthought: The 6th Chicago International Movies and Music Festival
Most festivals mixing movies and music include the former as an afterthought, even if they’re lovingly programmed. That’s certainly the case at SXSW, the granddaddy of them all, and attendance at the film programs of nascent music festivals across the country bears this out. Indie film audiences skew older if not whiter than indie music audiences, so a conundrum is born: how does one get indie films out in front of the same eyes that stare at Pitchfork every morning? It doesn’t seem that Pitchfork offshoot The Dissolve, as good a site as it is, will necessarily provide a solution; […]
-
Kentucker Audley, the Richmond International Film Festival and A Checklist for Avoiding Bad Publicity
I don’t know Kentucker Audley, but I can’t stop thinking about his tongue-in-cheek call for mediocre filmmakers to pledge to stop making films so that in a crowded environment the truly talented can shine. Recently I’ve been wondering if his Change.org petition should be expanded to film festivals as well, many of which are erstwhile enablers of said mediocrity. As a whip-smart producer friend of mine once told me, “The world needs another film festival like it needs another strip mall.” Which brings me to the event that started this whole thought process. In late February I attended the Richmond […]
-
Of Sheep and Uggs: The 23rd Aspen Shortsfest
Just as the snow began to melt, the sun began to shine and the mercury began to rise after a brutal winter in New York City, I hopped aboard a plane to Colorado to attend the 23rd annual Aspen Shortsfest. The festival takes place April 8-13 in the aftermath of ski season, when the snow on Ajax Mountain turns to slush and Aspen’s high-end boutiques appear empty. The Wheeler Opera House gets packed full of seasonal citizens either at the tail end of their winter stay or just getting into town to prep for the summer rush. Though the festival […]
