Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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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, […]
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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; […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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BAMcinemaFest Announces Its 2014 Lineup
BAMcinemaFest has announced the lineup for its sixth annual edition. The Brooklyn festival opens with Boyhood and closes with a 25th anniversary screening of Do The Right Thing; in between, Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer will serve as a centerpiece, while David Wain’s forthcoming romantic comedy satire They Came Together will be highlighted in a special screening. But the meat of the festival is in its overview of current festival circuit films, and this year there are 25. Below, the titles, brief synopses from BAM’s press release and links to relevant material we’ve published on the movies in the past: 10,000KM (Carlos […]
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2014 Northside Film Festival Lineup
A more consolidated, off-the-beaten-path cousin to Rooftop Films, the Northside Film Festival will take place from June 16 – 19, in and around Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Priding itself on partnerships, Northside will co-present a number of New York premieres and Special Screenings in conjunction with the likes of IFP, DCTV, BAMCinemaFest, Women Make Movies and Indiewire. Films to keep an eye out for include recent Tribeca winner Ne Me Quitte Pas, Homemakers, The Badabook, i hate myself :), Summer of Blood, and retrospective showings of Daises and Seventeen (in 16 mm). Entries in the festival’s DIY competition will compete for a prize package including filmmaker services at DCTV, a […]
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Hot Docs: Growing Crowds Amid Shrinking Funds
“There are more people here this year, but less money.” That’s how one veteran Canadian documentarian summed up the market at Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, which just wrapped in Toronto. At workshops and cocktail receptions, the chatter was as dark as the skies outside. Broadcasters here and abroad continue to slash their development and production budgets, and that’s forced doc directors to crowdfund on Indiegogo and Kickstarter to make up (part of) the shortfall, while others just leave the business. Sure, there were great films unveiled over the past 10 days at Hot Docs. Thomas Wallner’s Before The Last […]
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Wish Granter Tamika Lamison on the Make A Film Foundation
In late February I attended the Richmond International Film Festival, where I met Tamika Lamison, the extraordinary founder and executive director of the L.A.-based Make A Film Foundation, which lets children with serious or life-threatening medical conditions live out their filmmaking dreams. She was there with the MAFF film The Magic Bracelet, a Diablo Cody-adapted short originally penned by 15-year-old Rina Goldberg, who died of mitochondrial disease in 2010. I decided to find out more post-fest about the idea to pair veteran altruistic filmmakers with young aspiring filmmakers in need. I spoke with Lamison right before the short’s next stop […]
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Visual Mixtape: Elisabeth Holm on the Kickstarter Film Festival
The crowdfunding boom has proved an altogether blessing for entrepreneurism, artists and consumers alike, with the role of sites like Kickstarter now extending beyond a helpful platform and into the campaign afterlife. While some competitors are adopting distribution pathways, Kickstarter culls their most prized projects into a festival lineup for added exposure. Submissions are currently open (through May 14) for the Kickstarter Film Festival’s fourth iteration, for which any successfully funded, recently completed projects are eligible. And not just films. Last year’s fest featured several food options, music and artwork, in addition to notable docs like 12 O’Clock Boys, Everybody Street and Flex is Kings. Filmmaker spoke to […]
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Cannes Adds Six Films to Official Selection, Announces First Ever 35mm-Free Classics Selection
In addition to the previously announced Official Selection lineup, Cannes has now added six films, though none in competition: • André Téchiné’s In The Name Of My Daughter marks the veteran director’s latest appearance at the festival after his last film, 2011’s Unforgivable, premiered in the Director’s Fortnight. Téchiné won Best Director at the festival for 1985’s Rendez-Vous. Like 2009’s The Girl On The Train, Daughter is based on a true story, with sales agent Elle Driver describing the story of the 1977 disappearance of Agnès Le Roux as “the most famous alleged murder case of the French Riviera.” • […]
