Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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Love Thy Neighbor As Thyself — Not: Powerful New Work at the Jerusalem International Film Festival
The last years have brought us a number of outstanding films that expose Israel’s brutality in the West Bank and Gaza — areas captured in the 1967 war which have remained under the harsh grip of direct or indirect Israeli control for over 40 years, in total violation of international law, and more importantly, in total violation of any human, moral or spiritual consideration or justice. The Law in These Parts, The Gatekeepers, 5 Broken Cameras and this year’s The Lab by Yotam Feldman, about the booming Israeli weapons industry, are among the excellent documentaries which — if the international community […]
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10 Lessons for Filmmakers from the IFP Narrative Labs
Still the only lab focusing entirely on what happens after rough cut —- from locking picture to devising a distribution strategy — the IFP Narrative Lab concluded its ninth edition last month. When I created the Lab with the IFP almost a decade ago, the idea was simple. A successful career in film is partly based around making mistakes — and then not making those same mistakes again. But first-time filmmakers don’t have prior experience to draw upon, and in today’s hyper-competitive, content-swamped environment, failure is a luxury many of them can’t afford —— especially when that failure is made […]
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Brooklyn Goes BAM: Docs at BAMcinemafest
Manhattan has its big dog festivals, while across the East River in Brooklyn, home to the country’s greatest number of independent filmmakers, several fests are aspirating to the top ranks. Not in a A-List cookie cutter way, but uniquely, in their own way. The number of documentaries at the fifth annual BAMcinemaFest remained limited. Out of 25 features nine were docs, and out of 14 shorts nine were docs. Events were likewise limited, with some filmmakers organizing their own post-screening get-togethers in local bars. But what continues to lift the stature of this festival is not number of movies or number […]
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10 Truths Overheard at the IFP Narrative Labs
When you put over 20 independent filmmakers in a room behind closed doors, the kind of honesty and frankness about the industry that emerges is hard to find anywhere else. There’s also a lot of humor, albeit ranging from the cynical to the scatological. The words below are some of those tidbits I overheard during my week at the June IFP Narrative Lab that capture much of the essence of the week and are, I think, solid pieces of advice for filmmakers in post: “[Film distribution is] a new diaper to change every day. Your film keeps on pooping.” – […]
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Going Digital in the Desert: Currents 2013 New Media Festival
Perhaps the one word that best describes the Currents New Media Festival, an annual event hosting an international array of artists that steams into Santa Fe for the last half of June, is “overwhelming.” This year cutting edge-curious New Mexicans and tourists alike are being treated to futuristic video installations and interactive artwork, art-apps and animation, multimedia performances and experimental documentaries (including Denis Côté’s disturbing study in the banality of human evil towards animals, Bestiaire) – all taking place inside El Museo Cultural, a cavernous warehouse in the Railyard District. Then there are the satellite happenings. Digital Dome screenings – […]
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5 Recommendations for the Northside Film Festival
Kicking off this week in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the Northside Film Festival once again has invited a number of community partners, including Filmmaker, to curate programs of new independent, foreign and retrospective titles. Filmmaker‘s pick is Nicolas Provost’s bracing The Invader, a kind of African immigrant on Taxi Driver, which is receiving its New York premiere. Provost is a Belgian visual artist and filmmaker who recently moved to Bushwick, and he’ll be attending the Q&A. Below are five picks — including The Invader — you can plan your calendar around this week. Go Down Death. Amidst all the cookie-cutter indies, Aaron […]
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Fifth Time’s a Charm: BAMcinemaFest
Something of a cinematic wunderkind, BAMcinemaFest (June 19-28) is the offspring of the three-year marriage, consummated in Brooklyn in 2006, between the Sundance Institute and BAMcinematek. The festival jumped past the Sundance-only model, adding submissions and films from SXSW, Toronto, and True/False. Curator Florence Almozini expertly cherry-picks the best indies from the previous year; each is a New York premiere. Around the time the betrothal was dissolving, Almozini explains, “We were looking at the NYC festival scene to find our own niche. We felt that no other festival was actually focusing on new U.S. indie films. BAMcinemaFest as a showcase […]
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There Goes the Neighborhood: the 16th Brooklyn Film Festival
It’s a tough thing, being the Brooklyn Film Festival. Perched right at the beginning of the summer, the festival, which just concluded its 16th year, has the potentially world-class brand of Williamsburg Cool to exploit. According to most casual observers, it has never been able to adequately do so. The New York cinerati just doesn’t take the event seriously. If they don’t, who else will? The reasons for its reputation remain somewhat murky, but most lay the blame on the festival’s programming. The festival certainly suffers from its placement in this regard, between its newer, more prestigious Gotham neighbors Tribeca […]
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High Times: the 39th Seattle International Film Festival
Closing this past weekend with the North American premiere of Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring, a rousing if troubling film from the talented poster child of Hollywood nepotism, the Seattle International Film Festival ended another stellar edition in appropriately laidback style for this sneakily large, aesthetically pleasing, generally all-too-inviting, pot-positive town. SIFF is a mammoth event, a well-oiled machine, smartly run and elegantly programmed; if there is a festival with a more devoted community of volunteers and board members, cultish cinephiles and casual participants making it into a unique and unusual thing, I don’t know of it. More on that […]
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MoMA Launches “Harris Savides: Visual Poet” Series
Ten features shot by the late cinematographer Harris Savides are included in “Harris Savides: Visual Poet,” a series opening at MoMA today. Writes curator Anne Morra: A Savides shot is often characterized by a sensitivity to design and the striking mutability of light, and a special attention to the actor’s place in the composition. The films in this special tribute represent the wide range of his work, and the many directors who chose his camera to reflect their most personal stories. The series opens with Jonathan Glazer’s Birth, which was the film concentrated on by Zach Wigon in Filmmaker‘s remembrance […]
