Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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Gael García Bernal on Documentaries
“Let’s go back to the time when there was VHS,” says Gael García Bernal at the RIDM (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal or the Montreal International Documentary Festival). “In those days to see a documentary in Mexico your friend would buy a movie in New York or Amsterdam or wherever [and] they would come up to you and say, ‘If you want to see this…’” Inevitably, a documentary fell into the young García Bernal’s hands. “I don’t remember which one it was, but I remember feeling there was something beyond an investigation, that it had a bigger scope, a […]
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The 21st CamerImage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography
On the festival circuit, technicians generally get the short shrift. They work long, hard hours for weeks on end, often for less money than they ought to get rewarded with, towards a film that will ultimately have someone else’s name above the title or next to the “a film by” credit on the poster. Sure, they might get a shout out from a director while standing on stage at the closing night awards ceremony to go along with their fee, but glory is usually reserved for others. Not so at the CamerImage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography […]
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12 Years a Slave Tops 2014 Independent Spirit Awards Nominations
This afternoon, Film Independent announced their nominees for the 2014 Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles, California. Designed as an opportunity to recognize the niche films that are muscled out of the circuit by Hollywood headliners, the show has in recent years become increasingly Academy friendly. Though 12 Years a Slave unsurprisingly leads the pack with seven nominations, it’s nice to see a handful of wild cards getting their due. A couple of notable deviations: the ISA’s first award for Best Editing — perhaps my favorite category, with essential nominations for Upstream Color and Museum Hours — and six, instead […]
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Cinema Eye Honors Announces Heterodox Award Nominees
In partnership with Filmmaker, Cinema Eye Honors announces the nominees for this year’s Heterodox Award, its fourth annual recognition of a narrative film that successfully and imaginatively weaves documentary strategies, content, and/or modes of production into its fabric. The five nominees are Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess; Randy Moore’s Escape From Tomorrow; James Franco and Travis Mathews’ Interior. Leather Bar.; Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Neighboring Sounds and Carlos Reygadas’ Post Tenebras Lux. These selected films are intended to demonstrate the formal possibilities of non-fiction filmmaking, in addition to probing the ever-tenuous boundary between reality and its embellished analogue. “The 2014 Cinema Eye Honors Heterodox nominees prove once again that […]
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Survival Prayer Voted Audience Favorite at Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You Screening Series
Benjamin Greené’s documentary Survival Prayer was voted Audience Favorite at the just concluded 8th Annual “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” Screening Series, which took place November 15-18 at The Museum of Modern Art. The series, presented by MoMA in partnership with Filmmaker Magazine and IFP, is a curated showcase of outstanding films from the film festival circuit that are currently not available in U.S. theatrical distribution. This was the first year that audience members attending the series were able to fill out ballots noting their response to each film. Survival Prayer, a meditative portrait of aspects […]
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Rome Film Festival 2013
Marco Müller, in his second year at the helm of the Rome International Film Festival, abandoned his insistence on all films being world premieres, but not the ability to program average films. The main reason for the change of tact seems to be to allow higher profile American films to be programmed in competition. The beneficiaries this year were Dallas Buyers Club and Her which were rewarded for their Italian voyage with awards for their actors: Matthew McConaughey has been winning plaudits everywhere for his turn as a drug-peddling carrier of HIV, while one suspects that the competition jury had […]
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On the Road: the “25 New Faces” Screening Tour Hits the Midwest Today
Starting today, the Filmmaker “25 New Faces” screening series gets underway: Scott Blake (Surveyor), Anahita Ghazvinizadeh (Needle) and Mohammad Gorjestani (Refuge) are hitting the road, with myself in tow, with the first event taking place at the UW-Madison Cinematheque in Madison, WI. The road show, which is sponsored by Sony Creative Software and ARRI, will then progress to Cleveland, Iowa City, Kansas City, Columbia, MO and Nashville. If you’re in or around any of these places, please come to the event and say hi. As Scott wrote in his newsletter last week, this tour and the “Best Film Not Playing” screening series are our “ways of […]
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The Act of Killing Takes BRITDOC’s Puma Impact Award
Last night at the Times Centre in New York, BRITDOC’s Puma Impact Award was bestowed upon the visibly shell-shocked filmmakers behind the year’s most innovative film, The Act of Killing. Director Joshua Oppenheimer, co-director Christine Cynn, and producer Signe Byrge Sørensen assumed the stage to collect their iridescent trophy – and its accompanying 50,000 Euro prize, to be split between the team and their activist efforts – from jurors Susan Sarandon, Zadie Smith, and Ricken Patel. Absent were two members of the jury, Gael García Bernal and Eric Schlosser, but, perhaps more notably, The Act of Killing’s anonymous co-director and 60 crew […]
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Going Beyond Burlesque with Beth B’s Exposed
“How do you cover up cellulite? With glitter and a spotlight.” These words of wisdom from the legendary NYC, splendidly zaftig, female drag queen World Famous *BOB* pretty much sum up the ethos of legendary NYC, underground filmmaker Beth B’s latest doc-extravaganza Exposed, a behind-the-scenes peep at today’s proudly subversive burlesque movement. Its performers include folks like Rose Wood, a biologically male strip-teaser brought into the scene by biologically female drag queen Dirty Martini, and Mat Fraser, perhaps the sexiest Seal Boy – also the name of his critically-hailed one-man show – on the planet. (Sorry boys and girls, this […]
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10 Picks for the DOC NYC Film Festival
In only its fourth year, DOC NYC feels like an institution. Nestled in the calendar alongside the concluding CPH:DOX (where I’m writing this from Copenhagen) and Amsterdam’s mammoth IDFA, this edition of DOC NYC, under the usual steady hand of artistic director Thom Powers, boasts an even more impressive blend of world and New York-premieres, Gotham-centric special events and panels for both audience and industry. Here are 10 picks, some films I’m excited about seeing along with one I have seen and can highly recommend. Is the Man Who is Tall Happy? In the former category is the world-premiering collaboration […]
