Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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Nicole Kidman: Hollywood’s Unlikely Rebel
While other A-List actresses have chased the kind of star vehicles that kill on opening weekend, Nicole Kidman has been quietly becoming Hollywood’s most unlikely rebel—a statuesque leading lady with a snowballing penchant for bold auteur partnerships. It’s hard to pinpoint when, exactly, the gal from Days of Thunder began her metamorphosis into the daring muse currently drawing viewers to The Paperboy (above), but many would likely cite Gus Van Sant’s To Die For as the pivotal work in Kidman’s filmography. The sheer unlikeability of the delusional, cradle-robbing viper Suzanne Stone screams of Tinseltown-bombshell repellant, but Kidman executed the role […]
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A Trans-Generational Triple Feature at NYFF 50
It was not until the very close of Michael Haneke’s laurel-laden Amour that I came to a pleasantly odd realization. Without any foresight, I had managed to stumble upon the perfect trans-generational triple feature—perhaps not just at the New York Film Festival, but in the grander scheme as well. At first blush, the Tokyo-set Like Someone in Love, New York-based Frances Ha, and the claustrophobic Parisian quarters of Amour have as much in common as, well, an Eastern social order, a misguided American woman, and a shackled octogenarian couple could. But a closer look reveals a glaringly common thread. […]
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VIFF Critics Notebook #1
My fifth year in a row of attending the Vancouver International Film Festival in my hometown has been unique thus far—I’m at the precise halfway point of the 16-day event as I write this—in that it’s the only time that I’ve already caught many of the films playing thanks to my trip to Locarno in August. This has afforded me the freedom to venture beyond the “festival-of-festivals” programming of obligatory Cannes leftovers and such, to explore, among other things, the Dragons & Tigers section for which VIFF is renowned. For those that don’t know, Dragons & Tigers is a long-running […]
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Grouping Films at The New York Film Festival
Grouping is an excellent organizing tool during a film festival — mapping the films and intimating their relationships. The only problem is that, for the reader, you run the risk of relinquishing the element of surprise. Take, for example, Our Children (pictured above), a New York Film Festival main slater by Belgian director Joahim Lafosse. (The original French title is A Perdre la Raison.) It was not invited to Toronto, which has at least ten times the number of films as the New York Film Festival. What differentiates Our Children from the other selections? The most obvious is fragmentation. Short […]
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A Look Back at Independent Film Week
It often feels as though a solid 75% of film industry members that I meet in New York have filtered through the IFP at some point; as a long ago employee, intern, or volunteer, or as a patron of the film market, which has gone by various aliases over the years. These days it falls under the umbrella of Independent Film Week, which I had the opportunity to attend this year as my film Remote Area Medical—which my partner Jeff and I are deep in the process of editing—was accepted into the Spotlight on Documentaries section. As I proudly told […]
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Narrowing the Gap at Fantastic Fest 2012
As a filmmaker, I find myself more and more impressed with the indie game-making community. They’re supportive of their own at a level I wish we filmmakers were and they’re constantly innovating new ways of distribution. Because of this, it’s become a little quest of mine to learn more about indie game-making and how it overlaps with indie filmmaking. How are they similar, how are they different, and what can each hopefully learn from the other? One place where the filmmaking and game-making ley lines intersect is Fantastic Fest. It’s one of the biggest genre film festivals in the US and […]
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San Sebastian Critic’s Notebook #2
As the San Sebastian Film Festival drew to a close, there was — as there should be with festivals that want to thrive — a sense of honoring the past and looking to the future. The week had been studded with Hollywood star appearances, from Ewan McGregor becoming the youngest ever actor to win a Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award to 75-year-old Dustin Hoffman tearfully collecting his Donostia on Saturday. Thanking the festival for honoring the art form of cinema, he told the packed Kursaal auditorium: “The feeling that you gave me is as important as the award.” But there was […]
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Lessons Gleaned at Independent Film Week
I learned a lot about myself during IFP’s Independent Film Week. I shared the experience with my brilliant/disgustingly attractive producer, Cecilia. Here is a photo of her to prove to you that I am not exaggerating. You can’t tell from the photo, but she has an Italian accent. This really enhances the allure. Also, I try to photobomb as many pics of her as possible. She’s one of my closest friends. We met all the way back in undergrad when she produced a really cheesy dating-comedy I was far too proud of having written. Last week, we spent every waking […]
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5 Things to Know Before Submitting to The Tribeca Film Festival
Here’s Tribeca Film Festival Director of Programming Genna Terranova on her way to work while imparting some useful info about submitting to the 2013 edition. Early deadline, believe it or not, is October 19.
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Independent Film Week: 3 Films I Can’t Stop Thinking About, Part 3
The first rule of Film Week is that if you have time to blog during Film Week, you’re probably not doing it right. The second rule of Film Week is that if you attend, the best part is that you will meet all kinds of awesome people making awesome films. This may intimidate you. It’s okay. Be cool. I guess that’s the third rule of Film Week, bro: just be cool. When the good folks at Filmmaker Magazine asked me to blog about Film Week again this year, I knew I wanted to write about some of the awesome people making awesome […]
