Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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Kathleen Collins to Receive Posthumous Icon Tribute at the 2021 Gotham Awards
The Gotham Film & Media Institute, Filmmaker’s parent organization, announced today that poet, playwright, writer, filmmaker, director, civil rights activist, and educator Kathleen Collins will receive the inaugural Icon Tribute posthumously during the 2021 Gotham Awards Ceremony. Her daughter, Nina Lorez Collins, will accept the inaugural Gotham Icon Tribute on behalf of her mother. The Gotham Icon Tribute was conceived by the Gotham Awards Advisory Committee this year on its thirty-first anniversary to serve as an elevated moment during the awards ceremony to call attention to the boldness, artistry, and impact of a filmmaker from a marginalized community whose work […]
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Nine Best of the Fests Must-Sees at DOC NYC
This year’s DOC NYC is actually two consecutive fests. From November 10-18, vaxxed and masked fans of nonfiction cinema will be able to gather in person for the 200-plus films and events at IFC Center, SVA Theatre and Cinépolis Chelsea. And for those outside NYC (but still in the US) or pandemic hesitant, most of the more than 120 features will be available virtually from November 19-28. In other words, “America’s largest documentary festival” is also now one of its most accessible. And while both US and world premieres abound at this 12th edition (60-plus by my last count), DOC […]
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Transformations in Non-fiction Filmmaking: The SCAD Savannah Film Festival presents the 8th Annual Docs to Watch Roundtable
This year’s SCAD Savannah Film Festival – the “largest university-run film festival in the world,” which ran from October 23-30 – was a conveniently hybrid event that also marked my own return to the in-person festival circuit. Admittedly, as someone residing in a blue state with a strict mask mandate in place, traveling to the Deep South was a somewhat disorienting experience. And a stark reminder that the U.S.’s politicization of a global pandemic really is a war within – and specifically within the states themselves. On the one hand, Georgia’s Republican Governor Kemp issued an executive order back in […]
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Passing, The Lost Daughter, Test Pattern, El Planeta, and Red Rocket Among 2021 Gotham Award Multiple Nominees
The Gotham Film & Media Institute, Filmmaker‘s publisher, announced today the nominees for its upcoming 2021 Gotham Awards. Selected by committees of film and television critics and programmers, Gotham Award nominees have usually included a mix of higher-profile awards season frontrunners as well as critically acclaimed lower-budgeted films from smaller distributors, and this year that’s even more the case. Amazon’s Passing, directed by Rebecca Hall, and Netflix’s The Lost Daughter, directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, both received multiple nominees, including Best Picture. But also in the Best Picture category, along with an additional Breakthrough Director nomination, is Shatara Michelle Ford’s Test […]
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Jane Campion to Receive Director’s Tribute at the 2021 Gotham Awards
Jane Campion, whose The Power of the Dog is one of the major fall releases, will receive the Director’s Tribute at the 2021 Gotham Awards, The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced today. The first female director to win a Palme d’Or, for her third feature, The Piano, Campion’s films include Sweetie, An Angel at My Table, The Portrait of a Lady, Holy Smoke, In the Cut and Bright Star. She also co-wrote, co-directed and executive produced the two season television mini-series Top of the Lake. Jeffrey Sharp, Executive Director of The Gotham Film & Media Institute, said in a […]
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NYFF Critic’s Notebook: The Velvet Underground and The Girl and the Spider
Peter Buck, the guitarist for R.E.M., is often quoted as saying, “The first Velvet Underground album only sold 10,000 copies, but everyone who bought one formed a band.” Now it seems, all those bands are the subjects of documentaries. Finally, even the Velvet Underground. The eponymous film is one that Todd Haynes appeared destined to make. Popular music, rock’n’roll mythology and the vagaries of self-invented personas are a core of the director’s filmography, going back to the Super-8 transgression of Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, a melodramatic biopic of the ‘70s pop singer cast with Barbie dolls. Velvet Goldmine (1998) […]
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Critic’s Notebook: The 2021 Camden International Film Festival
Nothing quite conjures good storytelling like a campfire (and maybe a bottle of whiskey to pass around). This knowledge is not lost on the Camden International Film Festival. Among its many strengths, which have carried the autumnal non-fiction showcase into its 17th year, is its homegrown conviviality and collegial informality. The vibe of “just a bunch of doc people sittin’ around talkin’” survives even a second year of pandemic-necessitated precautions and mixed “real life” and virtual screenings. At the end of Penny Lane’s stimulating and slyly hilarious Listening to Kenny G., the online screening of the movie segues into just […]
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San Sebastián International Film Festival 2021: Three Films from the Spanish-Speaking World
Despite the accolade of being an “A category” festival, whatever that may mean, San Sebastián International Film Festival is not necessarily somewhere many major filmmakers choose to launch their film. Though it does host some premieres as well as significant industry activity, the priority is on pleasing a public—who, it should be said, generally seemed very pleased. Following a nervier, much less well-attended in-person edition held last year, almost all screenings sold out, with ticket touts often found flogging price-hiked spares outside of venues, and people seemed very happy to be out and about, seeing highlights from the year’s other […]
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Watch: Short Films from the 2021 Filmfort Film Festival
Filmmaker is very happy to partner with the Filmfort Film Festival for its 2021 Filmfort Online Showcase. These films are available to watch here, free, on the site through Sunday, September 27. Check out the rest of the lineup at Filmfort and keep up via social @filmfortfest and #filmfort2021 #filmfortweekend. Enjoy! Changing Landscapes: Isle of Eigg dir. Aaron Farley, John Schlue, Alexander Falk USA 29 mins Do you see what I see? from Brad Abrahams on Vimeo. Do You See What I See? dir. Brad Abrahams USA, 12 mins Here you go: Halpate dir. Adam Khalil & Adam Piron USA, […]
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NYFF 2021 Critic’s Notebook: Benedetta, Il buco
Given what it took to arrive back at this point, anyone who introduced the first press and industry screening of this year’s New York Film Festival would have gotten a nice round of applause—I too am excited to be back at the Walter Reade Theater, my favorite NYC auditorium on a sheer projection quality/screen size/audio fidelity basis. But all politics is local, and NYFF’s significance relative to the larger festival landscape shouldn’t obscure the specific context of this year’s edition. With its union chapter recognized, Film at Lincoln Center’s staff are now attempting to negotiate and ratify a contract. The […]
