Filmmaker Videos
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Short Film: Chris Bell’s The Movie
(Full disclosure: Chris Bell is a friend and his feature film The Winds That Scatter, due to hit the festival circuit this year, is great, so I’m getting the word out now.) In this single-take short, Chris Bell layers on the vérité. Perched behind a bench in a transit hub, his camera watches as a crane rises to the ceiling, two men greet one another and an off-screen voice breaks the fourth wall. It’s unclear as to whether any of the action was previously orchestrated or Bell merely whipped out his camera in the moment, and it’s probably best to keep it […]
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Behind The Scenes Featurette on Under The Skin’s Guerrilla Filmmaking
Expect to be hearing a lot more from me on Under The Skin in the ensuing weeks. The film is pretty much flawless. One of its innumerable exciting aspects extends beyond the glossy finished product, and into its production. Director Jonathan Glazer and his team rigged Scarlett Johansson’s abduction vehicle with eight cameras, allowing her to freely cruise the Glasgow streets and lure actual pedestrians to her van. They’d drop her in a mall, a busy intersection, and let the scene unfold before their very eyes. In the above featurette, Glazer, Johansson and producer James Wilson discuss the film’s guerrilla production, among […]
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Trailer Watch: Onur Tukel’s Summer of Blood
Opening Night of Tribeca Film Festival’s Viewpoints section, Onur Tukel’s Summer of Blood looks to be the latest entry in the genre that keeps on giving: vampires. Despite his average Joe likeness, Erik Sparrow (Tukel) seems to have a lot going for him: a good job, stable relationship, all against the thriving backdrop of New York City. Things take a sharp downturn when his girlfriend Jody (Anna Margaret Hollyman) goes out on a limb and proposes to him, and the pompous Erik rejects her offer. Drowning in a post-breakup malaise, Erik is fortuitously bitten by a vampire and revitalized in mind, […]
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Short Film: Flo, Riley Hooper’s Doc on Blind Street Photographer Flo Fox
New York-based filmmaker Riley Hooper has just posted online his short doc, Flo, about blind New York street photographer Flo Fox. The film has played numerous festivals, including Rooftop Films, Hot Docs and the Hamptons, and it won a Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC. In the words of the filmmaker: This 10-minute documentary explores the life and work of photographer Flo Fox, who, despite blindness, multiple sclerosis, and lung cancer, continues to shoot the streets of New York City. No longer able to hold a camera, she instructs her aides to take photos for her. She’s an incredible woman […]
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SXSW Teaser: Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe in Unicorns
A film I’ve been looking forward to for some time is Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe in Unicorns, which I saw in rough cut at the IFP Narrative Lab. I was tremendously impressed with what I saw then, particularly the emotional sensitivity of its direction and central performances. The film is now finished, and premiering at SXSW. And there’s a Kickstarter campaign. Check out the new teaser above, read information from the filmmakers about the film below, and consider donating: I Believe in Unicorns is Leah Meyerhoff’s debut feature film which tells the story of a teenage girl who gets in […]
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Lily Baldwin Premieres A Juice Box Afternoon, First Episode in New Short Film Series
Filmmaker and dancer Lily Baldwin premieres here at Filmmaker the first episode in her new series of short films, The Paperback Movie Project. Each short “is an interpretation of a novel and explores the fluid relationship between a reader and the book’s characters.” The debuting piece is titled “A Juice Box Afternoon,” and it tells “the story of Anne Morrow Lindbergh through her own writing as she comes of age, meets Charles Lindbergh, and experiences flight in more ways than one.” Following her breakthrough at SXSW 2012 with the dreamscape thriller Sea Meadow,Baldwin’s next short, Sleepover LA, will world premiere […]
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Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva Premiere #PostModem Online
Miami-based filmmakers Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva — two of Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces — have been touring the festival circuit with their short film, #PostModem, which they describe like this: “[It’s] a comedic satirical sci-fi pop-musical based on the theories of Ray Kurzweil and other futurists. It’s the story of two Miami girls and how they deal with the technological singularity, as told through a series of cinematic tweets.” For the first time this insanely infectious riff on virality and uploaded consciousness is online. Watch it above, and try to keep its K-Pop-styled song out of your head.
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Andrea Arnold’s D.P. Robbie Ryan on Why He Still Shoots Shorts and Getting The Shot Off Set
Best known as Andrea Arnold’s right-hand man, Robbie Ryan has a surprisingly large number of short film credits for a cinematographer of his standing. While the majority of d.p.s graduate to the feature format and stay put, Ryan has shot a whopping 14 shorts since his breakthrough lensing on Fish Tank. Beyond a steadier flow of income, short films afford Ryan a sort of trial period with directors. Speaking in an in-depth interview with Barry Ackroyd (d.p. of Captain Phillips, The Hurt Locker) at the 28:25 minute mark, Ryan puts it plainly: “I think the reason I do short films […]
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Nandan Rao’s Second Feature Hawaiian Punch Available Online
Following in the footsteps of his debut The Men of Dodge City, Nandan Rao has released his second film Hawaiian Punch for free on Kentucker Audley’s No Budge site. (Just because Kentucker is no longer making independent films, doesn’t mean he can’t afford to support them.) The 66-minute tropical excursion tracks two Mormons (Nicholas Boissonneault, Tor Kristian Anestad) through quotidien, Minimalist circumstances. Though Rao runs Simple Machine, which connects filmmakers with theatrical screening opportunities, at least a fraction of his loyalties appear to lie online.
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SXSW Trailer Premiere: She’s Lost Control
Following strong notices in Berlin, Anja Marquardt’s debut feature, She’s Lost Control, receives its U.S. premiere at this week’s upcoming SXSW Film Festival. The intense psychological drama, executive produced by writer/director Oren Moverman, considers the meanings and cost of intimacy through its focus on a professional sex surrogate. Premiering here at Filmmaker is the film’s newest trailer.
