Jillian Mayer and Lucas Leyva screen their latest short, #PostModem, at the Sundance Film Festival this week, but today they’ve dropped “MegaMega Upload,” the music video that takes over the movie at one point. The filmmakers say of #PostModem, “[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.” I saw the short at Borscht 8 this year; Mayer and Leyva’s lo-fi riff on uploaded consciousness is super smart. Indeed, you […]
After the pleasant shock of learning that there’s a new David Bowie single — a beautiful, Berlin-referencing melancholic ballad reminiscent of his Thin White Duke days — I was even more thrilled to see that the accompanying video is directed by one of my favorite artists, Tony Oursler. Check out the song and the video above.
Directors Josh and Benny Safdie (Daddy Longlegs) take on the illegal wildlife trade in The Trophy Hunter, a PSA made for the Turtle Conservancy and supporting Traffic.org. Here’s how the group describes the video: This year we are sending out a video whose content may be difficult for some viewers. However, the video highlights an important issue: the illegal wildlife trade and its role in the global extinction crisis. This holiday we are supporting TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade-monitoring network (traffic.org). The illegal wildlife trade is the third largest illicit trade after drugs and arms and is responsible for the extinction […]
Is it emotional? Does it advance the story? Those are two of six questions editor Walter Murch argues that editors must ask themselves for every cut. The other four? That’s the deep stuff. Watch the video to find out. (Hat tip: Cinephilia and Beyond.)
Congratulations to Filmmaker contributor Zach Wigon, who won this month’s Hammer to Nail Short Film Contest with his cyber-age paranoid romance, Someone Else’s Heart. From Michael Tully’s post: Is our increasing dependence on virtual communication deforming the way we interact with others in our real, everyday lives? Isn’t there something inherently strange about all this “how many friends and followers do you have” business of late? While the internet is without question an incredibly useful contribution to our modern world, on the other side of that coin, take a few steps back and watch someone “interacting” with their computer. Whether […]
Leading up to Filmmaker‘s own 2012 Ten Best we are publishing individual lists from some our contributors. Fariha Roisin took part in the Indiewire Critic’s Academy and wrote coverage for us out of the New York Film Festival this year. Here is her 2012 Ten Best, some of which are festival entries not being released until 2013. – SM 1. Beasts of the Southern Wild Undeniably one of the most visceral films I have ever seen. Visually breathtaking and so moving, Hushpuppy’s insight into the world evokes so much imagination and rawness that I couldn’t help but cry and laugh […]
Tis the season for egg nog, friends, good conversations, video games, and top ten lists. So we put all of it into one post. Ghosts of SWJ past and future get together in this first episode of season two to give us their top tens from 2012. But first a few friends drop by for a drink and to talk about creativity in today’s climate. Check out Bryan’s sites: Bryanbruner.com Loveandrobots.tumblr.com Eric’s Film: American Bomber Movie Happy Holidays! John Top 10 of 2012: Frank Mosley 1. The Comedy 2. Compliance 3. The Master 4. Killing Them Softly 5. Bad Fever […]
He’s one of the sharpest film minds out there, and knows how to fashion great video essays. Here’s Kevin B. Lee pondering his favorite 12 of ’12.
One of the more fascinating projects in the Sundance New Frontiers section this year is Interior. Leather Bar, by writer/director/actor James Franco and director Travis Matthews. Here’s the synopsis: In order to avoid an X rating, 40 minutes of gay S&M footage was rumored to be cut and destroyed from the 1980 film, Cruising. Inspired by the mythology of this controversial film, filmmakers James Franco and Travis Mathews collaborate to imagine their own lost footage. Amid the backdrop of a frenzied film set, actor Val Lauren reluctantly agrees to take the lead in the film. Val is repeatedly forced to […]
A hit at the Cannes and New York film festivals, a selection at Sundance next month and Chile’s official entry at the Academy Awards, Pablo Larrain’s No is a rousing and entertaining piece of cinema that details the “No” referendum campaign that aimed to unseat Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet in 1988. Out theatrically on February 15 through Sony Pictures Classics, the film got its first trailer today.