Filmmaker Videos
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Trailer Watch: Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s King Coal
The first trailer drops today for 25 New Faces of Film alum Elaine McMillion Sheldon’s King Coal, the filmmaker’s meditative hybrid doc on the impact of the coal industry (and the substance itself) on Central Appalachia. The film premiered at Sundance this year in the NEXT section and will arrive in select theaters around the country for limited engagements beginning next month. Per an official synopsis: A lyrical tapestry of a place and people, King Coal meditates on the complex history and future of the coal industry, the communities it has shaped, and the myths it has created. Oscar-nominated filmmaker […]
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Watch: Ian Samuels’s Kathleen Hanna-Voiced 2015 Short Myrna the Monster
Myrna the Monster, Ian Samuels’s 2015 short film that secured him a spot on our 25 New Faces of Film list that same year, is finally available to watch online via the filmmaker’s personal Vimeo account. The titular monster is voiced by Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, Le Tigre and The Julie Ruin frontwoman) and embodied by an elaborate puppet that Samuels, a former Sesame Street employee and graduate of CalArts’s puppetry program, crafted himself. Filmmaker editor-in-chief Scott Macaulay penned Samuels’s 25 New Faces profile, describing the plot of the 14-minute short as follows: Hovering just around 3 feet, Myrna — […]
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Trailer Watch: Jennifer Reeder’s Perpetrator
Jennifer Reeder’s follow-up as a writer-director to her 2019 feature debut Knives and Skin, the first trailer arrives today for Perpetrator. The film had its world premiere at this year’s Berlinale before having its North American premiere at Tribeca Festival earlier this summer. In my interview with Reeder ahead of Berlinale ’23, I briefly elaborate on the film’s premise: Precocious 17-year-old Jonny (Kiah McKirnan) has a no-frills home life with her deadbeat father, supported by her after school hustle as a petty thief. Her mother has long been out of the picture, only exacerbating her feeling of isolation when she […]
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Trailer Watch: Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s Mutt
The trailer arrives today for Mutt, the feature debut of writer-director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz. The film premiered at Sundance in January (where star Lío Mehiel received the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting, becoming the first trans actor to do so), before subsequently screening at Berlinale (winning the Generation 14plus—Best Film award) and closing out this year’s New Directors/New Films. The trans coming-of-age film will open at New York City’s Film Forum later this summer. Here’s the official synopsis: Feña (Mehiel), a young trans guy bustling through life in New York City, is afflicted with an incessantly challenging day that […]
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Trailer Watch: Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers
After collaborating on Sideways nearly 20 years ago, Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti reunite for The Holdovers, Payne’s latest directorial effort. Giamatti stars as a crotchety boarding school teacher who’s been tasked with looking after the students unable to leave campus for winter break in a period screenplay by David Hemingson An official synopsis reads: The Holdovers follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them—a damaged, […]
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Trailer Watch: Laura Moss’s birth/rebirth
The trailer arrives for birth/rebirth, the feature debut of writer-director Laura Moss, a 25 New Faces alum from 2017. Co-written by Moss and their longtime screenwriting partner Brendan O’Brien, the film is essentially a modern-day take on Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, examining the biological urge to create life (whether through scientific exploits or human procreation) and the true meaning of “motherhood.” In my interview with Moss out of this year’s Sundance, I provide a general rundown of the film’s plot: The film follows Dr. Rose Casper (Marin Ireland), a brilliant pathologist lacking in basic social skills. Human connection doesn’t interest her […]
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Trailer Watch: Claire Simon’s Our Body
Watch the trailer for Our Body, the latest from acclaimed French documentarian Claire Simon, director of God’s Offices, The Competition, I Want to Talk About Duras and others. The doc had its world premiere at this year’s Berlinale before screening at MoMA’s Doc Fortnight and True/False stateside. Per an official synopsis: French documentary titan Claire Simon observes the everyday operations of the gynecological ward in a public hospital in Paris. In the process, she questions what it means to live in a woman’s body, filming the diversity, singularity and beauty of patients in all stages of life. Through these many […]
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Trailer Watch: Thomas Hardiman’s A24 Feature Debut Medusa Deluxe
A trailer lands today for Medusa Deluxe, the feature debut from British writer-director Thomas Hardiman. The film premiered at Locarno last year and subsequently screened at Sitges, BFI London Film Festival and IFFR, among others. Revolving around elaborate hair-dos and a shocking murder, Hardiman’s film is lensed by Robbie Ryan (who’s shot films for Yorgos Lanthimos—including the forthcoming Poor Things—Andrea Arnold, Ken Loach, Sally Potter and many more) and stars Anita-Joy Uwajeh, Clare Perksins, Darrell D’Silva, Debris Stevenson, Harriet Webb, Heider Ali, Kae Alexander, Kayla Meikle, Lilit Lesser, Luke Pasqualino and Nicholas Karimi. A synopsis for Medusa Deluxe reads: Talented, […]
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Trailer Watch: Ridley Scott’s Napoleon
The first trailer has landed for director Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, an epic biopic about the French Emperor’s ascension to and fall from power. With a screenplay written by David Scarpa (who is also co-writing Scott’s forthcoming Gladiator sequel with Peter Craig), the film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte. Co-starring are Vanessa Kirby as his wife, Empress Joséphine, and Tahar Rahim as Paul Barras, the main executive leader of the post-revolution Directory regime, who helped arrange their marriage and made Napoleon general in the battalion of Italians. An official synopsis reads: Napoleon is a spectacle-filled action epic that details the […]
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Trailer Watch: Vladan Nikolic’s Everything That Will Happen Has Already Happened
Director Vladan Nikolic is currently in post-production on his latest film, Everything That Will Happen Has Already Happened, and preparing for a crowdfunding campaign to raise final costs. The filmmakers have shared with Filmmaker a teaser trailer, above, as well as the following statement about the film, which plans to premiere in festivals in 2024 Everything That Will Happen Has Already Happened, a very ambitious no budget narrative feature film is in the works. Billed as a “collaborative film,” led by filmmaker and professor Vladan Nikolic, it was made with the help of filmmakers and actors from around the world. […]
