Filmmaker Videos
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Trailer Watch: a Young Jane Fonda in Jane, from Drew Associates
Here’s an extraordinary clip from Jane, a documentary directed by Drew Associates about the young Jane Fonda preparing for her first Broadway role. My favorite line: “Andreas [the director] has coached Jane before. They’re friends, and he dates her often.” From the press release: JANE, directed by Drew Associates, captures a rare and oft forgotten piece of film and theater history. A young Jane Fonda prepares for her tumultuous starring role on Broadway in “The Fun Couple.” The Drew Associates filmmakers track Fonda’s every move during the production as she strives to legitimize herself as an actress and remove herself […]
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Short Film: Ferguson NYC Protests, Scored by Dev Hynes
In the days following the Grand Jury decision to not indict Darren Wilson in the murder of Michael Brown, protests and marches were held throughout the country in solidarity with the people of Ferguson. In New York, crowds wound their way through middle and lower Manhattan, across the bridges, and into Brooklyn. This short film from the music video director Aaron Stewart-Ahn, set to a piano tune from Dev Hynes, captures an evening of protests, with some beautiful, rankling imagery: white people pushing against the crowds as they stare into his camera; bus passengers with their hands held high, mirroring […]
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Watch: Amy Schumer Introduces Tilda Swinton at the Gotham Independent Film Awards
“Why am I even allowed to say her name,” wondered comic Amy Schumer when starting a tribute to the actress at last night’s Gotham Independent Film Awards. The story she has to tell begins with a part Schumer wrote for her forthcoming film Trainwreck — that of her boss, simply described in the script as “a goddess, like Tilda Swinton waiting at a baggage claim.” Schumer then tells of the first time she saw Swinton (Vanilla Sky, of all things) and pays tribute to Swinton’s singular screen presence, noting that the only thing cooler than watching her act is hanging […]
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The Sound of Helicopters in Apocalypse Now
A film’s first shot, its first image, is one that’s obsessed over by many directors. But how many put as much care into its first sound? Francis Ford Coppola did, along with sound designer Walter Murch, when constructing the opening of Apocalypse Now. The famous helicopter sounds actually enter over black — they are the first input of any kind an audience member receives. And, of course, those weren’t just any helicopter sounds. In the video above — a section of a documentary commissioned for the Paramount 2006 home video release and made by Zoetrope’s former head of post, Kim […]
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Trailer Watch: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
It’s the reboot round two. A year in advance of its December release, Disney has given us the first glimpse of the 7th episode in the Star Wars series, The Force Awakens. Directed by J.J. Abrams, the film picks up 30 years after Return of the Jedi. There’s not a whole lot to glean from, but presumably enough to get the diehards excited.
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Filmmakers Launch #BlackoutBlackFriday Day of Activism, Events and Retail Boycott
In the wake of the decision not to prosecute Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown, Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler has joined with Selma director and AFFRM founder Ava DuVernay to launch Blackout for Human Rights, “a network committed to ending human rights violations at the hands of public servants.” The group, which includes a number of directors, actors and others, builds on this week’s nationwide protests with events and actions, including today’s #BlackoutBlackFriday. From the group’s Tumblr: About #BlackoutBlackFriday: We ask those who stand with Ferguson, victims of police brutality and us to refrain […]
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Watch: Tarkovsky Behind the Scenes of The Sacrifice
A newly restored print of Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice wraps its run at BAM tonight, so now’s as good a time as any to take in Directed by Tarkovsky. A compilation of 50+ hours of behind the scenes footage shot by d.p. Arne Carlsson, along with excerpts from Tarkovsky’s book Sculpting in Time, editor Michal Leszczylowski’s documentary is an insightful window into the Russian great’s exacting process. Especially intriguing is his language barrier work with the actors, of whom he writes, “Cinema demands the truth of a state of mind that cannot be concealed, and the director has to induce the right state of mind in […]
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Watch: Paul Thomas Anderson Talks to Mike Figgis about Boogie Nights, 1998
This 1998 interview with Paul Thomas Anderson has been online for a while; credit to The Seventh Art for finally bringing it to my attention. Talking with fellow director Mike Figgis after only two features under his belt, a supremely unfazed Anderson eats pizza while holding forth on Boogie Nights‘ origins as a short film equally inspired by Zelig and This is Spinal Tap, shares a lot of opinions about inadequate porn performances, discusses a written-but-never-filmed sex scene for Don Cheadle’s character, and generally shows almost no self-consciousness about saying whatever he wants. Emblematic of the era sentence: “I was actually with Quentin Tarantino the other […]
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RIP Mike Nichols (1931-2014)
The sad news of Mike Nichols’ death at age 83 had me searching for something beyond the usual The Graduate highlight reel that would illustrate what seems to me like his greatest directorial virtue: the ability to keep a tonal straight face when confronted with material whose comic or dramatic potential could quickly push matters way over the top. This Catch-22 clip serves the purpose: the famous speech explaining what Catch-22 actually is is dwarfed by the airfield it takes place on, with jets and vehicles surrounding Yossarian (Alan Arkin) and Doc Daneeka (Jack Gilford). The choreography, both human and mechanical, is immaculate and […]
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Watch: Josephine Decker’s Flashes of Brilliance
A considerable crowd of critical praise has coalesced around the work of Josephine Decker, most notably this “A Star is Born” piece from her longtime champion Richard Brody. Kevin B. Lee at Fandor put forth a more tempered assessment of Butter on the Latch and Thou Wast Mild and Lovely (ending their week run at the IFP Media Center today), but he also compiled this beautiful, elliptical montage of the imagery in the two films. Narrative and/or stylistic misgivings aside, it is undoubtedly clear that Decker buttresses her films with a visceral atmosphere, achieved through fine details, ethereal lighting and playful camerawork, […]
