Distribution
Filmmaking - Distribution
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Short Films Take Flight at the Portland International Airport
Movie theaters in airports have become a bona fide trend, with the Portland International Airport the latest airport to jump onboard. Passengers at many airports throughout Asia can already watch movies before their flights. But until recently, U.S. airports were slow to try the idea. In 2014, the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in Minnesota introduced a movie theater that shows art films with programming courtesy of The Film Society of Mpls–St. Paul. And last year, travelers at Miami International Airport were treated to silent film comedy classics as part of a Pop-Up Cinema program. Most recently, the non-profit Hollywood Theatre in Portland announced it would open a new airport […]
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“Your Job as a Programmer is to Look on Behalf of the Audience”: Charlotte Cook on She Does Podcast
Charlotte Cook is a documentary film programmer, curator, producer and co-founder of Field of Vision. Cook was the Director of Programming at Hot Docs film festival for four years before she left in May of 2015 to start Field of Vision, a visual journalism film unit that aims to commission 40 to 50 original episodic and individual short non-fiction films each year. Cook co-founded Field of Vision with Academy Award-winning director of CITIZENFOUR, Laura Poitras, and filmmaker and founder of Cinema Eye Honors, A.J. Schnack. In this episode of the She Does podcast, we talk about Cook’s journey to programming […]
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Hits & Misses: How Seven Films from Sundance 2015 Performed
The health and identity of American independent cinema has always been difficult to gauge and define, but Sundance is our default arbiter and explainer. Of course, indie film exists far beyond the limits of Park City in January, but the festival gives the nebulous American indie sector a test sample — and as any scientist will tell you, that’s the first step in making an accurate hypothesis. So what can the films of Sundance 2015 clarify about the state of American indies, now and in the future? Some trends can be attributed to random cycles and one-time events, but there […]
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Learning Not to Share: The Benefits and Pitfalls of Social Media for Independent Films
Mynette Louie, president of Gamechanger Films, recently had a problem. She caught a stand-in on set not only taking photos of her film’s star, whose contract had specific photo approvals in place, but posting the photos to Facebook. “I told him to delete them from his Facebook, then I went through his phone and deleted all the photos he took on set.” Traditionally, producers, marketing departments and publicists labor over key stills and publicity images, methodically crafting a film’s identity in careful, strategic installments. This practice continues today, but can quickly be subverted by a tweet, post or status update. […]
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Too Late, New John Hawkes Crime Thriller, Gets 35mm-Only Release
Recent films as disparate as The End of the Tour and Spectre were shot in 35mm. But Too Late, which stars John Hawkes as a troubled private investigator tasked with finding a missing woman, takes the 35mm trend one step further. Shot in the 35mm Techniscope format, the film will get a special 35mm-only theatrical release in spring 2016. Written and directed by Dennis Hauck in his feature film debut, Too Late unfolds in five chapters. “We made this movie to be seen on the big screen, with an audience, and yes, on 35mm,” said Hauck in a statement. “Home video, streaming, and VOD are all great, but […]
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Targeting Kids: Should the MPAA Rate Gun Violence in Movies?
Recently a friend sent me a link to a movie I made a little while back. The poster for this movie, Glass Chin, has the lead actor, played by Corey Stoll, caressing a gun. In the movie Corey’s character is scared of guns. And only touches one once, in fear, passing it to a psychopathic killer. That’s the only time a gun appears in the entire flick. And Corey’s character is scared shitless. He touches the gun like it’s the plague. But now the movie is being sold as a gun-toting movie. It’s a big porn pistol, and Corey holds […]
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Stinking Heaven Filmmakers Create Limited Edition VHS
Stinking Heaven, Nathan Silver’s latest film, opens in select theaters this week and is available digitally at Fandor. But distributor Factory 25 is also making the new lo-fi rehab drama available in VHS. If any film deserves a VHS release, it’s Stinking Heaven, which is set in 1990, when VHS was still the norm, and was shot on Betacam video. Set at a communal home for former substance abusers, Silver’s fifth feature has a gritty, documentary feel to it which lends itself to the outmoded VHS format. Factory 25 founder Matt Grady explained the genesis of the VHS edition. “I’ve been […]
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The Repertory Film Tradition Continues at the Brattle Theatre
Boston is home to many historic landmarks and buildings, but for film buffs and film students, the best-known may be the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, Cambridge. The Brattle has been running as a repertory theater (specializing in older “classic films”) since 1953, and has been credited with keeping movies like Casablanca in the public consciousness through the ’50s and ’60s. In addition to classic films, the Brattle shows foreign and independent film, and just celebrated 15 years running as a non-profit. The Brattle Theatre is housed inside Brattle Hall, which was built by the Cambridge Social Union and opened […]
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The Rasmussen Brothers on Shooting Their Microbudget Horror Film, The Inhabitants, Part Two
In this second part of the interview with brothers Michael and Shawn, they talk about directing their microbudget movie The Inhabitants, the music and sound mixing, and distribution for the movie. Filmmaker: With one of you running the camera and the other doing sound, how did you manage to handle directing at the same time? Michael: I think we’ve learned to multi-task, but it is hard. You are trying to make sure that everything is in focus and you’re pulling focus yourself, you’re doing all that stuff. The good thing is that Shawn is standing there with the boom, he can […]
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Vimeo Announces New Slate of Original Series
This morning, Vimeo announced a new slate of “Vimeo Originals,” serialized and short form content available for purchase exclusively on the streaming platform. Now that their first Original, High Maintenance, has moved to HBO, Vimeo is going beyond the web series, and into comedy specials and short films. Bianca del Rio’s Rolodex of Hate Comedy Special will premiere in December, while The Outs and Aidy Bryant’s Darby Forever will follow early next year. As much as Vimeo is pushing the envelope in its embrace of different formats and particular demographics, the selections corroborate comedy as internet king. Via Vimeo, below is a rundown of each of the three Vimeo Originals on the […]
