It was 1973 and Peter Medak was a hot director on the rise. Following the success of The Ruling Class, which had earned Peter O’Toole an Academy Award nomination the previous year, United Artists offered him Death Wish. But when the studio insisted on casting Charles Bronson instead of Medak’s pick, Henry Fonda, Medak passed on the project. Back in London, Medak ran into his friend Peter Sellers, who asked him to direct his next film, Ghost in The Noonday Sun, which was set to be filmed on the island of Cyprus. Somehow the idea of filming a 17th-century pirate comedy aboard real ships on […]
Mya Taylor will follow up her Film Independent Spirit Award-winning performance in Tangerine with performances in several short films which tackle transgender issues. Her latest project, VIVA DIVA, which is billed as “the story of two trans women of color Rozene and Diva, on a road trip of a lifetime,” is aiming to raise $10,000 on Kickstarter. Written and directed by Sundance Institute Native Lab fellow, Daniel Flores, VIVA DIVA is a road trip movie featuring Rozene and Diva as they make their way down to Guadalajara for gender reassignment surgery. Rozene stops in on her father to try to get answers about […]
The MacArthur Foundation, which has supported over 300 documentary films since the mid-1980s, is ceasing grant support for individual documentary film projects. In a change announced on its website, MacArthur writes that it will actually increase its overall support for the documentary field but will do so by supporting partner organizations, many of whom have individual granting programs. Indeed, the announcement redirects filmmakers to POV, Firelight Media, ITVS, Sundance Documentary Fund and Tribeca Film Institute. In the post, MacArthur cites the more expansive work done by these partner organizations, which includes mentorship, editorial advice and audience engagement. From the site: […]
Great news for independent film producers: the omnibus spending bill passed by Congress this week and signed by President Obama contains a reinstatement of Section 181, the tax provision that incentivizes film and television production by allowing for immediate deduction of production costs up to $15 million. What’s more, the provision, which expires December 31, 2016, was made retroactive to include costs spent during 2015. (In recent years, Section 181 was retroactively renewed for the prior year at the beginning of the next fiscal year; in 2015, it was allowed to expire completely, and many observers didn’t expect to see […]
With the arrival of the Golden Age of Television, many indie-slanting stories are finding a home in episodic series. And if you’re one of these independent filmmakers with a hot series concept, you might find yourself in the least “indie” situation possible: pitching a network executive. But don’t be intimidated — as more and more non-traditional TV formats become runaway hits, networks’ doors are wide open to new ideas and innovative visions. If you can find a way onto the network exec’s couch, the following tips — culled from recent industry events, like the IFP’s Screen Forward, as well as […]
The countdown to Sundance 2016 has begun with a slew of recent announcements of film selections for the festival, which runs from January 21-31. Earlier this week, the crowdfunding platform unveiled the list of Kickstarter-funded works which made the cut for this year’s festival, including new documentary features from Dawn Porter (Trapped), Penny Lane (NUTS!) and Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker (Unlocking the Cage). Read the full blog post here and check out highlights below: This year at Sundance, we’ll be crossing our fingers for a great roster of docs and dramatic features in competition for major awards: NUTS!, Spa Night, Trapped, and When Two Worlds […]
Rooftop Films, which is heading into its 20th season, has awarded 13 cash and service grants to alumni filmmakers. The GarboNYC Feature Film Grants were awarded to directors Kitty Green and Sebastian Silva. Green will receive a monetary grant of $15,000 to help finish her new film, Casting JonBenet, and Silva will receive a $10,000 grant to support his film, Demon Me. Casting JonBenet, a documentary about the infamous murder of child model JonBenet Ramsey, marks Green’s second feature after her 2013 documentary debut Ukraine Is Not a Brothel. Among the films Silva has directed are Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus and Nasty […]
You’ve seen the abysmal statistics about women filmmakers, yet they still manage to shock. According to a recent study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University, the number of women directing the top 250 grossing films declined by 2% over the past 17 years. And that’s just one measurement. In 2013, Amy Hobby and Anne Hubbell launched Tangerine Entertainment with the express purpose of giving voice to more female directors. Now they are raising funds on Seed&Spark to support The Juice Fund, an annual award which recognizes women directors who have […]
Good news for filmmakers looking for finishing funds to complete a feature-length documentary which highlights a social issue: The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund is open for submissions through February 5, 2016. Even better, there is no application fee. The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund will provide funding to four-to-10 feature-length documentaries. In addition, The AOL Charitable Foundation Award, a subset of the Fund, gives grants to four filmmakers whose feature-length documentaries illuminate the lives of women and youth around the globe. Previous grantees of The Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund include Marshall Curry’s Point and Shoot, Marc Silver’s 3 1/2 Minutes, Leslee Udwin’s India’s Daughter […]
The IDFA Forum is one of the oldest pitch roundtables in the world specifically for documentaries. It’s a yearly event that gathers some of the biggest broadcasters in Europe, Canada, and the US, as well as other financiers, foundations, and distributors to hear about some of the most compelling new documentaries that are being produced independently. The format that is used at the Central Pitch is a seven-minute pitch followed by a seven-minute response from many of the broadcasting Commissioning Editors. The vibe is very collegial and only occasionally contentious, as filmmakers justify their choices and explain their projects in […]