Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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Patrick Wang’s The Grief of Others Accompanied By iBook Detailing Production Process
Patrick Wang, who made our 25 New Faces list in 2012 with the release of his debut film, In The Family, is gearing up to shoot his sophomore picture, The Grief of Others, based on the novel by Leah Hager Cohen. Starring Rachel Dratch, Wendy Moniz and Trevor St. John, the film examines the grieving process of a couple who lose their child 57 hours after his birth. In accordance with the the production process, Wang and author David Chien will maintain a regularly updated multimedia and interactive iBook entitled, “Post Script: The Making of the Film, The Grief of Others.” With […]
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Andrea Sisson and Pete Ohs on The Other Men of Dodge City
The following was written by 2013 “25 New Faces” Andrea Sisson and Pete Ohs in advance of the first screening of their film The Other Men of Dodge City, a re-edited version of The Men of Dodge City by fellow 2013 “New Face” Nandan Rao. The film plays on NoBudge from Wednesday February 19 at 7pm. Check back tomorrow for Rao’s response to seeing the reworking of his film for the first time. First and foremost, Nandan’s eye is a force to be reckoned with. When we first saw The Men of Dodge City, we laughed at the snail’s pace and non-existent […]
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Las Marthas Filmmakers Cristina Ibarra and Erin Ploss-Campoamor on Documenting Colonial Tradition on the U.S.-Mexico Border
Just in time for President’s Day, Las Marthas, an unlikely and unexpected tribute to America’s founding father, makes its broadcast debut tonight as part of PBS’ Independent Lens Series. Set in the south Texas border town of Laredo, Las Marthas tells of a century-long tradition in which debutantes from both sides of the border commemorate George Washington’s birthday. Both the film and its subject matter stand apart from so many negative expectations about the U.S.-Mexico border — there is no talk here of the drug war or weapons trafficking. Instead, the month of celebrations that culminates with the debutante ball […]
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The Act of Killing Wins Documentary BAFTA; Director Oppenheimer’s Speech Edited Online
The radical documentary, The Act of Killing, won yesterday the Best Documentary prize at the 2014 BAFTA Awards on Sunday night. In his speech, director Oppenheimer thanked his anonymous co-director, who is not able to publicly reveal his or her role in the film, and said the picture “is helping to catalyze a change in how Indonesia talks about its past…” But one section of Oppenheimer’s speech was omitted from the video, above, that BAFTA posted online. His acceptance speech also included this section: I urge us all to examine ourselves, and acknowledge that we are all closer to perpetrators […]
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How Camera Movement Shapes A Narrative
Ryan Connolly of Film Riot is a rather perky fellow, but he’s also got some good insight into how camera techniques affect a film’s narrative. Connolly begins with a simple scene of two actors walking across a yard, examining how a dolly versus a tripod versus a handheld shot conveys tonality to the audience. A tripod pan, for instance, may insinuate that the actors are being watched. Connolly covers a number of mechanisms — including the implications of a jib — in the above video, which serves as a helpful reminder that the camera should always being doing more than […]
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The Festival of (In)appropriation #6 at Los Angeles Filmforum
The Festival of (In)appropriation, a celebration of “contemporary short audiovisual works that appropriate film or video footage and repurpose it in “inappropriate and inventive ways” is the brainchild of co-founder and co-curator Jaimie Baron (who, not inappropriately, has a book on found-footage filmmaking coming out soon). Presented by Los Angeles Filmforum (no relation to NYC’s Film Forum – more like the West Coast’s answer to Anthology Film Archives, as for close to four decades it’s been L.A.’s longest-running organization dedicated to experimental film and animation, docs and video art) the annual event is now in its sixth year. For more […]
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Is the Future of Film Distribution in the Live Format?
A few weeks back, I went to see a one woman show called HAPPY, performed by my friend Eleanore Pienta. It was confluence of many emotions and personalities, but found a recurring framework in the live realization of film. A projection of Eleanore, in character, in a setting, would appear against a backdrop for several minutes, before the lights switched on and Eleanore strode onto stage as that same character. She was effectively bringing these short films to life, something I recalled while reading Sheri Candler’s post at Hope for Film entitled “Creating ‘Live’ Films Can Be Artistically and Financially […]
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Trailer Watch: Matt Wolf’s Teenage
Oscilloscope Laboratories has released the trailer for 25 New Face Matt Wolf’s inventive documentary Teenage, which uncovers the genesis of youth culture at the turn of the 20th century. Comprised of archival material, recreations and narration lifted from diary entries — courtesy of Jena Malone and Ben Whishaw’s dulcet tones — the film had its world premiere at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival and will be released in New York on March 14. According to a recent Vogue article, Wolf is currently at work on a documentary about Eloise illustrator Hilary Knight at Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner’s production company.
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Tribeca Film Festival Announces “Innovation Week”
The Tribeca Film Festival has made significant strides to transform their trend-buoyed cachet into a boundary pushing enterprise. Last year, TFF introduced Storyscapes, a transmedia installation that probed the intersection of technology, interactivity and installation art, and this year, De Niro and Co. are extrapolating from the initiative, launching a full blown “Innovation Week.” From April 21-26, the festival hopes to become ground zero for hackers, screenwriters, engineers and venture capitalists alike, with a program centered around the Fifth Annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards (TDIA), Future of Film Live with Aaron Sorkin, Tribeca Hacks <Mobile>, a TFI Interactive summit, the Games […]
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How Filmmaker Magazine Helped Me Launch My First Feature, the SXSW-Bound The Heart Machine
Zach Wigon has written a number of provocative, discursive and highly original film essays for Filmmaker over the last couple of years, and now he is making his first feature. In this guest essay, appearing alongside the SXSW-bound film’s Kickstarter campaign, he describes how the interests explored in these pieces dovetailed into a seductive thriller for the NSA age, The Heart Machine. After reading, check out some of Zach’s old pieces for us and consider contributing to his campaign. — SM It all started with Filmmaker Magazine. In the Fall of 2010, I received an email from a producer […]
