Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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Five Questions with Aquí y Allá Director Antonio Méndez Esparza
Aquí y Allá (“Here and There”) is a film about home and separation; of returning to where you left and trying to reintegrate with a life that has, for all intents and purposes, gone on without you. Dreams and opportunities; responsibility and consequence; hope and fear–these are all central not only to the film, but to the day-to-day life of every human being around the world. As such, Aquí y Allá exceeds the admittedly weighty (and very touching) premise of Mexican emigration to the U.S.–and all the tensions and the void that can come of it–to strike a relatable chord regardless of […]
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Top 10 Things Learned in the IFP PMD Lab
I have had the good fortune to be involved in IFP’s Independent Filmmaker Labs for the past several years now and, during that time, I have seen innumerable benefits to the films and filmmakers who participate. The Labs provide an opportunity for first-time filmmakers to not only receive feedback on their films from their peers and experienced filmmakers, but it is also the first lab to prepare filmmakers for the essential work of distribution and marketing. This year we launched the IFP PMD Lab (Producer of Marketing and Distribution), the first of its kind. The PMD Lab worked in conjunction with the Filmmaker Labs, […]
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IFP Distribution Lab Recap: The Final Frontier
It had been two days since the last day of the IFP Distribution Lab – ending the yearlong 2012 IFP Fellowship for 10 documentaries and 10 narrative films from first-time directors. With two days left in New York, I found myself sitting in a small theater in Brooklyn looking nervously at the backs of heads. A small handful of people had cruised over on this rainy Sunday for a test screening of my first feature documentary, Brave New Wild. Every time a punchline went unheeded, I swigged a Dixie cup full of cheap red wine. It’s very scary to show […]
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Ed Burns, New Era Distribution Pioneer
If you had asked me in the early days of Filmmaker which director would go on to be the one creating a micro-budget, self-sustaining business model, I’m not sure I would have answered “Ed Burns.” His The Brothers McMullen was realized for pennies and broke through the mainstream with Fox Searchlight at its back, and from that point on, Burns seemed to be set for the mainstream studio world. He acted in Saving Private Ryan, married supermodel Christy Turlington, and embarked on a follow-up feature starring Cameron Diaz. But here we are, nearly two decades later, and Burns is not […]
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Second-Time Director: Craig Johnson and The Skeleton Twins
This is the second in a series of articles about the path towards a director’s second film. Read part one, with Tze Chun, here. It was in the middle of prepping for The Skeleton Twins that Craig Johnson realized something was missing. “That sickening feeling in my stomach that I had the first time around in prep,” Johnson said with a laugh. “I’m so much more at peace this time. Craig Johnson, 36, is currently in production on his second movie. It’s a project that contains a dream comedic cast (Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Ty Burrell) It’s a project that […]
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Internet Alternatives
The major telecommunications companies, led by AT&T and Verizon, are consolidating their control over the Internet. These companies are working closely with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to further control the telecom market. Together, the giant telephone and cable companies are reducing the number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), privatizing the nation’s telecom infrastructure (i.e., the Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN), pushing new “data caps” limitations to raise rates and moving aggressively to end net neutrality. And they are succeeding. In the face of this campaign to reduce industry competition and customer choice, efforts are underway throughout the […]
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Baltasar Kormákur on The Deep
Since making his transition from actor to writer/director in 2000 with the raucous comedy 101 Reykjavik, Baltasar Kormákur has rapidly established himself as one of the most gifted and versatile European filmmakers. The Icelandic multi-hyphenate has moved with seeming ease from grand family dramas (The Sea) to gritty police procedurals (Jar City) and poignant comedies (White Night Wedding), while also turning out English-language indie thrillers such as 2005’s A Little Trip to Heaven (starring Forest Whitaker, Julia Stiles and Jeremy Renner) and the 2010’s Inhale, with Diane Kruger, Dermot Mulroney and Sam Shepard. Though Kormákur had arguably the biggest film of his career this year with Contraband – the Mark […]
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Filmmaker Launches Holiday Sale and New iPad Edition
We have two big announcements: the first is that our popular annual holiday sale returns, with 40% discounts on Filmmaker subscriptions and an array of bonus gifts — including DVDs of our Spring cover, Moonrise Kingdom, pictured above — given away to randomly selected new and returning subscribers. And the second? We’ve just launched Filmmaker on the iPad, a new edition of the magazine containing all of our print content as well as links and new video content. First, let’s talk about the sale. A lot of magazines discount all the time; we do it once a year. From now […]
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Five Questions with The Bad Intentions Director Rosario Garcia-Montero
Cayetana de los Heros, the eight-year-old protagonist of The Bad Intentions, is precociously preoccupied with death. She idolizes her nation’s independence heroes, imagining the many exotic ways in which they have been executed for their valor. “Massacre, massacre,” she whispers into the ears of her sleeping cousin. Beautifully shot in steely gray and blue hues that look cold to the touch, The Bad Intentions moves away from the conventional pastel-hued whimsy often used to depict childhood. Death — the fear and the fact of it — quietly pervades the entire film. Cayetana’s divorced parents mean well but have too many […]
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Sundance Institute Announces Selections for the Feature Film Program 2013 Screenwriters Lab
Sundance Institute has selected 12 projects for its 2013 January Screenwriters Lab, an immersive, five-day (January 11-16) writers’ workshop at the Sundance Resort in Utah. Participating independent screenwriters will have the opportunity to work intensely on their feature film scripts with the support of established writers including Marcos Bernstein, D.V. DeVincentis, Michael Goldenberg and Erin Cressida Wilson. The 2013 Lab is dedicated to the memory of Frank Pierson (1925-2012), a founding creative advisor of the Feature Film Program. Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Across all Sundance Institute Labs, which include offerings for various forms of artistic expression, […]
