Easily the most out-there film I saw at last year’s CPH:DOX was one touted by the programmers as “the discovery of the festival”: Maiko Endo’s Kuichisan, receiving its New York debut tomorrow as part of the LaDiDa Festival. Previously, Endo was a vocalist in the band Battles and co-produced Jessica Oreck’s documentary Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo. Now, Oreck has produced Endo’s debut picture, with Beetle Queen d.p. Sean Price Williams behind the camera. Stunningly shot in both black-and-white and color, Kuichisan is a tumbling collection of images, organized as much by feeling, sensation and the rhythms of its experimental soundtrack […]
Mike Birbiglia’s directorial debut, Sleepwalk with Me, has provided one of the underdog success stories in U.S. indie film this year, so it’s all too fitting that Birbiglia has been chosen to host this year’s IFP Gotham Awards on Monday, November 26, 2012 in New York City. IFP’s Executive Director, Joana Vicente, said of the actor/writer/director’s appointment as the 2012 Gothams emcee, “We are so thrilled that Mike Birbiglia will be hosting the Gotham Awards this year. Coming off an exciting year as a debut director, with a hit film under his belt, Birbiglia’s charm and humor are sure to delight our […]
“In Production” is a regular column which focuses on notable independent films that are currently shooting. If you would like your film to be included in this space, please send an email to nick@filmmakermagazine.com Bellflower producer Vincent Grashaw gets into the director’s chair for Coldwater, a drama-thriller about a teenage boy who is placed in a “wilderness juvenile center” overseen by a malevolent army veteran. Produced by Grashaw, Kris Dorrance, Dave Gare and Sarah Farrand and co-written by Grashaw with Mark Penney, Coldwater was originally slated to shoot in 2004 with a different director at the helm and a high-profile […]
For those New Yorkers who, like me, feel like they’ve only scratched the surfaced of Christian Marclay’s enthralling 24-hour installation, The Clock — or, more pressingly, for those who have yet to experience it at all — there is excellent news today. The Museum of Modern Art has announced that Marclay’s immersive exploration of cinematic time will return to NYC for a month this winter, running from December 21 to January 21. There will be a number of days when the entire film will screen continuously, most notably on New Year’s Eve, an event which promises to be extremely memorable. Below […]
Deepa Mehta made a deal with Salman Rushdie about adapting his novel Midnight’s Children: “Salman, let’s spend two weeks separately. You write down what you think is the narrative arc of the film in point-form from opening to the end, and I’ll do the same. I’ll go back to Toronto and you stay in New York. We’ll come back in two weeks and talk about it further.” Rushdie was a tough sell. Mehta, the Canadian director of acclaimed Indian-themed films Water, Earth and Fire, had to convince him that only he could translate his Booker Prize-winning novel to the screen. […]
The idea for this essay first came to me during a GChat conversation with a friend a few weeks ago. We were discussing how my friend, whom I’ll call Martin, had recently met a young man over Grindr, an iPhone app that enables men to meet other men who are looking to hook up at present. Martin told me that after finding this particular young man (whom I’ll call Dave) on the service, Martin – armed with the knowledge of merely Dave’s first name, town of residence and what he looked like – was able to find Dave’s Facebook page, see […]
Sally Potter’s theoretical bent has long placed her in a strange position, in which difficult films like Yes consistently gain mainstream distribution while leaving audiences demanding refunds. Continuing this duality, Ginger & Rosa—an emotionally charged tale of two girls coming of age in the shadow of the Cuban Missile Crisis—finds Potter treating overtly political material with a level of accessibility in plot and performance that’s new to her work. Rosa (Alice Englert) and Ginger (Elle Fanning) are lifelong friends born on the same day. Rosa is the more carefree and liberated of the two, while the sensitive Ginger takes pleasure […]
The hurdles of independent filmmaking–or any creative endeavor–don’t end with a successful debut. If anything, the pressure to live up to the expectations on the heels of a breakthrough looms heavier than ever in the dreaded “sophomore slump.” Following Happythankyoumoreplease, Josh Radnor manages to not only avoid said slump, but also seamlessly captures the voice of a generation; floating between idealistic youth and the discontentment of fitting into adulthood. It’s even more impressive when considering that Radnor is already an established actor on his own hit television show. While utilizing his own alma mater, Kenyon College, at the heart of […]
This Friday, Roadside Attractions releases Nicholas Jarecki’s debut feature, Arbitrage. The following interview was originally published on the eve of the film’s Sundance Film Festival premiere. Currently best known for his documentary The Outsider, Nicholas Jarecki is poised for reevaluation with Arbitrage, his narrative directorial debut. Jarecki spent a long time ruminating over what kind of story he wanted to tell, ultimately deciding on a thriller set within a world he knew quite a bit about. Set amidst today’s tumultuous economic terrain, Arbitrage considers the ethics of a hedge-fund mogul. The film has already garnered attention thanks to its A-list ensemble, […]
Throughout the month of September, Filmmaker is partnering with the online short film competition Filminute, hosting five of its nominated titles and running interviews with the director’s of these one-minute movies. Tell us who you are (where you’re from, background, previous credits as a filmmaker) Here’s a little bit about ourselves… Rafael Morais began acting at the age of 14. At 18 he was cast as the lead in the critically acclaimed feature film How to Draw a Perfect Circle (Official submission to the Academy Awards). Having screened at the Toronto, Palm Springs, Miami, San Sebastian and several other festivals, […]