Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson on The Master
What master do you worship? Does your master have a name — God, Yahweh, Allah, Vishnu, Great Spirit, Creator, Father, Mother — or remain nameless? Is He/She/It an abstraction — love, light, power — or have you met? Has your master sat across a table from you and asked you to account for your transgressions? Did you stare your master in the eyes without blinking? The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson’s sixth feature film, is an epic, 70mm story of tiny details that plays out viscerally on the most complicated expanse imaginable: The human face. Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a snarling, […]
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Jones and Koehler Named New Film Society Programming Directors
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced Robert Koehler and Kent Jones as the replacements for longtime Program Director Richard Peña. Film Society Executive Director Rose Kuo said, “Richard Peña has played a fundamental role in defining our organization and its commitment to discovering and supporting the best and most important cinema in the world. Kent Jones and Bob Koehler, whose thinking and writing about cinema I deeply respect, are the perfect team to build upon Richard’s vision and carry it forward.” Peña will be honored at a Gala Tribute during this year’s New York Film Festival. Jones, who was a […]
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Diane Von Fursternberg Shows Off Google Glass
Eyeglass cameras have been around for years… but, hey, this short film is made up entirely of footage not from just any old eyeglass camera. We’re talking about Google Glass! Here, Diane Von Furstenberg and her models take you through their New York fashion week. Some of this footage looks quite nice. At the New York Times, David Pogue discusses his try-out of Google Glass. He’s got a lot of details in his piece, but here’s how he concludes: But already, a few things are clear. The speed and power, the tiny size and weight, the clarity and effectiveness of […]
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Five Questions with Mark Lombardi: Death-Defying Acts of Art and Conspiracy Director Marieke Wegener
In the years since his death in 2000, the work of artist Mark Lombardi has seemed even more prescient and relevant than it had during his lifetime. Lombardi’s finely-etched drawings, filled with annotated lines, circles and squiggles, traced the flow of capital and political power between various government, private and underworld actors. His subjects were American foreign policy, crime, corruption and conspiracy, and his artwork consisted of not only his drawings but the investigative work required to create them. Lombardi’s drawings reference the drug wars, the BCCI scandal, Charles Keating and the savings and loan scandal, and Iran contra, but […]
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First Impressions
I’ve never been good at first impressions. The first time I met my ex-gf, I got incredibly drunk and vomited in front of her. The first time I was interviewed for a magazine, I told the story of how I got drunk in front of my ex-gf and vomited. And here I go again, making a bad first impression. That’s probably why I have first-day-of-school nerves about attending my first Independent Film Week. Excited and ready to go, but I’m also a bit unsure of how I’m going to approach the situation. Cool and aloof? Eager and personable, milking it […]
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Director Maiko Endo on Kuichisan
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 […]
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Mike Birbiglia to Host 2012 Gotham Awards
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 […]
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In Production: Coldwater, A Long Way Down, Stay Then Go and Stage Fright
“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 […]
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CHRISTIAN MARCLAY’S “THE CLOCK” TO HAVE MONTH-LONG WINTER RUN AT MOMA
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 […]
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DEEPA MEHTA BRINGS SALMAN RUSHDIE’S “MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN” TO THE BIG SCREEN
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. […]
