Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, the 6’6″ Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World subjects of Sebastian Dehnhardt’s Klitschko, are to pugilism what the Williams sisters are to tennis. But unlike Venus and Serena, these chess-playing siblings, who became the first brothers to hold world titles at the same time, also hold PhDs and are fluent in four languages. Coming of age behind the Iron Curtain, the Ukrainian brothers’ psyches were shaped both by black- market Bruce Lee movies and the Chernobyl disaster (their military dad was a first responder). So when I heard that current champ Wladimir (pictured above) was available […]
In the below video: Martha Marcy May Marlene writer/director Sean Durkin on Altman, Polanski and why he’s fascinated by cults; Elizabeth Olsen on her character, scripts, and what attracted her to this part; and John Hawkes on why his cult leader wasn’t another dark creepy dude. Photographed by Jamie Stuart, edited by Daniel James Scott and with music by T. Griffin. Shot at Sundance 2011.
In sticking with our “Do Your Homework” theme, this week on the conversation we dissect one aspect of the micro-budget equation – crowdfunding. As someone who is about to use Kickstarter for the first time, I felt it was best to leave you in the capable hands of someone who had not only successfully met his goal, but who doubled it. Zak Forsman is no stranger to the world of microbudget filmmaking and I love his advice on crafting a great campaign. At IFP week I heard tons of questions from filmmakers on how to wrestle the task of a […]
When I was in second grade, I was the kid who brought the boa-constrictor home over Christmas break. I had a chicken leg in a jar of phemaldehyde in my room. I excitedly cleaned out the very deep cut my sister got stepping on glass in the ocean. My Netflix cue has on it every BBC show on how the brain works. My mother was a science teacher. My sister is a pilot for NOAA. I always wanted to be a surgeon — if it didn’t involve so many years of school; Creative Improvised Surgery! I think I’d be good […]
It was bound to happen. An unnamed actress has filed suit against IMDb for revealing her real age. The actress, known only as “Jane Doe” in the suit against Amazon.com, IMDb’s parent company, is seeking $75,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages, plus lawyers’ fees. The alleged misconduct occurred after the actress signed up for IMDbPro in 2008; as filmmakers know, this is a different process than creating a public profile (or having one created for you), which had presumably already been done. Soon after joining IMDbPro, she saw her actual age on her public profile. Since […]
Second #1457, 24:17 The Yellow Man has come and gone. Dorothy’s full attention is on Jeffrey now. This first apartment scene is shot largely from Dorothy’s general angle of vision and in this frame she is dangerously close to the camera. In D.W. Griffith and the Origins of American Narrative Film, Tom Gunning explores the subtle but important changes in camera distance in the early 1900s: The basic camera distance for most shots in 1909 crept closer than the distant tableau found in some of Griffith’s first films. The full shot of the character from head to toe predominates over […]
Holly Willis explains what film schools need to explore to stay relevant in the future.
As I’ve written before, these days we are taking whatever David Lynch we can get. In this case, it’s an in-studio teaser for his forthcoming album of paranoid blues, Crazy Clown Time.
Get ready for the next round of DSLRs — Canon has just announced their EOS-1D X. From Engadget: Stick a piece of gaffer tape over the unmistakable X, and Canon’s latest EOS-1D pro-level camera will look virtually identical to every 1D model that came before it. But once you flip up the power slider, this new king of the jungle will hum like no other. Canon’s phenomenally powerful EOS-1D X really sounds like the DSLR to rule them all. Its 18 megapixel full-frame sensor uses oversized pixels to battle noise and is supported by a pair of Digic 5+ imaging […]
In the race to make a social app for every activity you can imagine, Alex Cornell has jumped to the front of the line. His service Jotly rates everything. (Hat tip, Khoi Vinh.) What’s really funny? From the comments section of Vinh’s post I learn that there’s a start-up, Stamped, that might really be trying this!