Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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IFW: “PAVILION” DIRECTOR TIM SUTTON #1
My film needs a tag line. Well, that’s not all it needs. It needs an audience. No, too daunting, stick with the tag. Independent Film Week opens today and the wandering tribes of indie film will break bread. I bring with me a newly minted cut of Pavilion, an ethereal narrative feature film about the mystery of youth, and a fistful of cautious optimism. After processing the first leg of the IFP Narrative Lab in June, some editing tweaks, a couple of living-room screenings and a sweetened score by my collaborator Sam Prekop, the film is ready. Version Industries is […]
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TORONTO PHOTOS AND NOTES, #2
For several people I talked to, my favorite film at Cannes became their favorite film at Toronto. Oslo, August 31 is Joachim Trier’s follow-up to his inspiring hit film, Reprise. That movie, a tale of youth and best friends and literature and longing and rock and roll, was smart, sophisticated and with an emotional arc like a great mix tape. It was also somewhat dazzling in its montage, using split-screen, freeze frames and a European post-punk soundtrack to make its story of young Norwegian literati one that felt like young adulthood everywhere. After several years working on a larger-scale American […]
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TORONTO 2011: “WAVELENGTHS” PART I
For fans of experimental film, 2011 has been a year of heavy losses. Yet even as we mourn the deaths of pioneer filmmakers including Jordan Belson, George Kuchar, George Landow (aka Owen Land), and Adolphas Mekas, the 2011 Wavelengths programs at the Toronto International Film Festival indicated that experimental film is alive and well… and living in Canada. Aberration of Light: Dark Chamber Disclosure is a site-specific live projection performance that was a highlight of this year’s festival. In the projection booth, Brooklyn-based artists Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder distilled a found 35mm commercial film print into rich, gorgeous beams of light that danced on […]
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TIFF 2011: THE YEAR OF THE DOC?
The buzz word at this year’s TIFF is “doc.” For the first time in its 35-year history, the Toronto International Film Festival opened with a documentary: Davis Guggenheim‘s From The Sky Down, which profiles the world’s most popular rock band, U2. Filmgoers and critics are also buzzing over Crazy Horse, by verite legend Frederick Wiseman; Samsara (by Baraka‘s Ron Fricke); Tony Krawitz‘s The Tall Man,; and Girl Model by Ashley Sabin and David Redmon. The doc vibe was in the air on Monday morning at a breakfast launch for Focus Foward. Sponsored by Cinelan and GE, Focus Forward invites big-name documentarians such as Morgan […]
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TORONTO PHOTOS AND NOTES, #1
The IFP organized a screening series at TIFF this year for RBC, the Royal Bank of Canada, at the Thompson Hotel. The event turned into a four-night run of Ryan O’Nan’s festival selection, The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best, which knocked out the crowd each night. As I moderated the Q&A’s, I can attest: this film plays. The movie was selected for the IFP’s Narrative Lab just this past summer, and it happily surprised all of us by finishing so quickly and making it to Toronto. The Brooklyn Brothers is a totally winning tale of a makeshift band on a […]
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The Blue Velvet Project, #18
Second #846, 14:06 They have walked together in the night for several minutes now, delicately circling the topic of evil, as if talking in code. Finally, Jeffrey takes a gamble: “I, uh, guess you gotta get back home pretty soon, huh?” he asks Sandy. Her reply, as usual, takes the form of another question: “Not really—why?” And then she offers to show him Dorothy Vallens’s apartment, whose weak gravity has been slowly pulling them closer. This is a fiercely political stretch of the film, given the context of Ronald Reagan and his elevation of family to mythic status. In his […]
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Nostalgia For The Light — A Hammer to Nail Review
(Nostalgia For The Light is now available on DVD and Blu-ray thanks to Icarus Films. It opened theatrically in New York City on March 18, 2011. Visit the film’s official page at the distributor’s site to learn more.) Writing about masterpieces is always difficult, yet in the case of Patricio Guzman’s Nostalgia For The Light, it’s almost crippling. On the one hand, there is enough information and emotion contained within this film’s 90 minutes to justify several thick, glowing texts of appreciation. It’s not merely that Guzman guides us on a journey that tackles just about every grand issue known […]
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NICOLAS WINDING REFN NARRATES A SCENE FROM “DRIVE”
We here at Filmmaker haven’t been able to stop talking about Drive since we saw it a few months ago. Nicolas Winding Refn‘s first foray into the mainstream is a fresh take on the crime thriller with an amazing ’80s electronica score and just enough violence and gore to settle the appetite of those who loved Bronson and Valhalla Rising. Over at the New York Times, Mekado Murphy produces this excellent video piece narrated by Refn that breaks down one of the getaway scenes in Drive. Want more Refn talking about Drive? Check out our interview with the Danish director. […]
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Francis Ford Coppola Talks to Toronto at TIFF
Last Sunday, a sold-out audience awarded Francis Ford Coppola a standing ovation when he strolled into the 548-seat Cinema 1 at TIFF’s Bell Lightbox, the new multiplex at the center of the world’s largest film festival after Cannes. To the adoring audience, Coppola smiled warmly and cracked, “I’m very embarrassed I left my black shoes on the plane,” as he sat down at center stage in tan shoes and a dark suit with TIFF Festival Director Cameron Bailey. This event was a rare 85-minute chat directly with his audience and enjoyed all the hype of a red-carpet premiere. In fact, […]
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IFC BUYS LYNN SHELTON’S “YOUR SISTER’S SISTER”
indieWIRE reports that IFC Films has bought Lynn Shelton‘s You Sister’s Sister. The film, which stars Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Duplass and Mike Birbiglia, premiered this week at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film follows Jack (Duplass), who still reeling over the death of his brother a year earlier, gets a suggestion from Iris (Blunt), his best friend and dead brother’s ex, that they take a trip to his father’s cabin to get his bearings. And there he’s unexpectedly confronted by Hannah (DeWitt), Iris’ sister. IFC plans to release the film in 2012. Read our interview with Lynn […]
