Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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MEDAGLIA’S “KITTY, KITTY” ON VODO
Filmmaker webmaster Michael Medaglia is also a talented director; I really liked his short, Kitty, Kitty — an eerie piece of psychological horror that reminded me of early Cronenberg. Here’s how he describes it: Kitty, Kitty is a short film about love, cats and brain parasites. The disturbing short was inspired by Toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by a brain parasite that can change human behavior and is believe to affect up to a third of the world population. This weekend Medaglia released the film for free on VODO.net, a website that turns filesharing and torrents into a legitimate distribution avenue […]
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TRAILER WATCH: “PARIAH”
Dee Rees’ powerful gay-themed drama has been one of our favorite film projects of the last few years. The film went through the IFP Narrative Lab, and two of its principals — writer/director Rees and d.p. Bradford Young — appeared on our “25 New Faces” list. So, we were thrilled when the film was picked up at Sundance by Focus Features and Rees was given a development deal. Focus has just released the trailer, which I’ve embedded below. And see my piece on Rees from the 2008 25 New Faces list and Jason Guerrasio’s on Young from the 2009 list.
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A SUMMERTIME PREVIEW OF ROOFTOP FILMS
Summer has long been my favorite time of the year in NYC. When the temperature skyrockets the crowds head for the shore, leaving only us sweaty diehards to sip iced coffee in sidewalk cafes in the afternoon, and attend al fresco screenings in the heat of the night. This year, though, I’ll be getting my caffeine fix alongside De Herengracht rather than anywhere near the Hudson, and seeing outdoor cinema courtesy of Pluk de Nacht rather than Rooftop Films. But if you happen to be lucky enough to be reading this from any of the five boroughs, I suggest marking […]
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Lady Vengeance: Trollhunter Review
Any genre fan will tell you that when it comes to movie beasties, delayed gratification is key. It is considered classic good form to mount anticipation via quick glimpses of scales/fur/claws, or unnerving detritus left in the creature’s wake, all leading up to the spectacular fashion in which the monster will finally emerge. Rather than bend completely to convention, Trollhunter, with dry Scandinavian aplomb, breaks with this rule of horror suspense by having the grizzled titular character run out of the woods, shout “TROLL,” and cause his disbelieving companions to disperse chaotically amid earth-quaking snorts and stomps. The troll isn’t […]
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Is the DSLR Dead ?
I ordered the much sought-after Panasonic GH2 camera in February, and I just got it last week. And now, only a few days later, the DSLR is declared dead! Okay, I’m being a bit facetious here, as is, I think, Michael Murie over at his Notes on Video blog, which I linked to in the above paragraph. Or maybe not… As he notes in a series of links and excerpts, the professional community is now backing away from the camera format that was being celebrated everywhere — including Filmmaker — just a few months ago. He writes: The DSLR community […]
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BRITISH LOVE FOR NEW THEATRICAL MODELS
Last night I attended a pre-opening for the new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center. It’s a gorgeous space with two theaters that are both modern but possessing of a classic arthouse vibe. Seeing Manhattan and An Affair to Remember unspooling threw me back to the Golden Age of NYC rep that I experienced in my college years. Particularly exciting was the space that lies in the middle — an airy auditorium with raked bench seating and the world’s largest plasma screen TV. Screenings will be held in this space as well as lectures, Q&As and community events. […]
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Reindeerspotting: Escape From Santaland — A Hammer to Nail Review
(Reindeerspotting: Escape From Santaland is the opening night film in the MoMA Presents: DocPoint series and screens daily through Monday, June 13, 2011. Go here to learn more.) In the opening minutes of Joonas Neuvonen’s Reindeerspotting: Escape From Santaland, don’t be surprised if you’re overcome with that “here we go again” feeling, and not in a good way. For the eternal question remains, does the world really need yet another film about junky culture? Yes, we know drugs are bad. Yes, we understand by now that they numb your senses and make you behave in illegal, immoral ways. Yes, we […]
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IFP ANNOUNCES NARRATIVE LAB PARTICIPANTS
In a press release today IFP announced the participants of the 2011 Narrative Independent Filmmaker Lab, which kicked off today and will go on in New York City until June 10. The Narrative Lab Fellows and their features are Matt Ruskin (Booster), Rola Nashef (Detroit Unleaded), Nir Paniry (Extracted), Jenny Deller (Future Weather), Andrew Semans (Nancy, Please), Sara Blecher (Otelo Burning), Tim Sutton (Pavilion), Jaron Henrie-McCrea (Pervertigo), Ryan O’Nan (The Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best), Mark Harris (The Lost Children) and Keith Miller (Welcome To Pine Hill). This highly immersive, free mentorship program for first-time feature filmmakers is currently the […]
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Out of the Blue — A Hammer to Nail Review
(Out of the Blue opens at Anthology Film Archives for a one-week run on Friday, July 3rd, 2011. Its home video availability is spotty, though hopefully that will change soon.) American cinema has spoken quite well for itself in the first half of 2011, but watching a new 35mm print of Out of the Blue makes even the most graphic new releases seem so utterly tame. As disturbing today as Dennis Hopper’s 1980 drama presumably was back then, Hopper’s long-overdue directorial follow-up to his grand folly The Last Movie unflinchingly depicts the loss of one young girl’s innocence while simultaneously […]
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JUNE VOD CALENDAR
Now up on our VOD Calendar are titles available for the month of June. Some of the highlights: Miguel Arteta‘s Cedar Rapids (see our video interview with Arteta from Sundance), Lee Isaac Chung‘s moving sophmore effort Lucky Life, the Sundance Audience Award winning doc Buck and Michael Winterbottom‘s comedy The Trip. For titles from previous months go to our VOD Calendar homepage.
