Filmmaking

Melissa Lee at the Sundance Creative Producing Lab

The Sundance Creative Producing Lab just wrapped, and here, with an account of her days there, is producer Melissa Lee (Dear Lemon Lima, Circumstance). Last week I had the honor of being one of six Fellows at the Sundance Institute Creative Producing Lab. Over the course of five days, the intimate group of Fellows and Advisors – about 15 in all — dissected, scrutinized, and re-energized not only the five projects selected for the Lab, but also each of the Fellows behind them. I’d heard the experience compared to rehab, group therapy, and King Arthur’s Court. It turned out to […]

By Scott Macaulay on Aug 2, 2011 Filmmaking
Director Greg Barker on Koran By Heart

Koran by Heart, premiering on HBO today, comes out at a time when it couldn’t be more necessary. In the wake of July’s attacks in Norway and the Islamophobic response in Western media outlets, the film offers a composed perspective of life in the Muslim world. Koran by Heart follows three Muslim youths — Nabiollah from Tajikistan, Rifdha from the Maldives, and Djamil from Senegal — as they enter into an annual Koran-reciting competition in Cairo, Egypt. The competition attracts hundreds of Muslims from all over the world, many of whom don’t speak Arabic, but are able to recite the […]

By Daniel James Scott on Aug 1, 2011 Directing
VIMEO ANNOUNCES “VIMEO PRO”

Video sharing site Vimeo announced today Vimeo PRO, a new account aimed at small business — including independent filmmakers and production companies. Offering high-quality hosting at a competitive price (50GB of storage and 250,000 plays for an annual $199 fee), the new service lives separately from the regular Vimeo community. From the press release: “Until now, quality video hosting has been expensive, confusing, and extremely difficult for a small business owner to understand. Small businesses have fallen between the cracks of free video services and massive enterprise video solutions,” said Dae Mellencamp, Vimeo’s General Manager. “Vimeo PRO resolves the contradiction […]

By Scott Macaulay on Aug 1, 2011 Filmmaking
AUGUST VOD CALENDAR

Now up on our VOD calendar are titles available for the month of August. Some of the highlights: Meek’s Cutoff, The Beaver, Jane Eyre and John Landis returns to features after over a decade of directing for TV with his dark comedy Burke and Hare (which hits theaters in September), starring Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis as the legendary 19th century body-snatchers. For titles from previous months go to our VOD Calendar homepage.

By Jason Guerrasio on Aug 1, 2011 Filmmaking
IRA DEUTCHMAN CHAIRS COLUMBIA FILM SCHOOL

Producer, distributor, and longtime professor (24 years!) at Columbia Film School, Ira Deutchman has been appointed the division’s new chair. He takes over from the film school’s previous chair, Jamal Joseph. Well known in the independent community, Deutchman was a founder of indie distributor Cinecom, a former head of Fine Line Features, and is currently Managing Partner of Emerging Pictures. Film’s he’s worked on as either a distributor or marketer include The Player, An Angel at My Table, Hoop Dreams, Naked, and sex lies and videotape. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Deutchman commented, “I’ve been teaching at Columbia […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jul 29, 2011 Filmmaking
FESTIVAL FILM WATCHING AND THE DEATH OF THE DVD

I always feel odd holed up in my hotel room watching DVDs while at a film festival. After all, a film festival is supposed to be festive, and that means audiences, excitement, buzz. But invariably, once you’ve missed a screening those DVD screeners that weren’t available pre-fest are suddenly pressed into your hands by anxious publicists. Or, maybe you just meet a cool filmmaker on the shuttle bus and agree to watch HIS short that night. If you’re doing your job as a journalist, at least some of your festival stay will be spent watching DVDs in your room, perhaps […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jul 29, 2011 Filmmaking
GOOD QUOTES FROM CHRISTINE VACHON

From her conversation with Anthony Kaufman, recapped at Indiewire. On money, producing and responsibility: “In film producing there is an inherent tension between the director, the money and the producer, and that’s what keeps it flowing and honest and accountable. Sometimes, when I work with financiers or a studio, they see my job as the one who has to tell the director he can’t have something. And that’s a drag. So I have to figure out ways to come up with creative solutions, before I tell him what we’re up against, so it’s not a state of crisis. And Todd […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jul 28, 2011 Filmmaking
sleep furiously — A Hammer to Nail Review

(sleep furiously opens theatrically in NYC at Cinema Village on Friday, July 29, 2011. More importantly: FANDOR IS MAKING IT AVAILABLE FOR 24 HOURS ONLY ON FRIDAY, JULY 29TH! Go here to learn more.) It’s tempting to read Gideon Koppel’s sleep furiously as a bittersweet ode to the antiquated community in which he was raised, or, God forbid, to view it as some sort of call-to-arms to not let this slow, quiet way of life fade into oblivion. The truth is that it isn’t either of those things. By refusing to make any grand, preachy statements, Koppel has achieved something far […]

By Michael Tully on Jul 28, 2011 Columns
SUNDANCE ANNOUNCES NEW ONLINE DISTRIBUTION INITIATIVE

At a Los Angeles press conference today, Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam announced an expansion of the organization’s Artist Services Initiative that will bring independent films to digital platforms. Exclusively partnering with aggregator New Video, Sundance is offering its festival and lab films distribution opportunities on iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and SundanceNOW. Filmmakers will retain ownership and control of their titles, will be free to publicize and market them, and Sundance will conduct its own marketing efforts as well as leverage the potency of its brand to gain the films wider audiences. Commented Putnam, “By acting as a conduit […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jul 27, 2011 Filmmaking
IT’S ALL UPHILL FROM HERE

“It’s always a battle. Everything…everyday. It’s like,…can I just get off the battlefield for one day? Step out of the war-zone for a minute?” – Jens Pulver from JENS PULVER | DRIVEN This confession from Jens has rung through my head almost daily over the past year as I’ve worked to make, complete and subsequently market and release our film, JENS PULVER | DRIVEN. With the film being fully crowd-funded, having garnered festival play and just released nationally on nearly every major VOD network in North America it can be legitimately counted as a marked success in the micro-budget independent […]

By Gregorybayne on Jul 27, 2011 Filmmaking

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