Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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KICKSTARTER: “IN THE FOREST ONE NIGHT”
A number of former “25 New Faces” are involved with the production of Sarah Daggar-Nickson’s short film, In the Forest One Night. They include the cinematographer Sean Kirby and executive producers Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy. Also involved are producers Tory Lenosky and Andrea Roa, and production designer Amanda Ford. Rewards include the director’s own DVDs and books of poetry, and a pitch-meeting with the two exec producers. According to her Kickstarter bio, Daggar-Nickson “specializes in stories from the darker side of life, where hope shines a little brighter.” I like that. Check out the video and consider supporting.
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DAVID LOWERY’S “ST. NICK” OPENS AT reRUN
Opening today at Brooklyn’s gastropub theater, reRun, is David Lowery’s first feature, St. Nick. Here’s Alicia Van Couvering’s introduction to her interview with Lowery for Filmmaker at the film’s festival premiere: There is almost no dialogue in the first half of David Lowery’s feature debut, St. Nick. A young boy and a girl enter an abandoned house, clean it up, build a fire, forget to open a window and fill the house with smoke, figure out a chimney and watch the embers turn into flames. They sleep, they forage for food; somehow they survive, until reality starts bearing down on […]
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Incendies — A Hammer to Nail Review
Deep in the heart of the ongoing trend of immensely popular adapted art-house material, there lies a kernel of Hollywood thinking. Films like The Millennium Trilogy or Never Let Me Go subscribe to the same model as blockbuster hits like The Harry Potter series or Watchmen, meticulously attempting to follow the original text in order to satisfy fans of the source material. Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad’s monologue-heavy stage play, Incendies is the rare anomaly of a film that attempts to evoke not the most accurate recreation of its source material, but the most accurate interpretation. Director Denis Villeneuve, the French-Canadian […]
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TIM HETHERINGTON, R.I.P.
While traveling today I heard the very sad news that photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Tim Hetherington, winner of the Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize, with Sebastian Junger, for their documentary, Restrepo, was killed while covering the conflict in Libya. Lauren Wissot interviewed Hetherington and Junger earlier this year for Filmmaker, and she began her piece like this: “Most documentary filmmakers attempt to see the world through the lens of the subjects they’re shooting, but few put their lives on the line to do so.” Of the film, which looked at the conflict in Afghanistan through the viewpoints of U.S. soldiers […]
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WATCH IFP/POWER TO THE PIXEL CROSS-MEDIA FORUM HERE
The IFP and Power to the Pixel present today the Cross-Media Forum. You can read the complete line-up here and also check it out via the livestream below. See you there… or online. Live Broadcasting by Ustream
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Why Filmmakers Hate Transmedia
I’ve been mulling this topic over for a while, as I encounter many filmmakers — usually independent filmmakers — who kind of sneer at the word “transmedia.” They think it’s just marketing, or they don’t understand why people can’t just sit and watch a good film. I wanted to talk a little about this, as I certainly think there are some filmmaking topics transmedia developers need to keep in mind to make the work as a whole really soar. I’ve noticed a number of common traits in several recent high profile transmedia projects that I think can be improved. I’m not […]
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SPRING ISSUE NOW ONLINE
Check out select stories from our new Spring issue. Some of the stories you can read now include Mark Ruffalo talking about his directorial debut, Sympathy for Delicious; the team behind The Myth of the American Sleepover discuss their intimate film on teenage life; David Leitner highlights the latest crop of large-sensor HD cameras; Anthony Kaufman reports on the resurgence of studio indies; Lance Weiler explains how filmmakers can build audiences outside of the theater experience; and we look at the Tribeca Film Festival as it celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. To read the complete issue on your desktop […]
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Does Size Matter?
David Leitner examines the latest crop of large-sensor HD cameras. -
Culture Hacker: Let’s Take the Audience Outside
Within the space between social networks and our increasingly ubiquitous mobile devices lies a new opportunity for filmmakers.
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Writer/Director Janet Grillo on Fly Away
Emotional and involving yet also clear-eyed and with a cool wisdom, Janet Grillo’s Fly Away is a sharply observed and strongly acted tale of a mother learning to allow her autistic teenage daughter to transition into the adult world. Beth Broderick plays Jeanne, a single mom with her own home-office corporate consulting business. Ashley Rickards is her daughter Mandy, and the two have a tight, well-ordered relationship, with Jeanne trying to grow her business during the day while Mandy attends a special needs school. But when Mandy begins a series of violent outbursts at that school, Jeanne’s almost preternatural composure […]
