Filmmaking

WHERE ARE THE INDIE HORROR HAUNTED HOUSES?

I was fascinated by this article in the New York Times about haunted houses — no, not real ones, but the theatrical funhouse kind that pop up around the country in the lead-up to Halloween. As Jason Zinoman writes, this spookhouse tradition is now drawing not just the usual carnival workers and the more recent Christian scaremongers featured in George Ratliff’s documentary Hellhouse but theater companies, writers and directors. Here’s Zinoman on the experience crafted by the Vortex Theater Company: In terms of design and production, the Vortex’s “NYC Halloween Haunted House” — from the creators Joshua Randall and Kristjan […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 22, 2010 Filmmaking
HORROR LABEL GLASS EYE PIX CELEBRATES ITS 25TH

Our favorite NYC-based low-budget horror mega-studio, Glass Eye Pix, celebrates its 25th anniversary with a two-week retrospective series of screenings at reRun in New York that begins today. They include founder Larry Fessenden’s first picture, No Telling, his excellent and quite movie Wendigo, and films by its roster of artists including Ti West and James McKenney, whose Satan Hates You, says Fessenden in the New York Times video below, is an “oddly serene and pious Christian scare film.” In Fall, 2009, Filmmaker celebrated Glass Eye Pix’s 24th anniversary with an article and interview of Fessenden by Lauren Wissot. From her […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 22, 2010 Filmmaking
KENTUCKER AUDLEY PREMIERES NEW FILM (AND STREAMS IT FOR FREE)

In our Winter print edition, Alicia Van Couvering wrote five short case studies of films raising production financing in innovative ways. One was Kentucker Audley’s Open Five, and now the film is finished and premiering tonight as the Opening Film of the 13th Memphis Film Festival. In addition to premiering for the Memphis audience, the film will also be streaming free for a limited time at Audley’s site. (Loyal readers will also remember that Audley was one of our “25 New Faces” of 2007. From the press release: Open Five is described as a blend of “reality and fiction” and […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2010 Filmmaking
“HE/SHE/HE” EXPLORES TRANSEXUALITY ON KICKSTARTER

Director Alix Lambert and producer Jill Peters have launched a fascinating new documentary project, He/She/He and are fundraising on Kickstarter. From their project description: Over the past decade, transsexuality and gender dysphoria have become hot topics, but what few Westerners realize is that in many parts of the world, a woman living as a man or a man living as a woman isn’t boundary busting – it’s tradition. A cinematic journey through the rituals of two very different cultures, He/She/He will change the way the viewer thinks about gender. Our journey begins with the sworn virgins of Albania, a group […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2010 Filmmaking
D.P. BARRY MARKOWITZ ON CAREER CHOICES AND “CRAZY HEART”

Here, via The People’s D.P., is an interview conducted by Cliff Charles of d.p. Barry Markowitz, who recently shot the Jeff Bridges-starring Crazy Heart.

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2010 Filmmaking
Trash Humpers Too Trashy For Netflix ?

A press release from distributor Drag City today claims that Netflix has apparently dubbed Harmony Korine’s latest, Trash Humpers, to be beyond the pale for its automated DVD service centers. From Drag City: America’s video rental service of choice has all the previous Korine films – Mister Lonely, julien donkey-boy and Gummo. They offer the film he wrote the script for, Kids. They’re also making available the following films: Antichrist, Irreversible, Emmanuel in America, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and all the Jackass films. What do all these films have in common? They all feature more full-frontal nudity, on-screen […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2010 Filmmaking
iMovie ’11 and its Critique of the Movie Trailer

Have you ever thought that most movie trailers, with their portentous title cards and triumphant musical scores, could have been stamped out by a computer? Well, Steve Jobs and his software designers at Apple certainly did. But rather than whine about Hollywood’s formulaic marketing techniques, they monetized their critique. Brand new today is iMovie ’11 with a clever and soon to be supremely irritating new feature: movie trailers. Check out this iMovie demo to see what it’s all about. So, get ready for every holiday card to now feel like a Jerry Bruckheimer promo, with your friends’ sons and daughters […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2010 Filmmaking
JULIA PONTECORVO REPORTS FROM POWER TO THE PIXEL

The annual Power to the Pixel conference wrapped in London last week. Participating was transmedia producer Julia Pontecorvo with her project, The Rodshire Archives. Below is her report on pitching at the event. I was very excited when I found out my transmedia project The Rodshire Archives was chosen by Power to the Pixel as one of the finalists in its second annual Pixel Pitch held in London this past week. What made this pitch competition distinct from others offering cash prizes is the one-on-one meetings they set up for all nine finalists. Liz Rosenthal and Tishna Molla, the forum’s […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2010 Filmmaking
JAMES FRANCO PLAYS ARTIST BRUCE NAUMAN

With all of his recent work — his Clocktower gallery show, optioning of The Adderall Diaries, performance in the great experimental short Solitary/Release, and, of course, his bravura turn in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours — James Franco is becoming not just one of our best young actors but an important ambassador between the art and film worlds. Here, via Nowness, he is in Alison Chernick’s “remake” of artist Bruce Nauman’s 1967 video art piece, Art Make-Up. From Nowness: Recently there’s been something of a convergence between Franco’s artistic interests and his acting choices. While at work on a book of […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2010 Filmmaking
“THE CANAL STREET MADAM” AT STRANGER THAN FICTION

Last night’s Stranger Than Fiction, the weekly documentary series at the IFC Center, “completed a circle” for programmer Thom Powers. It was while Powers was judging applications for the Garrett Scott Documentary Development Grant, a grant given by the Full Frame Festival in honor of the talented filmmaker who passed away at the age of thirty-seven, that he first learned about Cameron Yates’ film, The Canal Street Madam. As part of their grant proposal, Cameron Yates and producer Mridu Chandra had submitted a ten-minute reel of highlights from their work-in-progress. The footage impressed Powers, and he selected them as one […]

By Mary Anderson Casavant on Oct 20, 2010 Filmmaking

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