Filmmaking

OPENFILM COMPETITION DEADLINE — DECEMBER 31

The deadline for the second “Get it Made” contest from Openfilm, the online film community, is rapidly approaching. Filmmakers have until December 31 to submit a short film under 40 minutes in length that “could be produced into a compelling feature film.” The winner, who will be selected by Openfilm’s Advisory Board, will received $50,000 in cash and a financing contract of $450,000 to go towards the feature production. Read more about the contest here.

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 29, 2010 Filmmaking
DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

It’s all in the mix. I’m going to borrow from the overly quoted urban sociologist Jane Jacobs, who maintained that for a city to be vital it requires a blending of old and new neighborhoods, cultural sites, and areas of commerce. For Jacobs, Lincoln Center was poisonous, a large, concentrated collection of arts facilities that is usually lifeless and could have worked better spread out around New York City. As far as I know, Jacobs never got to Dubai. Almost everything there is new, oversized, and sanitized; the scale is not human. After all, the Emirate boasts the world’s largest […]

By Howard Feinstein on Dec 27, 2010 Festivals & Events
JAMIE STUART ON THE EAST COAST BLIZZARD

A lovely short directed, shot and edited by Jamie Stuart on his Canon 7D during the blizzard that covered New York and much of the East Coast. Updated: Roger Ebert fell in love with the short and writes: “This film deserves to win the Academy Award for best live-action short subject. (1) Because of its wonderful quality. (2) Because of its role as homage. It is directly inspired by Dziga Vertov’s 1929 silent classic “Man With a Movie Camera.” (3) Because it represents an almost unbelievable technical proficiency. He conducts an email interview with Jamie, in which Stuart says: Technically, […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 27, 2010 Filmmaking
TRAILER WATCH: “FLY AWAY”

Janet Grillo, a producer (Autism: The Musical, Searching for Paradise), former New Line executive, and writer/director (the short, Flying Lessons), has directed her first feature, Fly Away. From the film’s website: Based on the award-winning short Flying Lessons, Fly Away tells the moving story of a single mother, Jeanne, grappling with the challenge of raising her autistic teenage daughter, Mandy. As Mandy becomes more and more unmanageable, so too does Jeanne?s life. Over the period of two weeks, Jeanne is confronted with the most difficult decision a parent can make: to let go, allowing her child to grow, but also […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 22, 2010 Filmmaking
SODERBERGH ON STORYTELLING AND EARLY RETIREMENT

In an interview with the L.A. Times, Matt Damon, currently shooting Contagion with Steven Soderbergh, says the director is seriously considering retiring from the film business within a couple of years. For anyone who watched the director’s world-weary interview in the extras to the Criterion Che set, this might not come as a surprise. Around the same time, he told Esquire that he wanted to retire by 51. In the L.A. Times piece, Damon elaborates on Soderbergh’s thinking with quotes that also provide a nice corrective to the indie-film bromide that “it’s all about the story.” For many of our […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 22, 2010 Filmmaking
HOW TO GIFT FILMMAKER MAGAZINE

During our current Holiday Sale, which ends December 24, Filmmaker Magazine makes a great gift for filmmakers and just regular film fans in your circle of friends and family. Here’s what Koo wrote when he included Filmmaker in his 2010 Holiday Gift Guide: FILMMAKER Magazine Subscription – This great quarterly magazine is on sale until Xmas — get one year for $10 or two years for $18. The digital subscription is just $6, which is a ridiculous bargain, especially considering magazine subscriptions make for great gifts: every time an issue shows up the recipient thinks of you…. FILMMAKER is an […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 18, 2010 Filmmaking
DON VAN VLIET, R.I.P.

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 17, 2010 Filmmaking
Obama-Republican Tax Bill Includes Extension Of Film Tax Break Section 181

Filmmaker Justin Eugene Evans forwarded me news that an extension of Section 181, the film production tax break, was included in the bill signed by President Obama today. Here, reprinted with permission, is an email containing the news. Dear Film Professionals – Section 181 has finally been renewed! The new Tax Bill was signed into law by President Obama earlier today. The tax law includes Section 744, which includes language that replaces IRC Section 181’s expiration date of December 31, 2009 with December 31, 2011. Here is what this means: 1.) Any money spent on qualifying domestic film production* in […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 17, 2010 Filmmaking
SXSW ANNOUNCES DUNCAN JONES’ “SOURCE CODE” AS OPENING NIGHT FILM

Moon director Duncan Jones’ second feature, Source Code, will open the 2011 SXSW Film Festival, it was announced today. Excerpted from the press release: The smart action thriller is the second feature from SXSW Alum Duncan Jones (Moon), and stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Love and Other Drugs, Brokeback Mountain), Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye, Due Date), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, The Departed) and Jeffrey Wright (Quantum of Solace, Syriana). The South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival runs March 11 – 19, 2011 in Austin, Texas. When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the body of an […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 16, 2010 Filmmaking
TRAILER WATCH: TERRENCE MALICK’S “TREE OF LIFE”

Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain. Written and directed by Terrence Malick. Way better quality than that bootlegged clip floating around the ‘net last week. Can’t wait.

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 15, 2010 Filmmaking

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