Filmmaking

“12TH AND DELAWARE” AT STRANGER THAN FICTION

When I was in a high school in Tennessee, a classmate of mine started crying while discussing a short story about Vietnam. Through her tears, she explained that the soldiers battling for their lives reminded her of all the unborn babies who’d been killed that week. What those of us not on the frontlines of the abortion battle often forget is that for those who feel passionately on the subject, abortion is not just an issue, it’s the only issue. In 12th and Delaware, last night’s entry into the Stranger than Fiction canon, directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady take […]

By Mary Anderson Casavant on Nov 17, 2010 Filmmaking
THE 2010 CARTHAGE FILM FESTIVAL

Famously defeated and laid waste by the Romans in the third century B.C., the ancient metropolis of Carthage has bequeathed its name to two notable features of modern Tunis. One is a swanky suburb where the villas of diplomats skirt the rudimentary but scenic ruins of the old imperial capital. The other is the biannual Carthage Film Festival, or Journées Cinematographiques de Carthage (Oct. 23-31, 2010), which bills itself as “the dean of all African and Arab” festivals. Founded in 1966, it is a capacious event, with an international purview that encompasses, say, the latest from Abbas Kiarostami and Woody […]

By Godfrey Cheshire on Nov 17, 2010 Filmmaking
“THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER” RELEASED ON CRITERION BLU-RAY

One of my favorite movies of all time, Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter, has been released on Blu-Ray and SD by Criterion today. Here’s a piece I wrote back in 2001 on the film in the context of a review of Simon Callow’s BFI monograph. François Truffaut queasily likened The Night of the Hunter, actor Charles Laughton’s 1955 directorial debut, to a “horrifying news item retold by small children.” Quoted in Simon Callow’s new British Film Institute monograph on the film, Truffaut goes on to offer a bit of middlebrow advice proving that the confluence of film criticism […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 16, 2010 Filmmaking
STANLEY TUCCI & PATRICIA CLARKSON WILL CO-HOST GOTHAM AWARDS

The IFP announced earlier today that two indie film stalwarts will be co-hosting this year’s Gotham Independent Film Awards: Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson. Veterans of the stage and screen (both large and small), Clarkson is coming off a busy year where she received rave reviews for playing the lead in Cairo Time and starred in Hollywood projects Shutter Island and Easy A (which Tucci also starred in). Tucci, who received a Gotham Awards tribute last year, was nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar last year for his performance in The Lovely Bones and will be seen next in Burlesque. […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Nov 15, 2010 Filmmaking
“HELENA FROM THE WEDDING”‘S JOE INFANTOLINO

A few characters and a house — it’s one of the most durable movie starting-points, especially for first-time filmmakers. The latest to use the economy and natural dramatic focus of this concept is producer-turned-director Joe Infantolino, whose Helena from the Wedding opens today. Newlyweds Alex and Alice invite another couple for a New Year’s party at their mountain cabin. But when the quite beautiful and very single Helena is added to the mix, relationship fissures ensue. Helena from the Wedding is a deftly directed and very well acted film, a modest yet rewarding debut from Infantolino, whose producer credits include […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 12, 2010 Filmmaking
SARAH JACOBSON GRANT APPLICATION DEADLINE NEXT WEEK

In the ’90s, Sarah Jacobson was a rising indie filmmaker. Beginning with her half-hour short film I Was A Teenage Serial Killer in 1993, she garnered enough underground critical success to make her feature debut, Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore, a coming-of-age tale about a teenage girl’s loss of virginity and her friends’ experiences with their first times. Jacobson was set to move on to bigger films, but she sadly passed away from endometrial cancer at age 32 in 2004. To carry on her life’s work and support for fellow filmmakers, Jacobson’s mother and film producer Ruth Jacobson and […]

By Melissa Silvestri on Nov 11, 2010 Filmmaking
AWEDITORIUM AND THE DESIGN OF DISCOVERY

I’ve been checking out a couple of new, much-buzzed about online apps and tools this week — RockMelt and Auditorium. I’ll post my thoughts on RockMelt after I play with it a bit more. As for Aweditorium,, which is free for the iPad, I need to spend more than 20 minutes with it. But my first reaction is that it is kind of cool and also noteworthy for trying to do something different in the music discovery space. In film, we talk a lot about discovery, but this mostly boils down to discussions of social network sharing, recommendation engines, etc. […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 11, 2010 Filmmaking
ENTRIES ACCEPTED FOR RIDENHOUR DOC FILM PRIZE

The Nation Institute and the Fertel Foundation have partnered to launch the Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize, to be awarded to a film that embodies values of truth-telling, protecting the public interest, promoting social justice, or articulating the qualities of a more just society. The deadline is December 1, and the prize, which includes a $10,000 stipend, will be awarded this Fall. From the press release: October 8, New York City – The Nation Institute and The Fertel Foundation announced today the launch of the Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize. This new prize, which carries a $10,000 stipend, will be awarded alongside […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 10, 2010 Filmmaking
“WAR DON DON” AT STRANGER THAN FICTION

While introducing War Don Don at last night’s Stranger Than Fiction, SXSW programmer Janet Pierson said that while many great documentaries were submitted to last year’s festival, there were few with the “clarity” of Rebecca Richman Cohen’s directorial debut. It was a sentiment later echoed by Raphaela Neihausen, the executive director of Stranger than Fiction who praised Richman Cohen for her ability to “break down a complex issue” but still keep the “nuance.” Three years in the making, War Don Don follows the UN Special trial of Issa Sesay, one of the leaders of the RUF, an incredibly violent rebel […]

By Mary Anderson Casavant on Nov 10, 2010 Filmmaking
DOHA TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL: LUCKY STARS

So much depends upon… the position in which one reclines. Seated next to me in the elite section of a flight to Doha, Qatar, an Indian financial wizard with rings on each slim finger nodded and looked thoughtfully out the plane window. Across the aisle, Harvey Weinstein, an overstuffed teddy bear in Qatar Airways pajamas, turned another page of “My Week with Marilyn” and growled for the stewardess. Upon touchdown, a phalanx of young stewards ushered a group of remarkably well-rested travelers into private cars and whisked us away to the second annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival. Could any film […]

By Livia Bloom Ingram on Nov 5, 2010 Filmmaking

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