Filmmaking

NAME THIS BRET EASTON ELLIS SHORT FILM

Filmmaker (and former Filmmaker Managing Editor) Matt Ross made this short film updating the European trip montage from Rules of Attraction to material taken from and inspired by all of Ellis’s books, including his new Imperial Bedrooms. It stars Kip Pardue, James Van Der Beek and Tara Summers, and it was conceived of, shot, and edited in ten days. And, oh yeah, it has no name. You can take part in a contest by naming the film at the Knopf website.

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 25, 2010 Filmmaking
WOULD YOU LIKE WINE WITH YOUR FILM?

Over at FilmInFocus, screenwriter Howard Rodman picks up on the vino intelligence of Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids are All Right to riff on wines that would go well with specific films. Here’s his recommendation for Far from Heaven: The elegance and depth of Far From Heaven deserves an expression of fruit, tannin, poignance, melancholy, and regret. A wine that satisfies on first sip, then opens up in the glass to reveal tastes and emotions far more profound. Giacomo Conterno’s Barolo Monfortino is such a wine. A bottle of the 1982 will take you to the precipice, then gently guide you […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 25, 2010 Filmmaking
VIC SKOLNICK, R.I.P.

I was saddened to hear of the death of Vic Skolnick, an influential co-founder of Long Island’s first major art house movie theater, The Cinema Arts Center, in Huntington, N.Y. Passing away at 81 on June 10th, Skolnick, along with his wife, Charlotte Sky, founded what was originally known as the New Community Cinema in 1973. Skolnick, a teacher for twenty years at N.Y. public schools, combined his passion for history with a lifelong love of films. His ambition was to show as many diverse films as possible and educate his loyal audience in innovative cinema. The cinema went through […]

By Melissa Silvestri on Jun 24, 2010 Filmmaking
SUNDANCE DIRECTOR’S LAB DIARY: SAODAT ISMAILOVA

The Sundance Director’s Lab is currently wrapping at the Sundance Institute in Utah, and we have two filmmakers blogging about their experience. First up is Uzbekistan writer/director Saodat Ismailova, whose project, 40 Days of Silence, is described like this: “Four generations of women under one roof in Uzbekistan look to each other for comfort as they try to overcome their destinies.” Yesterday, June 19th, the director’s lab came to the end. When I look back at the past three weeks of my life it already seems like it was more than a year ago… I will simply divide the process […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 24, 2010 Festivals & Events
“THE IMPERIALISTS ARE STILL ALIVE!” SCREENS IN BROOKLYN

Filmmaker Zeina Durra’s Sundance Competition film The Imperialists are Still Alive! has its East Coast premiere tonight, June 24, in an Indiewire-hosted screening at the 2nd Northside Festival of Film and Music in Brooklyn. The film, a graduate of the IFP Narrative Lab, is an upscale Manhattan comedy of manners with an internationalist flavor and a post-9/11 paranoid bent. It also has the most arresting first shot of the year. Writing for Filmmaker, Eric Kohn said of the film: Consider the revelatory drama The Imperialists Are Still Alive! Like a 1990s-era Amerindie upgraded to post-9/11 concerns, this insightful low key […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 24, 2010 Filmmaking
INTRODUCING “THE GREEN HORNET”

I’m not sure I see the Michel Gondry in this trailer for his The Green Hornet. On the other hand, as this interview with Gondry, Seth Rogen and producer Neil Moritz at Ain’t It Cool News points out, the trailer is intended for newcomers to the comic and doesn’t get into the intricacies of the film or some of its more innovative visual elements. I’m not a fan of the comics but am a big Gondry fan. What do you think?

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 22, 2010 Filmmaking
EXPLAINING THE PERILS OF NATURAL GAS

Josh Fox’s Gasland was a huge hit at Sundance and plays this week on HBO. Here’s a quick piece on Fox and the issues surrounding natural gas explored in his film.

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 22, 2010 Filmmaking
“WILLIAM KUNSTLER: DISTURBING THE UNIVERSE” ON POV

The documentary portrait of legendary civil rights lawyer William Kunstler, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, has its television premiere tomorrow night, June 22, on POV. The film is directed by Kunstler’s two daughters, Emily and Sarah, and here, a day after Father’s Day, are their thoughts on rediscovering their dad through film: POV: How has your views of your father changed over the years, and what is his legacy to you? Emily: I think that every child has a moment where he or she starts to understand his or her parents as human beings instead of as heroes. For Sarah […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 21, 2010 Filmmaking
FILMING TWITTER

If you hate the idea of Twitter (which, for the record, I do not as I find it generally positive and useful), this video may not change your mind. Jen Oslislo has just posted the second of her videos in which her friends turn their favorite tweets into short films. (Hat tip: Daring Fireball, aka John Gruber, who contributed one of the better ones to this collection.) Twitter: The Criterion Collection, Vol II from Jen Oslislo on Vimeo.

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 20, 2010 Filmmaking
NEW YORK’S LITTLE PEOPLE

I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about any of the tilt-shift videos that are all over the web. With this technique, real people, places and things look like they are miniatures. Here’s a cool one featuring a shrunken New York called “The Sandpit” by Sam O’Hare.

By Scott Macaulay on Jun 18, 2010 Filmmaking

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Cookie	Duration	Description
cfmrk_cic		Used by Cloudflare to route user traffic for this Site.
sparrow_id		Installed by Cloudflare. Used to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not store any personal identifiable information.

Cookie	Duration	Description
OAGEO		Installed by the Revive Ad Server. Used to cache geolocation (session, deleted when closing the browser)
OAID		Installed by the Revive Ad Server to distinguish users.