Filmmaking

KATHRYN BIGELOW, THE HURT LOCKER WIN BAFTAS

Congrats to Kathryn Bigelow and the whole team behind The Hurt Locker for winning Best Director and Best Film at this year’s BAFTA Awards.

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 21, 2010 Filmmaking
THE STRONG VOICE OF ROGER EBERT

The film must-read of the moment is Chris Jones’ beautifully written profile of Roger Ebert in Esquire magazine. Of course the article chronicles Ebert’s recent health problems — cancer operations that have wound up removing much of his lower job and eliminated his ability to eat, drink, and speak. But the piece also succeeds in capturing the strange and inspiring mix of sagacity and serenity that Ebert is projecting in late career through not only his reviews but also his Twitter page and blog. I was talking to a colleague not too long ago about which traditional media types had […]

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 18, 2010 Filmmaking
JAMIE STUART’S iPHONE WINTER

Filmmaker and frequent Filmmaker contributor Jamie Stuart sent a link to a simply gorgeous suite of 22 photos he shot around Central Park and other locations during New York’s recent snowstorm. Take a moment and head to his site to view the photos, which were all done, astonishingly, on his iPhone camera using the Old Camera app.

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 18, 2010 Filmmaking
No Film School’s Guide To DSLR Shooting

At Filmmaker we’ve been on top of the DSLR story — the use of small digital SLR still cameras by filmmakers — in a series of articles beginning last year. (See “Shutterbugs” in Spring, 2009, and “Pimp your DSLR” in Summer.) That said, Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo has just posted an astonishingly detailed and useful article on his No Film School site called “The DSLR Cinematography Guide.” It’s got a huge amount of information in it with tons of hyperlinks to other articles, posts on user forums, and the blogs of various d.p.’s working with the format. I highly recommend it if […]

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 18, 2010 Filmmaking
“PUTTY HILL” DIRECTOR MATT PORTERFIELD BLOGS FROM BERLIN

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about Matt Porterfield’s Kickstarter campaign for his film Putty Hill. He needed to raise $10,000, and with 30 hours left to go, he is still collecting funds over and above his goal; he’s currently at $18,926. Undoubtedly, the film’s high-profile premiere — in the Berlin Film Festival’s Forum section — helped. You can follow his adventure there over at the IFP blog, where Porterfield has been blogging. Here’s an excerpt where he talks about some of the people he has been meeting: I saw Claire Denis (pictured) speak to the Talent Campus today […]

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 16, 2010 Festivals & Events
TIME CAPSULING OBAMA’S ELECTION DAY

In the Fall of 2008 filmmaker Jeff Deutchman asked his friends from around the world to record their feelings and experiences on the day Barack Obama was elected President. The resulting material comprises his feature 11/4/08, which premieres at SXSW next month, and Deutchman is still in post raising money. He has a Kickstarter page and is looking to raise $3,500 for color correction and the preparation of various marketing materials. Here’s how he describes the project: Two weeks before the election of Barack Obama, filmmaker Jeff Deutchman asked his friends around the world to record their experiences of 11/4/08, […]

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 16, 2010 Filmmaking
CINEKINK RETURNS FOR ITS SEVENTH NEW YORK FESTIVAL

Returning to the Anthology Film Archives following an opening night event at Kush Lounge is Cinekink NYC. No rebel posturing here, just an eclectic selection of docs, fiction and experimental works dealing with some form of alternative sexuality. This year’s fest kicks off tonight at Kush Lounge with an opening party and screenings of JX Williams 1964 short, The 400 Blow Jobs. According to the catalogue, “While banished to the Hollywood blacklist, JX Williams wrote and directed over 200 stag films in the 1950s and 60s, including this wicked homage to Francois Truffaut.” Also on the bill: Loretta Hintz’s Sheep […]

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 16, 2010 Filmmaking
NEW BREED PARK CITY: EXPLORING THE SOLUTIONS 3

Hot off the hard drive, here is the latest episode of the New Breed’s Park City series. This one pulls together producers and directors to talk about the strategic, pro-active steps they are taking to connect their films to audiences. The official word: SABI filmmakers Zak Forsman and Kevin K. Shah pick up with Ted Hope where he left off in the last episode to further explore the solutions that are emerging for independent filmmakers. He is joined by Mynette Louie (Children of Invention) and new interviews with Sultan Sharrief (Bilal’s Stand), Lance Weiler (HiM), and Scilla Andreen (IndieFlix). NEW […]

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 15, 2010 Filmmaking
VON TRIER/SCORSESE/DE NIRO MAY BE PONDERING “TAXI DRIVER” REMAKE

UPDATE 2/16: Screen reports that the remake rumors are just that. The biggest news so far to come out of the Berlin Film Festival is on a film that was made 36 years ago. Spreading all over the blogs, Lars von Trier and Martin Scorsese are supposedly mulling over the idea of remaking Taxi Driver with Robert De Niro to reprise the role of Travis Bickle. In Variety, Gunnar Rehlin reports: The idea behind the project is similar to the film The Five Obstructions that von Trier and Danish helmer Jorgen Leth made in 2003. In that film, von Trier […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Feb 15, 2010 Festivals & Events
TRAILERING SXSW’S THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER

One independent film I’ve been aware of for some time (it’s described in the press materials as “a labor of love five years in the making”) and was happy to see in the SXSW line-up is David Robert Mitchell’s The Myth of the American Sleepover. It’s Mitchell’s feature debut, it was produced by Adele Romanski, and it was shot on the RED One by Medicine for Melancholy‘s James Laxton. Check out the trailer below. The Myth of the American Sleepover – Official Trailer from Strike Anywhere on Vimeo.

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 15, 2010 Filmmaking

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