Filmmaking

J.G. BALLARD’S WAY OF LIFE

I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world, to release the truth within us, to hold back the night, to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds, to enlist the confidences of madmen. I believe in the non-existence of the past, in the death of the future, and the infinite possibilities of the present. That’s J.G. Ballard from his prose poem, “What I Believe” (1984), as quoted in Mark Dery’s February essay in the L.A. Weekly on Miracles of Life: From Shanghai to Shepperton, the author’s memoir, currently out in the U.K. For […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 19, 2009 Filmmaking
MICHAEL JACKSON GOES BACK IN TIME

This strange blog post is part Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse, part MAD magazine, but really, it’s just an excuse for me to learn a new word: “pareidolia.” According to Wikipedia, the term “describes a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse.” “Hoax or pareidolia?” is what Derren Brown asks about the kookily enjoyable internet meme that proposes that Michael Jackson somehow moonwalked in time back to […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 19, 2009 Filmmaking
J.G. BALLARD, 1930 – 2009

J.G. Ballard, the British writer whose long career aimed to, in his own words, graph “the psychology of the future,” died this weekend in England after a long illness. Throughout his many published works Ballard, in dispassionate, sometimes clinical prose, philosophized about the changes that technology, social changes or the decaying environment are having on our desires as well as our own conceptions of what it means to be human. His characters are typically scientists of their own disorder, cooly observing the ways in which their psychologies are being redrawn by forces they are only beginning to understand. In Ballard’s […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 19, 2009 Filmmaking
TWO FAVORITES — FROWNLAND, ROBBED — IN L.A.

Mark Olsen has a new L.A. Times column called “Indie Focus,” and this notice of its inauguration gives me an opportunity to plug yet again two of my favorite movies of last year: Frownland and The Pleasure of Being Robbed. The two films are double-billing in L.A., and Olsen devotes his debut column to the films and their filmmakers, Ronnie Bronstein and Josh Safdie, respectively. (The films play Thursday through Saturday at the Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater.) Olsen interviews both filmmakers separately and gets some choice quotes from each. From Safdie, about his film’s “accidental” creation: “At times, […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 18, 2009 Filmmaking
IFP 30TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WITH KATIE HOLMES

This is the IFP’s 30th Anniversary and Katie Holmes will be hosting a Gala celebration to mark the occasion on April 26. The IFP is a non-profit and proceeds from this event will go directly towards the support of its year-round programs. Details are below, and if you are able to I hope you will consider supporting the IFP on this anniversary year. The Cooper Square Hotel Presents Independent Filmmaker Project Thirtieth Anniversary Hosted by Katie Holmes Sunday, April 26, 2009 6:30 pm: Intimate Sunset Champagne, Cocktails and Hors D’oeuvres 8:30 pm to Midnight: Dancing and Drinks Music by Paul […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 17, 2009 Filmmaking
THE ALLEGORICAL DIVIDE OF ERAN RIKLIS’S LEMON TREE

In the new issue of Filmmaker, out next week, I think Peter Bowen has the perfect take on Eran Riklis’s Lemon Tree: it’s an allegory. The question then becomes, what does Riklis do with the allegorical form to make it cinematically resonant and appropriate in dealing with the current state of affairs between Israel and Palestine? Here’s a section from Bowen’s interview with Riklis: Filmmaker: While Lemon Tree was based on a real story, the structure is so specific that it appears to be pure allegory. Rikilis: Once I wrote the first few lines of the synopsis, I thought, “Oh […]

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 17, 2009 Filmmaking
Tribeca: Leaner and Nicer

That’s how Stephen Holden opens his preview of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in today’s New York Times. Beginning next Wednesday with the world premiere of Woody Allen‘s Whatever Works, Allen’s first film in four years set in Manhattan, the 8th edition of TFF will be a smaller and less serious in theme than its previous years, as Holden points out: The 12-day festival’s identity as a hybrid of serious film forum and family-friendly community celebration catering to cinéastes and tourists alike is now firmly established. At Tribeca highbrow meets no-brow with everything in between. Leaner means smaller but more […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Apr 17, 2009 Filmmaking
IFP ANNOUNCES DOC LINE UP FOR FILMMAKER LAB

The IFP has just released the ten projects selected for their Independent Filmmaker Lab, hosted by Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn. For five days this week the filmmaking teams will participate in workshops in which they receive advice on technical, creative, and post-production issues. There are two tiers of mentorship support: via the program’s Lab Leaders who lead each of the five-day-long intensive sessions, and workshop leaders who provide technical, creative and strategic support to help bring films to completion. The 2009 Documentary Lab leaders are producer Lori Cheatle (51 Birch Street) and producer Lesli Klainberg (Paul Monette: The Brink […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Apr 16, 2009 Filmmaking
TRAILERING THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE

For the new Filmmaker, which hits stands and online next week, I interviewed Steven Soderbergh and Sasha Grey about their Red One-shot new film, The Girlfriend Experience. Check back next week for the articles, but, in the meantime, here’s the just-posted trailer.

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 15, 2009 Filmmaking
DAVID LYNCH DIRECTS MOBY VIDEO

David Lynch gets back to his animation roots with this video for Moby’s latest single, “Shot in the Back of the Head.” Lynch may be the first, but somehow I don’t think he’ll be the last director to compose images for this track. Moby’s songs have been licensed to over 70 films, including Michael Mann’s Heat, the conclusion of which was scored by his “God Moving Over the Face of the Waters,” and this track has that same vibe of conclusive melancholy. Note: this video is best viewed full-screen, HD, in a darkened room.

By Scott Macaulay on Apr 15, 2009 Filmmaking

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