Filmmaking

WINTER ISSUE ONLINE

Over on the main page, select stories from the Winter issue have been posted. Steve McQueen talks about his amazing first feature, Hunger; Greg Mottola chats about his return to indie films with Adventureland; and the always talkative James Toback reveals how it was to get inside the mind of Mike Tyson for his documentary, Tyson. Also, Jon Reiss continues his series of pieces on self-distribution, this time focusing on the home video aspect, and Lance Weiler gives tips on how to build a film industry via the Web. And much more, enjoy. Don’t forget: You can get the latest […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 23, 2009 Filmmaking
CHILLY WORDS FOR FROZEN RIVER

So you come from outside the industry, scrape up enough money to make a small movie about working-class characters… and get slagged off on MSNBC by Courtney Hazlett for being a member of an “elite, effete” group who made a movie that you have to see on “some website.” Check out the clip at the link.

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 23, 2009 Filmmaking
OWN NOTHING

I’m in the group that believes that physical media — books, DVDs, CDs — is essentially going away. I think a sentimental or nostalgic connection will be required to convince us in the future to actually buy something that will sit on our shelves. You love Thomas Pynchon, you have all his books, so when his new one comes out you’ll buy it to reconnect to that part of you that used to love to buy things and loved the idea that your own literary cool could be signified by a physical object. That new writer who has gotten great […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 22, 2009 Filmmaking
MANOHLA DARGIS ON THE INDIE FINANCING CONUNDRUM

I agree with Manohla, the reduced crowds make this Sundance the most pleasant in years. In her just-posted piece in the New York Times on the festival, however, she includes a bit of historical summary that nails the current conundrum facing the independent sector. An excerpt: The industry was still in attendance this year, but the high-roller fever that has gripped the festival for the last decade has cooled. Although this made for the most pleasant Sundance in memory, it also presents a host of unknowns. If the studios don’t buy independent films, fewer investors in turn may be inclined […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 22, 2009 Filmmaking
OBJECTIFYING APPLE

Two years ago at SXSW I stood in line trying to see the premiere of Gary Hustwit’s Helvetica. At SXSW, ‘natch, the heavy contingent of designers made my attendance impossible as the line snuch through the lobby of the convention center when I arrived. Now, Hustwit has a new doc, Objectified, that will premiere at SXSW this year , and it’s about industrial design. So, expect another packed premiere, especially given news on the film’s blog that Hustwit filmed an interview with Apple designer Jony Ive inside Apple’s super-secret design facility. Here’s the trailer.

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 22, 2009 Filmmaking
PUSHING THE PANIC BUTTON

The big panel at Sundance this year was called “The Panic Button: Push or Ponder.” Here’s how it was described: The sky fell, companies collapsed, and the industry spent much of the year with one hand on the panic button. So, where do we go from here? Is this the end or simply a transition? Of the questions that besiege the industry today (content, distribution, its very identity), maybe the most fundamental is what kind of movies we want to make…and see. Today we ask for a vision of the future; for new models that foster the health, diversity, and […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 22, 2009 Filmmaking
SUNDANCE QUICK TAKES: THE MESSENGER AND MORE

If you’ve taken a look around the blogosphere you’ll notice that — and on not just this site — postings have slowed from the avalanche of early interviews and features. That’s for a couple of reasons. First, some of us pre-screened films, allowing us to get a jump on coverage; and second, for each day that goes by we see more and more films, and there are only so many hours in the day to compose thoughtful coverage. For me, that means I’ll be trying to write up my take on some of the more complicated films here after tomorrow, […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2009 Filmmaking
Of Time and the City: Terence Davies On His Lyrical, Melancholic Memory Piece, Of Time and the City

For Terence Davies, his youth — his early years in Liverpool, his relationship with his mother, and his feelings about being gay in that working-class town — have always provided the raw material for his filmmaking. His celebrated “Terence Davies Trilogy,” a collection of shorts, and later features like Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes summon up for the viewer an interior life with a rare combination of lyricism and heartache. These films cemented Davies’s international reputation, but after two more, non-autobiographical features (The House of Mirth and The Neon Bible), he became less active, a development […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2009 Directing
A SHORT FILM PRODUCER AT SUNDANCE

Writer, director and producer Edward Boyce sent us this blog post about his experience attending Sundance this year as the producer of a short film. Short. Film. Bitter. Sweet. I’m four days into my life as a Sundance anointed short film producer. I’ve felt obliged to schmooz and glad-hand so much that I feel like a reluctant student-council candidate. And good luck trying to wash off some of the weird tinsel-slime that seems to linger on the fringe of the artistic core at Sundance. (Festival resolution #12: never willingly enter a “gifting suite” again.) It’s a big deal and it’s […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 20, 2009 Filmmaking
Drawing From Memory

Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 22, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Nick Dawson interviewed Waltz With Bashir writer-director Ari Folman for our Fall ’08 issue. Waltz With Bashir is nominated for Best Foreign Film. It’s been said that the job of the filmmaker is to put on screen things that have never been seen before. And while cinema is essentially an infant art form, these days there are still relatively few films that move into genuinely new territory. Waltz with Bashir, which […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 19, 2009 Directing

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