Filmmaking

@SXSW: BEST WORST MOVIE

The most unlikely act of cultural excavation and redemption, Michael Paul Stephenson’s Best Worst Movie is a hilarious and poignant celebration of not only the communal experience of making and watching movies but the sheer randomness of life itself. The doc is Stephenson’s attempt to find out why a seemingly execrable B-movie he made as a child actor, Troll 2, has garnered a cult following of viewers who not only get off on its badness but also find an odd kind of joy in its screwy storytelling. While Stephenson is present in the film, he smartly chooses as the doc’s […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 16, 2009 Filmmaking
@SXSW: FOR THE LOVE OF FAIR USE

Sub-theme for me at SXSW this year: Fair Use. A day after posting my article on Tommy Pallotta about his American Prince, which employs a Fair Use strategy to include film clips illustrating doc subject Steven Prince’s life in the movies and relationship with Martin Scorsese, I run into Gerard Peary, who is here in Austin with his doc For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism. His film includes interviews with critics like Andrew Sarris, Pauline Kael, Roger Ebert, Harry Knowles, Karina Longworth and Elvis Mitchell, and it also includes clips from the films they talk […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2009 Filmmaking
@SXSW: PALLOTTA, SWANBERG, LIPES, RUSSO-YOUNG AND MORE

At SXSW, the first festival to play out after Twitter passed the tipping point, I’ve seen something I’ve never seen before at a festival: people passed out after a long night of partying with their laptops open on their laps. For those more awake, early response here has been very good for the opening night film, John Hamburg’s I Love You, Man, starring Paul Rudd; David Lowery’s St. Nick; Joe Swanberg’s Alexander the Last; Gary Hustwit’s Objectified. One outsider recommendation: at a party last night, one industry vet raved to me about 45365, which refers to the zip code of […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2009 Filmmaking
SXSW FILM BEGINS IN AUSTIN

SXSW kicks off today, and here at Filmmaker we’ve aggregated our coverage in a standalone page that you can reach by clicking here. Up now are a number of pieces, including Alicia Van Couvering’s interviews with Joe Swanberg, whose Alexander the Last premieres this weekend and is available nation-wide on IFC On Demand, and the team of Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones of the film Breaking Upwards. There’s also Ry Russo-Young’s conversation with editor Lance Edmands and a series of “Austin Survival Tips” we’ve collected from a number of SXSW vets. I’ll be moderating the DIY distribution panel Sunday at […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 13, 2009 Filmmaking
Tony Stone on Severed Ways

A graduate of Bard College, filmmaker Tony Stone’s first feature, Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America, unleashes an almost-new genre – the indie historical drama. It might also be the ultimate heavy metal video. Based on historical research, Severed Ways follows two Vikings stranded in medieval America, encountering both Native Americans and monks, everyone trying to survive. It is deeper than an action film as the Vikings are complete characters, violent but missing their girlfriends. In a way, Old Joy with Vikings. Shot on mini-DV, the result is stunning, a period piece that looks like a painting but feels […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Mar 12, 2009 Directing
BIG NEWS AT FOX: RICE TO TV; UTLEY, GILULA TO RUN SEARCHLIGHT

From Variety comes news of an executive reorganization at Fox, with the big news for independents that Peter Rice, president of Fox Searchlight, will be moving over to become chairman of Fox Broadcasting. Nancy Utley and Steve Gilula, formerly COO’s of the specialty label, will now jointly take over Rice’s job. From the press release as published at Deadline Hollywood Daily: “Peter Rice is one of our most talented creative executives, having championed such films as Slumdog Millionaire, Little Miss Sunshine, and Juno during his tenure at Fox Searchlight. As we increasingly look to apply unconventional approaches to our traditional […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 12, 2009 Filmmaking
REBECCA YELDHAM NAMED DIRECTOR OF THE LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL

Film Independent announced today that producer and former executive and festival programmer Rebecca Yeldham has accepted the post of Director of the Los Angeles Film Festival. From the press release: “Rebecca has a wide range of experience in the industry and she’s an inspiring leader — her many talents make her a natural fit for the Los Angeles Film Festival,” said Dawn Hudson, Executive Director of Film Independent. “She has been intimately involved in the building of this festival and the organization over the last nine years as a Film Independent Board member. Rebecca shares our vision of expanding the […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 12, 2009 Filmmaking
IF YOU HAVE A FILM AT SOUTH BY…

If you have a film at SXSW and would like to send short reports on the festival, your film, and your experience there for Filmmaker blog posting consideration, you can email me at editor.filmmakermagazine AT gmail.com. We have a number of feature interviews going up throughout the festival, and we’ll be posting from the ground, but Filmmaker always welcomes first-person pieces from those involved with the films themselves. And, if you are attending, stop by my panel on Sunday at 1:00pm. (Why does the SXSW calendar function keep auto-syncing it do my calendar at 2:00pm?) It’s entitled “Self-Distribution: Not All […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 12, 2009 Filmmaking
SOUTH BY GIRLS JUST WANNA…

As I sit here editing the interviews and short reports we’ll be posting in our SXSW section beginning Thursday night/Friday morning, I’m wondering what level of SXSW reporting rises to the level of the impactful meaningfulness we aspire to on this blog. There is less industry news at SXSW, and fewer (try no) eight-figure acquisitions… but does that mean that we should be promoting a contest in which all you aspiring filmmakers create a music video for Double D’s “South By Girls”? From the site: It all started as a joke. On a Twitter challenge from a record-industry friend, Eston […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 11, 2009 Filmmaking
GO, SPEEDCINE, GO!

Former publicist Reid Rosefelt resurfaces today with the launch of SpeedCine, a site that acts as a database for legal film viewing and downloading on the web. It’s a clever idea. You scan through the titles listed on the site, click one, and you’re sent to a page with links to the various viewing options on the ‘net. For example, say I want to watch Jeff Lipsky’s Flannel Pajamas. One click and I see that I can instantly watch it on Amazon VOD or, if I have a subscription, via Netflix. I can also download to rent from Jaman or […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 11, 2009 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.