Filmmaking

The Flaming Lips’ Christmas On Mars

How couldn’t you be existential in space? Cut off from Mother Earth, becoming a machine of sorts with only memories of holidays to pass the time? In the lovably lo-fi sci-fi Christmas On Mars, psych rock band The Flaming Lips have invented a straight-to-DVD film that could be a lost cousin to 2001, but born on the other end of the budget universe. Stuck on Mars with the gravity control device and the oxygen supply failing, a group of young colonists try to fix their space home, while battling hallucinations of babies. Part of the space colony also houses a […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Dec 1, 2008 Directing
SUNDANCE’S GILMORE INAUGURATES POLLACK AWARD

Congratulations to Sundance Film Festival director Geoff Gilmore for receiving the inaugural Sydney Pollack Award at tonight’s tribute to Samuel L. Jackson presented by the American Cinematheque in L.A. Anne Thompson has the story at Variety. From Thompson’s piece: Cinematheque said the award honors “someone who has been of critical importance and continuing influence in nonprofit film exhibition, film preservation and/or independent film promotion and distribution –people whose work Sydney supported and found to be so valuable, who are not often recognized for their efforts.” Cinematheque director Barbara Smith wanted to honor the memory of the late producer-director, who as […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 1, 2008 Filmmaking
HOMEMADE THRILLER

Okay, one more music video posting. Via Kottke, who gets a hat tip: In a compilation of 64 videos all shown on the same page, one man recreates “Thriller” — the beats, the howling, the singing — all by himself. This is pretty awesome, like Christian Marclay on speed.

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 1, 2008 Filmmaking
PLAYLISTING AUTEUR DIRECTORS

At his blog Keef has assembled a tasteful playlist of music videos by feature film directors. Van Sant, Jarmusch, Wong Kar Wai, Sayles, Scorsese, Lynn Ramsay and Gaspar Noe all make appearances. Here are two. “Savoure le Rouge” by Indochine, directed by Marc Caro. “Disapearer,” by Sonic Youth, directed by Todd Haynes.Sonic Youth – New Music – More Music Videos

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 30, 2008 Filmmaking
HAMMER TO NAIL FIRST OUT OF THE AWARD SEASON GATE

The excellent indie criticism site Hammer to Nail has taken the stratagem of being the first to publish its 2008 “10 Best” list, posting its selection (a baker’s dozen of 13, actually) the day after Thanksgiving, when some of us film bloggers were still digesting the previous evening’s turkey dinner. The rules: eligible films had to be American narrative films (features or shorts) budgeted at less than $1 million and which premiered or received theatrical distribution in 2008. I’m very happy to see Filmmaker favorite Frownland nabbing the number one spot! Ronnie Bronstein’s miserabilist masterpiece has been heralded here many […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 30, 2008 Filmmaking
A SUNDAY AFTERNOON WITH THE GOTHAM BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTORS

I moderated a panel this rainy Sunday afternoon in New York with the five nominees for the Gotham Breakthrough Director Award: Lance Hammer (Ballast), Dennis Dortch (A Good Day to be Black and Sexy), Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy), Antonio Campos (Afterschool) and Alex Rivera (Sleep Dealer). I’m not a big fan of reading (and writing) panel conversation blow-by-blows, but it was a good talk and some interesting contrasts and comparisons between the directors emerged during the conversation. I’ll note them here. 1. Independent films can take a long time to make. Four out of the five directors spend several […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 30, 2008 Filmmaking
BREAK UP AT&T AND VERIZON?

In Filmmaker‘s Summer issue we ran David Rosen’s “The Next Telecom War,” which argued that net neutrality debates are distracting us from the real goal of infrastructure common carriage. Now, Rosen has contributed to “What Now for Broadband and the Telecoms,” posted on the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard’s Nieman Watchdog site. Bruce Kushnick’s article poses a series of relevant questions regarding broadband and telco policy to the incoming Obama administration: Q. Will you set the goal of broadband access at 1 gigabit in every American home? Q. Why aren’t telecom subsidies being directed to cover much-needed infrastructure improvements? […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 29, 2008 Filmmaking
ALL THE COLORS OF SOFIA COPPOLA

Andrew Sullivan picked this up from the Today and Tomorrow blog, which in turn picked it up from Bored and Beautiful: Alan Woo’s “Pie,” described thusly: “Curious to see if there were any stark similarities or contrasts within particular films, Pie aims to create an incredibly simple and concise baseline of comparison of films trough one particular trait: colour. The outcome is a number of triptychs comparing various films of particular trilogies, directors or genres. A program written in processing captures each frame of each movie and essentially creates a ‘pie chart’ of the colours contained within each film producing […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 28, 2008 Filmmaking
MONEY, THAT’S WHAT I WANT

Expertly timed to premiere today, on so-called “Black Friday” when many parents rush to the stores to buy the latest must-have gifts for their sons and daughters is Lauren Greenfield‘s documentary Kids + Money. Greenfield is the photograher and author of the seminal Girl Culture, a book chronicling the reality of being a teenage girl in America today. Visit any filmmaker, screenwriter, production designer, of costume designer who has worked on a teen film and you’ll find this book on their shelf of reference materials. Next Greenfield made Thin, a photo essay and also documentary film about girls with eating […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 28, 2008 Filmmaking
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OUR READERS

Before I head out of town for a couple of days I want to post here my best wishes for a great Thanksgiving to you, our readers, and your friends and families. It’s been a tumultuous year for independent film and independent filmmakers, but on the eve of this holiday, it is clear that we have much to be thankful for. The indie film world may be cash and credit-deprived at the moment, but, at least from my vantage point, it is rich in creativity and passion. It’s also blessed with a deep brain-trust capable of thinking ourselves out of […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 26, 2008 Filmmaking

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