Filmmaking

TOM QUINN ON THE NEW YEAR PARADE

The second film in the “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” series this year is Tom Quinn’s Slamdance Grand-Prize-winning The New Year Parade. I asked him the same question I asked filmmaker Nina Paley, below, and here is his answer. The film screens Friday at 6pm and Sunday at 1:30pm at MOMA. While I don’t consider myself a political filmmaker, I think it’s amazing when storytellers capture the time they live in. Whether it be the invasion of Prague in ’68, Charles Burnett capturing Watts in ’77, or a home video of Christmas in ’86, there is […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 18, 2008 Filmmaking
THE SAME OLD STORY…

There’s not much new in this Bloomberg story about the indie film scene. Too many films have been made, distributors are shutting down, and the whole indie-film economy is out of whack. It’s just another one of these recaps being narrated not in Variety or Filmmaker but in the mainstream business media, and the constant retelling of this tale has to be having an effect on potential film investors. Gone are the stories of filmmakers hitting gold with their low-budget labor-of-loves. Those have been replaced with tales like this one, from the lede: The 55-year-old filmmaker borrowed $170,000 to complete […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 18, 2008 Filmmaking
SHORTLIST FOR BEST DOC

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 15 titles on the shortlist for Best Documentary feature for the Academy Awards (airing Feb. 22). They are: At the Death House DoorThe Betrayal (Nerakhoon)Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah SeneshEncounters at the End of the WorldFuelThe GardenGlass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve PartsI.O.U.S.A.In a DreamMade in AmericaMan on WirePray the Devil Back to HellStandard Operating ProcedureThey Killed Sister DorothyTrouble the Water I’m pleasantly surprised to see Ellen Kuras‘s The Betrayal made the cut (I really didn’t think the Academy had it in them) but […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Nov 18, 2008 Filmmaking
"BEST FILM NOT PLAYING" LAUNCHES WITH SITA SINGS THE BLUES

Beginning this week, on November 20, Filmmaker’s annual collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art and the IFP, the “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You,” unfolds at the museum. Five films we think are among the best that played this past year’s festival circuit and which don’t have, at the moment, distribution will be screened, and there will also be Q&A’s and a panel discussion as well. Thursday night’s opening film is Nina Paley’s wonderful and near-indescribable animated feature, Sita Sings the Blues. Here’s how we describe it in the catalog: Written, directed, and animated by Nina […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 17, 2008 Filmmaking
VARIETY: KILLER SELLS STAKE TO GC CORP

Mike Jones has quite a scoop over at Variety‘s The Circuit: Christine Vachon (pictured at left) and Pam Koffler’s Killer Films, producers of such Filmmaker Mag favorites as I’m Not There, Savage Grace and Boys Don’t Cry, has sold a 50% stake in itself to GC Corp, a New York venture capital fund. The plan is for Killer to make bigger budget films, in the $40 – $50 million range, says GC Corp’s Adi Cohen. Cohen along with GC Corp’s Joseph Grinkorn (pictured, below right) will join Killer’s board of directors, and former THINKfilm senior v.p. Randy Manis will become […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 16, 2008 Filmmaking
APPLE’S 5 BUCK MOVIES

In a sign of pricing flexibility that could bode well for future indie film titles sold by Apple’s iTunes Movie Store, Apple has just announced a new section called “This Week’s Great Movies for Under $5.” You can download to purchase titles like Basic Instinct, Terminator 2 and St. Elmo’s Fire, among others, for a fiver. It seems to be Apple’s attempt to compete with those cut-rate DVDs sold in bins at the checkout lane of the discount stores, and it points the way towards more elastic pricing of digitally delivered media by Apple.

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 16, 2008 Filmmaking
GUS VAN SANT ON MAKING MILK

Several articles from Filmmaker‘s Fall issue are online here on the site, but one piece not included in our online offerings has just been posted on the FilmInFocus site. It’s an interview with Gus Van Sant by Peter Bowen that appeared in the special Gotham Award tribute section, and I think it’s an excellent look into Van Sant’s creative process on his latest film, Milk. And, by the way, the IFP is selling individual tickets to the Gothams this year. More info available here. Two excerpts: Filmmaker: How did your story veer from the historical record? Van Sant: Mostly we […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 13, 2008 Filmmaking
BURROWING INTO THE BURROWERS

In the current issue of Filmmaker Karina Longworth reviews this year’s Fantastic Fest, and one of the titles she singles out for praise is J.T. Petty’s The Burrowers. She wrote: For my money, the most impressive film at Fantastic Fest with a studio credit attached was not a Secret Screening, but J.T. Petty’s The Burrowers. A monster film in plot detail only, this period Western plays as a moral drama heavily influenced by Terrence Malick. Unfortunately, the affiliated studio is Lionsgate, who have recently heavily cut back on their support for horror, and thus The Burrowers –– a film as […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 13, 2008 Filmmaking
TOUR DE FOURS: EPISODE 3

Here’s episode three of Todd Sklar and his Range Life Entertainment’s tour diary documenting the highs and lows the group’s current DIY traveling film fest. Click on the link for upcoming tour dates.

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 13, 2008 Filmmaking
NEW MTV INTERNET CHANNEL SHOWS… MUSIC VIDEOS

Okay, I’m a week or two late to the party, but I just came across MTV Music, a new website, in beta, from MTV that streams music videos. For younger readers, a music video — formerly called, in the pre-music-video days, a “promo,” or a “clip” — is a short film or staged musical performance set to a pop song and usually featuring as performers the singer and musicians of that song. MTV used to show them, and for those of us who remember the launch of the channel, music videos once seemed new, interesting, and even culturally relevant. Creative […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 11, 2008 Filmmaking

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