Filmmaking

IFP LAUNCHES "FIRST WEEKEND" SERIES

IFP announced today the launch of First Weekend, a new program that seeks to connect audiences directly with new independent films. The first film profiled in the series will be Lance Hammer‘s Ballast. From the release: “First Weekend” series will be a quarterly program designed to guarantee sold out shows during a self-distributed film’s opening weekend. In purchasing a $25 ticket and supporting the series, audiences are directly supporting truly independent films and filmmakers. The full box-office proceeds will go directly toward the film’s theatrical run. The audience also gets to join in a post screening conversation hosted by a […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Sep 23, 2008 Filmmaking
HOW MANY JAMIE STUARTS ARE THERE?

In addition to all the press screenings and the opening night bash, one New York Film Festival-related thing we at Filmmaker look forward to each year is Jamie Stuart’s series of NYFF videos. (For a good recap of Jamie’s work, check out Karina Longworth’s piece here.) You see, even though we host and exec produce these pieces, they remain somewhat mysterious to us, arriving in the middle of the night with a handy promo image attached, and usually warping some kind of previously stated concept to a creatively unexpected degree. Without having gone in-depth about this with Stuart, it looks […]

By Scott Macaulay on Sep 23, 2008 Filmmaking
Your Film Online

My name is Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo and this is my guest post for the just-concluded Independent Film Week here in New York. Along with Zachary Lieberman (co-creator of The West Side), I spoke on Monday’s panel “Your Film Online,” and I wanted to expand here on some thoughts I shared during that panel — mostly in response to the prevailing wisdom that “the sky is falling” on independent film. (This is also cross-posted on my own blog, No Film School). I’m a New Face of independent film, not an Industry Veteran, so maybe it’s naiveté that leads me to have a […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Sep 23, 2008 Distribution
SHEILA NEVINS AWARDED TRIBUTE AT THIS YEAR’S GOTHAMS

IFP has announced their final Tribute honoree for this year’s Gotham Awards: President of HBO Documentary Films Sheila Nevins. Nevins will be recognized for her contributions to the art of the documentary. She is responsible for overseeing the development and production of all documentaries for HBO and Cinemax and their multiplex channels. As an executive producer or producer, she has received 22 Primetime Emmy Awards, 25 News and Documentary Emmys and 28 George Foster Peabody Awards. Nevins was also presented with a Personal Peabody in recognition of her work and ongoing commitment to excellence. She holds a BA from Barnard […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Sep 23, 2008 Filmmaking
ECONOMIC SHOCK

From Screen Daily comes the news that Michael Winterbottom will work again with Mat Whitecross, his collaborator on The Road to Guantanamo, on a feature film adaptation of Naomi Klein’s book, The Shock Doctrine. Winterbottom says he’s already begun filming, and Klein will narrate the film. He should maybe take a breather while Klein appends a new chapter to her book. Her thesis — that late-stage capitalism is reliant on “shocks” that, by dizzying the populace, enable privatization and massive transference of public wealth into private hands by anti-democratic means — is astoundingly relevant to the Wall Street bail-out being […]

By Scott Macaulay on Sep 22, 2008 Filmmaking
WRAPPING UP INDEPENDENT FILM WEEK

I’m sure there will be a few blog stragglers over the next few days as our guest posters gather their thoughts on the just concluded Independent Film Week. For now, though, thanks to all the filmmakers who joined our blog and took the time to relate their experiences. If you haven’t read their posts, scroll below and check out their first-hand accounts of trying to launch new projects at the IFP’s various programs this past week. I also recommend you click over to Hammer to Nail, where filmmaker David Lowery posted his own diary about his experiences in the Narrative […]

By Scott Macaulay on Sep 20, 2008 Filmmaking
CLICKING TO UTOPIA

Peter Aspden has a provocative piece about the consciousness-changing aspects of the internet at the Financial Times today. Whereas many who discuss this issue come off as techno-Luddites, Aspden seems to both welcome and slightly fear the inevitable future. There’s a bit of Cronenberg’s “Long Live the New Flesh” here. An excerpt: The hyperlink syndrome, the way our minds copy the workings of the internet and flit sharply from one idea to another, means that we have become addicted to the breadth of everything rather than the depth of something. The contemporary mind needs to be elastic and happy to […]

By Scott Macaulay on Sep 19, 2008 Filmmaking
NYFF46 TEASER

With the New York Film Festival around the corner you know it’s time for Jamie Stuart to come out of hiding and dazzle (as well as bewilder) us with his series of shorts from the fest. Below is a teaser he sent. This year’s series will begin on the site next week. Also, new on the Web Exclusives page is a brief essay Karina Longworth wrote for us on Stuart’s previous NYFF pieces.

By Jason Guerrasio on Sep 19, 2008 Filmmaking
TED HOPE AT INDEPENDENT FILM WEEK

As the IFP’s Independent Film Week rolls along, there has been quite a lot of discussion around the streets of Chelsea of new paradigms, the role of the independent filmmaker, and creative strategies to reach audiences. I’ve been wearing my producer hat this week, taking meetings at the IFP’s No Borders program. I’ll write a bit more about this experience when it’s all over, but suffice to say for now that it’s been an excellent couple of days filled with energetic and surprising meetings that stand in stark contrast to the torrent of bad news coming from Wall Street and […]

By Scott Macaulay on Sep 17, 2008 Filmmaking
MELVIN VAN PEEBLES TO BE HONORED AT GOTHAMS

The IFP announced today that Melvin Van Peebles will be honored with a Tribute at this year’s Gotham Awards, taking place Tuesday, Dec. 2, in New York City. Recognized as the “godfather of independent film and modern black cinema,” Van Peebles wrote, produced, scored, directed, and starred in the landmark 1971 independent film, Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song. He is an Emmy Award winner, a three-time Grammy nominee, and an 11-time Tony nominee. His latest film, Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus Itychfooted Mutha premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. As part of the Gotham Tribute, The Museum of Modern Art will present a […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Sep 17, 2008 Filmmaking

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