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
REMEMBERING DAVID FOSTER WALLACE

I started to write more about David Foster Wallace but scrapped it. For all of its celebrated intellectual brilliance, Wallace’s writing always resolved itself on the simplest, most human terms while still vigilantly guarding itself against the ever present threats of lazy thinking, sentimentality and, as he discusses in the Kenyon address linked to below, our “default thinking.” I can’t summon up anything profound or summarizing about him or the news that he killed himself. I simply direct you to his own writings. There is much on the web today about Wallace, including this round-up of links from GreenCine, that […]

By Scott Macaulay on Sep 14, 2008 Filmmaking
DAVID FOSTER WALLACE, 1962 – 2008

I was absolutely stunned to return home to New York tonight from a wedding in Massachusetts and read online that one of my favorite writers, David Foster Wallace, died this weekend in Claremont, California. Wallace’s novels include Infinite Jest and The Broom of the System, and he is the author of several excellent books of essays, including A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again and Consider the Lobster. From the obituary in the L.A. Times: Times book editor David Ulin was in New York City for a National Book Critics Circle Board meeting Saturday. “What was a party is […]

By Scott Macaulay on Sep 14, 2008 Filmmaking
POSTING ABLE DANGER

To conclude our series of blog posts from Paul Krik, writer/director of Able Danger, currently in theaters, here is his breakdown of how he posted his movie. Able Danger was shot on an Panasonic AG-HVX200 by accomplished Brooklyn-based cinematographer Charlie Libin. We shot HD using no tape. It was shot to P2 cards, basically RAM and then copied to a hard drive. It was edited on Avid mostly on a laptop in a basement and then on an Avid at Jump Editorial. It was edited in HD but at the Panasonic “native” file size of 1280 x 720. This is […]

By Scott Macaulay on Sep 12, 2008 Filmmaking
FILMCATCHER INTERVIEWS

Beginning today over at Filmmaker Videos is a series of interviews from Toronto provided by Filmcatcher.com. Up now is Jeffrey-Levy Hinte‘s much talked about documentary Soul Power, about the 1974 Zaire music festival. Keep checking the page daily as we’ll be posting interviews through next week.

By Jason Guerrasio on Sep 11, 2008 Filmmaking
THE COOL PEOPLE ARE IN HELL

Ted Hope alerted me to the very cool Trailers from Hell site, in which an amazing and erudite group of filmmakers — John Landis, Howard Rodman, Allison Anders, Michael Lehmann, Larry Cohen, Joe Dante and others — provide voiceover commentary to a series of trailers from great movies, most of which hail from B-movie or genre traditions. Personal favorites include Blast of Silence, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and, embedded below, Point Blank. Check this site out!

By Scott Macaulay on Sep 10, 2008 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.