Directors Bradley Rust Grey and So Yong Kim just directed a short film for the Museum of Chinese in America Chinatown Film Project. Grey also acted as d.p. and shot the film on the new Red camera — the same camera Steven Soderbergh used to shoot his recent CHE. Grey plans to use the Red to shoot his next feature, which should begin this fall, and was kind enough to send us this entry for the blog in which he quickly summarizes his impressions of the experience. I haven’t written a blog before. So I’m just sort of thinking of […]
First you announce that you’re done teasing us and have begun the remake of The Inglorious Bastards, now you dangle a Faster, Pussy Cat! Kill! Kill! update… with Britney Spears attached!!! Well, that’s the rumor on Ann Thompson’s blog and the blogsphere has been salivating about it since. Whether this is a calculated PR move by the Britney camp to actually get a project off the ground or just another one of QT’s chances to go nuts and remake every Grindhouse title that’s on his shelf, if I can be serious of a second, I do think this would really […]
After seeing Christopher Nolan’s dark and philosophically nimble The Dark Knight, I went back to our Winter, 2001 issue and read again Chuck Stephens’ cover interview with Nolan and his screenwriter brother Jonathan on the eve of the release of their breakthrough film, Memento. I was struck by how some of the same issues that elevate the latest Batman movie — its cinematic capturing of everyday dread, its interrogation of the role of the hero, and its clever use of film noir tropes — are discussed within the context of this earlier film. If you are a Nolan fan, check […]
Announced today, IFP‘s 30th annual Independent Film Week (formerly the IFP Market) will include Kevin Smith, filmmaker/activist Robert Greenwald and SnagFilms CEO Rich Allen as the headliners for this year’s festivities. Read full release below. KEVIN SMITH, ROBERT GREENWALD AND RICK ALLEN TO HEADLINE IFP’S 30th ANNUAL INDEPENDENT FILM WEEK SEPT. 14-19 Film Screenings, Panel Discussions, and Networking Highlight Six-Day Event www.independentfilmweek.com New York, NY (August 5, 2008) – IFP announced today that IFP alumnus Kevin Smith (Clerks), filmmaker and activist Robert Greenwald (Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism), and SnagFilms.com CEO Rick Allen will headline public events during the […]
Producer Noah Harlan of 2.1 Films just came back from the Sundance Producer’s Lab and forwarded these comments about some of the topics discussed there. Like every producer, Harlan is trying to figure out what the new digital distribution landscape will look like for independents. I particularly responded here to his attempt to parse the revenue possibilities for the streaming and ad-supported models — a topic you’ve read about on this blog previously. For now, though, here’s Harlan. I just got back from the Sundance Producer’s Conference and had a few thoughts that I wanted to share with some of […]
Since stories about declining staff opportunities for professional film critics seem to appearing all over, I thought I’d post this notice from Creative Capital and the Warhol Foundation announcing grants ranging up to $50,000 to arts writers. Although the focus is on the visual arts, the site says, “By ‘contemporary visual art,’ we mean visual art made since World War II. We will also consider projects on post-War work in adjacent fields – architecture, design, film, theater/performance, sound, etc.- if they significantly engage the discourses and concerns of contemporary visual art.” Take special note: this round of proposals specifically excludes […]
The analysts over at Tech Ticker have posted a short video conversation about the current state and future direction of internet video and the ad market. The discussion is kicked off by a mention of Disney’s recent earnings statement and the profitability of its fairly conservative and unsexy online video division. The Tech Ticker guys go on to talking about Hulu and YouTube, particularly how the latter is struggling for the moment to sell advertising against user-generated video. The analysts say that, with the exception of entertainment companies, which will advertise on user-generated spots, most mainstream advertisers don’t want to […]
Short End Magazine uses the occasion of our “25 New Faces” list to recap three conversations between Noralil Ryan Fores and filmmakers from this year’s edition. You can read an interview with the Zellner Brothers and also this interview with My Olympic Summer‘s Daniel Robin, an excerpt of which is below. SM: Given four words to describe your style and four words to describe the purpose of your work, which eight words total do you chose? DR: You’re killing me. Style: personal, atmospheric, rhythm, process. Purpose: cathartic, engage, communicate, new cinema. SM: Why? DR: Well, I think for a film […]
Over at The Workbook Project Lisa Salem has launched a new section of the site entitled “How to Build and Audience and Keep it.” It’s a multi-faceted section, containing both a blog as well as more organized content areas covering different aspects of audience-building and retention. Here, in a Preamble, she explains what led her to this area of specialization: I speak from a particular form of experience. In 2005 I set out to walk the whole of Los Angeles – I’d lived there for most of ten years. I pushed a baby-stroller with a video camera attached to the […]
Here’s the third of our catch-ups with previous “25 New Faces” filmmakers. If you’ve been on the list and haven’t sent us an update, you can still email one to editor.filmmakermagazine AT gmail.com. Marshall Curry, director, 2005: Since releasing Street Fight, I have been working on two docs– one about the radical environmental group, the Earth Liberation Front, and the other about three 12-year old kids who aspire to be NASCAR drivers (they race gokarts that go 60 mph in a nationally competitive circuit that’s sort of the little leagues for NASCAR.) Both films are in post now, and the […]