Filmmaking

CINEMATIC BORDER CROSSINGS

Over at the main page there are two new web-only pieces that both interview directors whose films open this week and who both quite consciously explore in them issues of borders and identity in a globalist age. One is a new director, Patricia Riggen (a Filmmaker 25 New Face discovery in 2005) and the other is a veteran, Olivier Assayas, and their films couldn’t be more different. Damon Smith interviews Riggen about her La Misma Luna, an emotional and affecting mother-son tale that draws from both the Mexican telenovela and the American indie road movie genres. And then there’s Olivier […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 18, 2008 Filmmaking
GOT WOOD

Last when I was a mentor for the IFP Rough Cuts labs, one of the most interesting projects was Alex Karpovsky’s Woodpecker, a doc-styled feature about those obsessed with the hunt for an ivory-billed woodpecker. I missed seeing the finished film at SXSW and hope to catch up with it very soon. In the meantime, at GreenCine David Hudson has rounded up some links, including this podcast conducted by Aaron Hillis, and has posted his own thoughts as well. Head over there to read more about Karpovsky’s fascinating film.

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 18, 2008 Filmmaking
HAND CRAFTED

The Nee Brothers, who were two of our “25 New Faces” in 2006, have made a lovely music video for the band Terrene which is up for a Yahoo Best Indie Music Video award. You can watch it below, and if you like it you can vote for the Nee’s here.

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 18, 2008 Filmmaking
Carnal Knowledge

Over the course of eight feature films, Olivier Assayas has built a solid international reputation as a director of stylish, naturalistic thrillers and social dramas that team with sensuality. Assayas is a boundlessly resourceful director and in his most recent film, Boarding Gate, a lower key, appealingly absurd riff on the same erotic, globalization-era techno thriller he first brought us in 2002’s explosive Demonlover, the fifty-two year old French filmmaker uses his signature loose, montage-y style to tell what is essentially a lurid and oblique crime story, full of people with secrets and double agendas, whose longings to fulfill the […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Mar 18, 2008 Directing
A Child’s Journey

Though her short-film and documentary projects have a clearly articulated social conscience, director Patricia Riggen says she prefers to make moving films that tell a story with “big emotions.” Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Riggen began writing scripts for television after a stint in the world of newspaper journalism, and eventually became vice chairman of short-film production at the Mexican Film Institute. In 1998, she moved to New York City and attended Columbia University’s MFA program in film studies, focusing on screenwriting and directing. While still a student, she made La Milpa, a 27-minute narrative short set during the Mexican Revolution, […]

By Damon Smith on Mar 17, 2008 Directing
SPITZER, THE ABOVE, AND THE BELOW THE LINE

Everything is connected. While the Elliiot Spitzer call-girl scandal seems to be providing cable news with a pre-Pennsylvania election break and bloggers with plenty of new linking opportunities, it’s impacting the film business as well — specifically, the successful NY tax credit program which has been up for an expansion. In the Hollywood Reporter, Gregg Goldstein writes about how “Spitzer exit threatens his tax-credit plan.” Here are two key graphs, but read the piece for the whole thing: By the end of Wednesday, both the Republican-led state Senate and Democratic-led Assembly had unveiled proposed budgets with their partisan versions of […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 13, 2008 Filmmaking
OBAMA IN 30 SECONDS

We’ve been covering on this blog the intersection between politics and user-generated video, most often by posting some of the better campaign mash-ups that have been posted to YouTube this season. But now, however, anyone (well, any Obama supporter) can go legit with their political ad by taking part in “Obama in 30 Seconds.” The contest is being sponsored by MoveOn.org, and it assembles an incredible panel of judges (Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Lawrence Lessig, James Schamus, Ted Hope, Russell Simmons, Oliver Stone, Moby, Tom Ortenberg, John Legend and DJ Spooky are a few) to pick the best submitted Obama […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 13, 2008 Filmmaking
NO COUNTRY’s INVISIBLE MAN

Jamie Stuart emailed the following observation about No Country for Old Men after rewatching the film on DVD: I rented No Country yesterday. I’d read a few complaints on Anne T.’s blog about the scene where Bell goes to the motel room — and Chigurh is supposed to be behind the door (people were complaining that Chigurh seemed to have vanished). I always thought Chigurh was simply hiding behind the door, since that’s where he’s shown during the initial cross-cutting. But watching the DVD — and even brighting the image all the way — Chigurh IS NOT THERE when the […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 13, 2008 Filmmaking
STRANGER THAN FICTION?

Producer Keith Griffiths forwarded the below article about the great Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul and censorship of his latest acclaimed feature, Syndromes and a Century, released in the U.S. by Strand Releasing. He also forwarded the accompanying photos, which are of the actual censorship in progress. Read on… In his review of Syndromes and a Century the Guardian Film Critic Peter Bradshaw, wrote that the film was “Profoundly mysterious, erotic, funny, gentle, playful, utterly distinctive, it is the work of the Thai director and installation-artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who now has a claim to be approaching the league of Kiarostami and […]

By Scott Macaulay on Mar 12, 2008 Filmmaking
B-SIDE BEGINS SUBMISSIONS 2.0

In a story posted today on Variety‘s The Circuit, Michael Jones reports that B-Side, the company that gathers audience reactions for thousands of festivals, is now going into the fest submissions game with the announcement that it’s creating Submissions 2.0, a site where filmmakers can submit work to multiple festivals without paying a service fee. Set to launch this summer, it will certainly be in direct competition with Withoutabox. Read full story here.

By Jason Guerrasio on Mar 11, 2008 Filmmaking

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