Filmmaking

THE THREE FACES OF INDIE

Over at her Thompson on Hollywood blog, Ann Thompson posts an email she received from indie producer and former distributor Jonathan Dana about “the surfeit of Sundance acquisition titles, many of which remain unsold at fest’s end.” He breaks the indie sphere down into three sections, from the studio specialty titles down to the out-of-nowhere surprises, and concentrates his commentary on the middle sphere, the professionally produced films with name actors that are financed by new money largely based on their presumed marketability. It’s worth a read.

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 29, 2008 Filmmaking
Trumping Trump

The following essay by Ray Carney on Aaron Katz’s Quiet City accompanies a 2-disc DVD release from Benten Films out this week of Quiet City and Katz’s first film, Dance Party, USA. Mainstream film is so much an art of the maximum – the biggest, the flashiest, the fastest, the most exaggerated – that it is easy to forget that the great films all go in the opposite direction. They are, almost without exception, triumphs of minimalism. They rely on subtlety, understatement, indirection, and simplification. In Stranger than Paradise, Down by Law, and Mystery Train, Jim Jarmusch sets long sections […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 28, 2008 Filmmaking
Hear My Song

Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 24, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Ray Pride interviewed Once writer-director John Carney and lead Glen Hansard for the Spring ’07 issue. Once is nominated for Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly” (Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova). When Baz Luhrmann was promoting his musical phantasmagoria Moulin Rouge, I asked him how far you could go in the other direction — could a film musical consist simply of a couple coming together and moving […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 28, 2008 Directing
CRAIG GILLESPIE, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL By Nick Dawson

RYAN GOSLING DINES WITH PAUL SCHNEIDER, EMILY MORTIMER AND “BIANCA” IN CRAIG GILLESPIE’S LARS AND THE REAL GIRL. COURTESY MGM. Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 24, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Nick Dawson interviewed Lars and the Real Girl director Craig Gillespie for our Director Interviews section of the Website. Lars and the Real Girl is nominated for Best Original Screenplay (Nancy Oliver). In one of the more unusual coincidences on this year’s movie release schedule, Craig Gillespie has seen his first […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 28, 2008 Filmmaking
My Super Sweet 16

Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 24, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Lisa Y. Garibay interviewed Juno director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody for the Fall ’07 issue. Juno is nominated for Best Picture, Best Directing (Jason Reitman), Best Lead Actress (Ellen Page) and Best Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody). The pairing of writer Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman was one of complete chance, like one of those cop-buddy movies where the grizzled vet is set up with a renegade newbie and […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 28, 2008 Directing
Last Man Standing

Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 24, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Nick Dawson interviewed The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford director Andrew Dominik for our Web Exclusives section of the Website. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Casey Affleck) and Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins). After making only two features, Andrew Dominik deserves to be recognized as one of the most exciting and talented writer-directors working today. Born in […]

By Nick Dawson on Jan 28, 2008 Directing
STUART’S CUT SHORT

Over at Filmmaker Videos, Jamie Stuart‘s latest short from the Sundance Film Festival is up. Starring George A. Romero, Ellen Kuras and Stacy Peralta among others, Stuart shows us how ’08 Sundance looked through his eyes.

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 28, 2008 Filmmaking
SUNDANCE DOCS: FIELDS OF FUEL and IOUSA

Tuesday at Sundance I saw two documentaries back to back that each deals with one of this country’s most pressing and complex political issues. Josh Tickell’s Fields of Fuel tackles America’s reliance on imported fossil fuels while Patrick Creadon in his follow-up to Wordplay, IOUSA, wrestles with the exploding United States budget deficit. Both films employ what is now a familiar doc style of exploring political and social issue subject matter: quick editing, talking heads, a chapter-by-chapter structure, use of humorous archival material, and energetic source cue-driven montages. Of the two films, Fields of Fuel is the slicker. It segues […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 27, 2008 Filmmaking
A TRIP DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

As I didn’t get into Park City until Sunday night, I’ve been playing catch-up for the most part, trying to get the pulse of this year’s fest (which for the most part hasn’t been the feeding frenzy in terms of deals as last year), and trying to see as many films as possible (and hitting some parties). So far Daniel Barnz‘s debut feature Phoebe In Wonderland has stuck in my mind the most. Barnz was named one of our “25 New Faces” this past summer so I knew a little about him and his work before going in, but it’s […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Jan 23, 2008 Filmmaking
NEW CAMERAS, NEW FRONTIERS

Writer and d.p. David Leitner sent us this report about two new cameras that can be seen here at the Sundance Film Festival.Located in the basement of a small commercial mall on upper Main Street across from the Egyptian theater, the annual Sundance technology showcase known as New Frontier on Main is particularly worth a visit this year due to two product introductions poised to rock the world of low-budget HD indie production. Word is already out about Sony’s EX1, a Handycam-type camcorder bearing both XDCAM EX and CineAlta logos for a strikingly low $7,790 suggested retail price. In a nutshell, […]

By Scott Macaulay on Jan 23, 2008 Filmmaking

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