Filmmaking

The Inside Man

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. Scott Macaulay interviewed The Diving Bell and the Butterfly director Julian Schnabel for the Fall ’07 issue. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is nominated for Best Director (Julian Schnabel), Adapted Screenplay (Ronald Harwood), Editing (Juliette Welfling) and Best Cinematography (Janusz Kaminski). Most films draw us in with some promise of possibility. Buy a ticket, sit back and have your world expanded for a couple of hours. Be someone new and […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Feb 8, 2008 Directing
The Doctor Is In

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. Howard Feinstein interviewed Sicko director Michael Moore for our Web Exclusives section of the Website. Sicko is nominated for Best Feature Documentary. Timely is the release of Michael Moore’s long-gestating Sicko, an exposé of the U.S. health insurance industry, especially its efforts to withhold benefits to subscribers. Americans rank health insurance as their number two concern after the war in Iraq. Democratic presidential candidates are whipping up health care plans; so […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Feb 8, 2008 Directing
CINEKINK ANNOUNCES LINE-UP

The New York-based film festival CineKink has announced their line-up for this year’s event, which runs from February 26 to March 2. From the press release: Billing itself as “the really alternative film festival,” the event will run February 26-March 2, 2008. Presented by CineKink, an organization dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of sex-positive and kink-friendly depictions in film and television, works presented at CineKink NYC will range from documentary to drama, mildly spicy to quite explicit – and everything in between. “It seems our programming theme for this year was ‘No mercy!’” says Lisa Vandever, CineKink’s co-founder and […]

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 7, 2008 Filmmaking
DEALIPEDIA SUGGESTS NEW INDIE FILM RESOURCE MODEL

Over at Wired.com, Megan McCarthy has an article about Dealipedia, a new start-up from Michael Robertson, who previously founded MP3.com, which he sold to Vivendi in 2001. From the piece: Michael Robertson, who made $115 million when he sold his startup MP3.com to Vivendi in 2001, wants every other entrepreneur to tell the world how much, or little, they pocketed during their business deals. His new site, the recently launched Dealipedia, aims to become a hub of information about mergers, investments, acquisitions, and other business deals by encouraging the people in on the deals to upload information to its public […]

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 7, 2008 Filmmaking
BEASTIE BOY STARTS DISTRIBUTOR WITH THINK EXEC

Interesting news via Pitchfork Media: Beastie Boy Adam Yauch has launched Oscilloscope Pictures, a new independent distributor, with former Think Film V.P. David Fenkel and former Think employee Dan Berger. The Pitchfork article quotes this Reuters/Hollywood Reporter piece, which gives more details. From the Gregg Goldstein piece: Yauch and Fenkel plan to acquire narrative and documentary features from festivals for release in the U.S. and provide funds to complete and release unfinished films. The pair, who worked on Yauch’s Beastie Boys documentary “Awesome! I F***in’ Shot That!” at ThinkFilm, will oversee postproduction and marketing work at Oscilloscope Laboratories’ downtown Manhattan […]

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 6, 2008 Filmmaking
ROAD TO OSCAR NIGHT

Looking at our coverage of films last year we realized we did a pretty good job choosing films that went on to get Oscar nominations (yes, there was much rejoicing in the office). Some appeared in Nick Dawson’s Director Interviews section on the Website, others were Web Exclusives, while a good deal was in the magazine and we never got them online. So beginning tonight and going all the way to Oscar night on Feb. 24, we’ll be republishing those pieces in the Oscar Preview section on the main page (except for There Will Be Blood (nominated for Best Picture, […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Feb 5, 2008 Filmmaking
NEWSHOUNDING ON SUPER TUESDAY

Over at the FilmInFocus site there’s a five-part series beginning today in which five documentary filmmakers (or filmmaking teams) tell us their top sources for news and political reporting and commentary. The first set, picked by Jesus Camp directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, spans an “alternative news nexus” to a site that measures “hostility across the political spectrum.” Their selections are at the link.

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 5, 2008 Filmmaking
CONGRATS TO THE GIANTS AND GIANTS FANS!

An amazing, amazing Super Bowl with a fourth quarter for the ages. John Woods, liveblogging for The New York Times, says, “To heck with the Coen brothers. This is your best picture of the year.” I just finished watching the game in Paris on France 2, where most of the late-game commentary consisted of “Incroyable!” and “Ooh, la la!” (Seriously.) Anyway, congrats to the Giants and all the fans!

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2008 Filmmaking
NEW YORK INDIES STRIKE WGA DEAL

The AP is reporting that four New York indie film companies — Greenestreet Films, This is That Corporation, Killer Films and Open City Films — have signed an interim agreement with the striking WGA, allowing them to go forward with WGA-scripted development projects and productions. From the piece as it runs on CNN.com: Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente, speaking for GreeneStreet, Open City and Killer films, credited the union with “thoughtfulness during the discussions.” This is that co-founders, Ted Hope and Anne Carey, said the united action by the companies to settle “clarifies our support for and solidarity with the […]

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2008 Filmmaking
CHIRLS ON CINEMATECH

Brian Chirls, who was part of the Filmmaker team at Sundance this year, sat down for an interview with Scott Kirsner over at his Cinematech blog/ They talked about audience building, monetizing your web audience, and Brian’s work with the Four Eyed Monsters team. I’ve embedded it below. And if you are not a regular visitor to Kirsner’s blog, click over there for lots of other great commentary on web video, new media, and new distribution and business models.

By Scott Macaulay on Feb 2, 2008 Filmmaking

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