Filmmaking

THIS IS A HISTORY OF NEW YORK

I stopped by Other Music this weekend and discovered on the racks photographer Paula Court’s book, New York Noise: Art and Music from the New York Underground 1978-88. I first moved to New York during those years and became Programming Director at The Kitchen during the tail-end of that span, and for me the book, full of striking, energetic portraits of NYC’s key downtown art players, was not just a nostalgic blast-from-the-past but also a welcome confirmation that, yes, there was something special and perhaps unrepeatable about that scene and its casual cross-pollination. The Times Online has an article and […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 9, 2007 Filmmaking
SLAMDANCE ’08 TITLES ANNOUNCED

The Slamdance Film Festival announced the titles for its 14th year. The festival will run alongside Sundance in Park City, Utah Jan. 17-25. This year’s Opening Night Film is Randall Cole‘s Real Time. The full list is below. Narrative Feature Competition FIX, (USA) Written/Directed by Tao Ruspoli This darkly comedic road movie journeys from Beverly Hills to Watts over the course of 12 hours, as documentary filmmakers Bella and Milo race to get Milo’s brother Leo from jail to rehab before 8 p.m. – or Leo goes to prison for three years. FROST, (USA) Written/Directed by Steve ClarkWhen a Manhattan […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Dec 5, 2007 Filmmaking
ANN ARBOR FEST ANNOUNCES SETTLEMENT

If you read this blog regularly you’ve noticed we’ve been giving updates on the free speech lawsuit the Ann Arbor Film Festival has on the State of Michigan (posts: “Saving Ann Arbor” and “AAFF Update“). Today the festival announced that it has settled its federal lawsuit, filed by the ACLU on its behalf. With the state legislature repealing unconstitutional restrictions on arts funding, AAFF and the ACLU agreed to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit. According to a statement sent out by the AAFF: “The new guidelines for arts funding, resulting from the AAFF’s lawsuit, mirror the National Endowment for the Arts […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Dec 5, 2007 Filmmaking
KEY TO RESERVA

Surfing around the net tonight I found this amazing homage to Alfred Hitchcock made by Martin Scorsese (and paid for by the champagne Freixenet). Shot by Harris Savides, with additional lensing by Ellen Kuras, and cut by Thelma Schoonmaker, Scorsese tells a “documentarian” that he plans to shoot pages of a lost script he found titled Key To Reserva the way Hitchcock would have. “To preserve a film that has not been made,” he says. Using the familiar music of Bernard Herrmann, Scorsese casts Simon Baker to play the debonair lead and classic sequences from many of Hitchcock’s films appear […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Dec 2, 2007 Filmmaking
ALTERNATING FIELDS

Harmony Korine’s latest feature, Mister Lonely, opened recently in England, will open France soon, and is due to arrive in U.S. theaters in the Spring from IFC Films. But Korine has also been filming some other work recently. Here’s a wonderful TV ad he just completed for the British department store chain Thornton’s.

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 29, 2007 Filmmaking
SUNDANCE ’08 PREMIERES, SPECTRUM, NEW FRONTIER AND MIDNIGHT FILMS ANNOUNCED

Sundance announced the films in their Premieres, Spectrum, New Frontier and Midnight sections today. Included in the list is the closing night film, Neil Young‘s documentary CSNY Deja Vu, on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Freedom of Speech Tour” and The Salt Lake City Gala will feature the world premiere of The Great Buck Howard, directed by Sean McGinly and stars Colin Hanks, John Malkovich and Emily Blunt. Other notable names in the pack are Michel Gondry, Brad Anderson, Barry Levinson, Stacy Peralta, Morgan Spurlock, the Duplass brothers and (wait for it…) Michael Keaton in his directorial debut. Full list […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Nov 29, 2007 Filmmaking
OFFENSIVE PLASTIC-NESS

A few years ago producer Ted Hope was at the forefront of the indie campaign against the major studios’ “screener policy” — the edict that specialty film companies could not use mailed promotional screeners in their Academy campaigns. Hope, along with producer Jeff Levy-Hinte and a group of allied production companies, won a court battle and the studio policy was reversed. Now, Hope has emailed about another issue concerning screeners — specifically, their impact on the environment. While other parts of the industry are going green, the mailed output of two companies in particular are not. From Ted Hope: After […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 28, 2007 Filmmaking
2008 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL LINE-UP

The Sundance Film Festival has announced their films in competition for the 2008 edition. Leafing through the line-up you’ll notice there are many first-timers (including DP Ellen Kuras) in this year’s bunch. Though there are a few familiar names: Alex Gibney, Jonathan Levine, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. There’s also a doc on the great Hunter Thompson and an adaptation of Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk‘s novel, Choke. The full list titles are below. The festival will run Jan. 17-27. Documentary Competition AN AMERICAN SOLDIER (Director and Screenwriter: Edet Belzberg)Uncle Sam wants you! A compelling exploration of army recruitment in […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Nov 28, 2007 Filmmaking
Greek Tragedy

As a filmmaker, Oscar winner Jessica Yu is smart, adventurous, and utterly fearless. You’d have to be to make a talking-head documentary inspired by the 5th century B.C. playwright Euripides (an idea proposed by the Carr Foundation) and then decide to outfit key scenes with wooden rod puppets speaking ancient Greek. But her new film, Protagonist, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and gets a theatrical release November 30 from IFC Films, is not high-concept marionette theater, it’s a fascinating investigation of what drives passionate people to acts of radical self-negation—and of […]

By Damon Smith on Nov 28, 2007 Directing
GOTHAM AWARDS WINNERS

IFP‘s 17th annual Gotham Awards were handed out last night at Brooklyn’s Steiner Studios with Sean Penn‘s Into The Wild winning the Best Feature prize. The other winners include Michael Moore‘s Sicko for Best Doc; Best Ensemble Cast went to two films, Sidney Lumet‘s Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, and Kasi Lemmons‘s Talk To Me; director Craig Zobel walked away with the Breakthough Director prize, his debut film The Great World of Sound received three Gotham Award nominations; Juno‘s Ellen Page won Breakthrough Actor and Ronald Bronstein‘s Frownland won The Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Nov 28, 2007 Filmmaking

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