Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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A MESSAGE FROM BLACKSBURG
There’s been so much in the mainstream media in the last week about the horrible tragedy at Virginia Tech — much of it rather soul deadening in its own right — that I hate to direct you to one more story. But if you’ve been following the MSM coverage you’ve probably come across a quote from or reference to Paul Harrill, an independent filmmaker who teaches film at the school. Harrill was the one who discovered a similarity between the images in Park Chan-wook’s Old Boy and the homemade videos of the killer. On his blog, which I’ve linked to […]
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SUNDANCE ANNOUNCES DIRECTORS/SCREENWRITERS LABS
The Sundance Institute has announced the 13 projects for its annual June Directors and Screenwriters Labs, held May 28-June 28. The Labs have evolved to include filmmakers from around the world, with fellows this year from Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Haiti. The participants and projects selected for the Labs are: DIRECTORS LAB THE CAVANAUGHS / John Morgan (co-writer/director) and Meg LeFauve (co-writer), U.S.A. When the mother of a deeply evangelical family suddenly rejects motherhood, falls in love with a woman, and disavows her faith, the remaining members of the family are thrown into chaos, forcing each of them […]
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ROUGH CUT WISDOM FROM THE BOOK OF CALEB
Below I posted about the upcoming IFP Rough Cut Lab I’m teaching with Gretchen McGowan and a group of fantastic advisors in June. The deadline is April 27 (find more info here) so we’re in the final rounds of accepting and looking at material. But if you have a project and have been on the fence about submitting it, here’s an email I received from Matt Manahan, who went through the lab last year with his feature The Book of Caleb (pictured). It might help you decide if the process is one that can help you and your film. The […]
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CHECK OUT THE SPRING ISSUE
For those who bookmark the blog, head over to the main page where you can see select stories from the Spring issue of Filmmaker, which hits newstands today. Some of the features you can view on the site include an in-depth look by Alicia Van Couvering on the twentysomething filmmakers who’ve been dubbed “Mumblecore,” and James Ponsoldt talks to Charles Burnett on his masterpiece Killer of Sheep, which has finally gotten a theatrical release after 30 years. Enjoy.
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WAITING FOR THE DIRECTORS
In The Guardian, John Patterson wonders if auteurs are all they are cracked up to be. An excerpt: The auteur theory, I’ve finally decided, can kiss my ass. I’m done with it. It bores me. I flee in great haste from the mere mention of its name. It’s a cult of personality. It’s a marketing scheme. It’s become a misleading umbrella-term falsely uniting a diverse body of collectively created work under a single name. And it just encourages the tacky, egomaniacal film-school cult of the writer-director as lone presiding genius…. The “auteurs” are still out there, but most of them […]
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CANNES AT 60
The Cannes official selection (i.e., Competition and Un Certain Regard) line-up has been announced and as always there’s a lot to salivate over. (Here it is at Indiewire.) Wong Kar Wai’s Blueberry Nights (pictured) is the Opening Night, and the fest includes films by some of my other favorite directors, including Fatih Akin, Carlos Reygados, Joel and Ethan Coen, Gus Van Sant, Olivier Assayas, Abel Ferrara, Bela Tarr, Mark Pellington, Barbet Schroeder and Harmony Korine (whose Mister Lonely is pictured below), to name a few. The Competition: “My Blueberry Nights,” directed by Wong Kar-Wai “Auf Der Anderen Siete,” directed by […]
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ARCADE FIRE’S ELEVATOR MUSIC
From the very cool folks at Coolhunting comes this posting about a great online music archive. The French website La Blogotheque is posting a series of “take away shows” which feature musicians doing impromptu gigs on streets, in parks, or, in the case of Arcade Fire, in an elevator. Here’s Coolhunting: (Take-Away Shows) are a collection of live, unedited videos of musicians playing in unusual settings. The artists’ unpredictable interaction with the environment and the reactions of often clueless bystanders result in a genius blend of music video and reality TV. With a sharp eye for incorporating improvised performances into […]
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NOW IT’S DARK…
MOMA this week offers U.S. viewers’ a rare chance to see Sophie Fiennes’ The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema, starring Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Zizek. From the film’s site: THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO CINEMA offers an introduction into some of Zizek’s most exciting ideas on fantasy, reality, sexuality, subjectivity, desire, materiality and cinematic form. Whether he is untangling the famously baffling films of David Lynch, or overturning everything you thought you knew about Hitchcock, Zizek illuminates the screen with his passion, intellect, and unfailing sense of humour. THE PERVERT’S GUIDE TO CINEMA applies Zizek’s ideas to the cinematic canon, in […]
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FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES REMEMBER JIM LYONS
Indiewire has created a tribute page to Jim Lyons with contributions from John Cameron MItchell, Tom Gilroy, Esther Robinson, Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente, Amy Taubin and Marcus Hu. Please click over there and read these very personal and heartfelt remembrances of Jim.
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James Lyons, 1960 – 2007
Jim Lyons died on Thursday in New York. If you didn’t know Jim personally and just recognize his name from movie credits, then you most probably remember him as an editor. His credits include four films by Todd Haynes – Poison, Safe, Velvet Goldmine and Far from Heaven – as well as Spring Forward, The Virgin Suicides, and Silver Lake Life. Most recently, he was the co-editor of A Walk into the Sea: The Danny Williams Story. The latter, a documentary by Esther Robinson about her uncle’s relationship with Andy Warhol and The Factory, won the Teddy at Berlin this […]
