Filmmaking

CINEMATIC CASE STUDIES

Bill Condon may have turned sex researcher Alfred Kinsey into a mainstream movie figure, but underground filmmaker Bret Woods has turned to a slightly more esoteric source for his latest film. According to its new website, Psychopathia Sexualis “dramatizes case histories of turn-of-the-century sexual deviance, drawn from the pages of Richard von Krafft-Ebing’s notorious medical text. Among the cases are a sexually repressed man who discovers an unhealthy appetite for blood; a homosexual man who submits himself to a doctor who promises to ‘cure’ his condition; and a masochist who hires a pair of corseted prostitutes to enact a most […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 24, 2006 Filmmaking
IFP MEMBERSHIP SPECIAL

The Independent Feature Project is offering a membership special offering. In addition to receiving all the usual IFP’s member benefits — and a subscription to Filmmaker, those who join by May 31 will receive the IFP’s 100-page Industry Directory, complete with contact info and bios of 300 different production and distribution companies, and also five hours of audio material, panel discussions on the following topics: Working With First-Time Filmmakers: Michelle Satter (Sundance) and Holly Becker (IFC) What Distributors Look For: Tom Quinn (Magnolia) and John Hodges (Focus Features) Building a Career: Dylan Leiner (Sony Pictures Classics) and Mike Lubin (Paradigm) […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 24, 2006 Filmmaking
THE RULE OF THE MOB

Despite the subject matter, it was always going to be a little dicey premiering Sofia Coppola’s deliberately stylish, English-language, Yank-directed and anachronistically scored Marie Antoinette in Competition at Cannes, where, even on a normal day, audiences can resemble an angry lynch mob. And, from a business point-of-view, distributor Pathe’s opening of the film in France simultaneous with the Cannes premiere creates an interesting situation for U.S. distrib Sony Pictures who will have to either springboard off the film’s European performance or else actively ignore it when it debuts the film here in the fall. This morning the Drudge Report linked […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 24, 2006 Filmmaking
WHAT GOES ON IN VEGAS…

CineVegas has announced its very interesting line-up. Check out the website for the films, news of the panel discussions and tributes, and trailers for a bunch of the titles. The fest takes place June 9 – 17th at the Palms Casino Resort.

By Scott Macaulay on May 24, 2006 Filmmaking
STICKING UP FOR SUNDANCE

The Reeler checks in on the Sunday afternoon panel, “Four Independents who Turned the Tide,” over at BAM as part of the recent Sundance series there and transcribes some great quotes. The panel was moderated by Janet Maslin and featured Hal Hartley, Alison Anders, David O. Russell and John Waters. From the piece: “I wanna really stick up for Sundance,” Waters said. “I don’t understand today when people say it’s often too commercial. What is the problem if you’re a kid and you go there and someone overpays for your movie? You’re bitching about that?” “I think it’s the free […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 23, 2006 Filmmaking
TOWERING BABEL?

I took a pass on Cannes this year, so I’m here Stateside just like you guys — checking the internet sites a few times a day to see what’s hot. And it appears as if Alejando Gonzalez Innaritu’s Babel may be the film to beat for the Palme’ d’Or. Here’s Jeffrey Welles: “It’s an incredibly shrewd and brilliant film about all of us…about frailty, interconnectedness, aloneness and particularly parents and children. It exudes compassion and acute precision with every frame, shot, edit and line of dialogue. I fucking loved it.” And here’s Ray Bennett in The Hollywood Reporter: “Tense, relentless […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 23, 2006 Filmmaking
INDECENT PROPOSAL

Below I posted about the new fines for “indecency” being levied by the FCC against broadcasters for “unnecessary” content. In today’s Variety, William Triplett reports on a related story: the Senate’s passing of a bill that will increase indecency fines for broadcasters by a multiple of ten, to $325,000 per infraction. The bill was jammed through the Senate by assumed presidential candidate and Majority Leader Bill Frist, who engaged in the rare parliamentary practice of “hotlining” the bill, quickly pulling the bill from committee review and putting it before the Senate for objection. If no Senator objects, the bill passes […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 21, 2006 Filmmaking
EROS AS PATRIOTISM

Gregg Goldstein in The Hollywood Reporter has an interview up with John Cameron Mitchell about his new film, Shortbus, which premiered in Cannes this weekend. The film is Cameron Mitchell’s much-awaited follow-up to Hedwig, and it’s that rare dramatic film that uses (a lot) of explicit hardcore sex to tell its story. Here’s Cameron Mitchell from the piece: I wanted to create something through improvisation with the actors and explore sex as a cinematic language in a way that I hadn’t seen, where it wasn’t trying to be erotic or horrifying or negative or dreary. The experience has taught everybody […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 21, 2006 Filmmaking
MOUTH TO MOUTH OPENS IN NEW YORK

Alison Murray’s feature Mouth to Mouth opened this weekend in New York at the Village East. I met Alison three or so years ago at the Rotterdam Cinemart and the IFP No Borders Lab where she was raising money for the feature, liked the script and her tough vision and tried to help her attach some American actors to the movie. In the end, Alison made the film in Europe with her own hand-picked cast of up-and-coming actors, one of whom, Ellen Page (Hard Candy, X3) is already a rising star. The film tells the semi-autobiographical story of a young […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 20, 2006 Filmmaking
BOX OFFICE REPORTING

In a very droll post, Caveh Zahedi puts the whole “decline of the theatrical box-office” brouhaha in perspective. He posts the results of I am a Sex Addict‘s opening in Corvallis, Oregon: The film opened in Corvallis, Oregon, this week. It made $5 on Friday, $5 on Saturday, and $9 on Sunday because of word of mouth. In the comments section, Josh Boelter is concerned: Do you mean five dollars or five thousand dollars? If it’s five dollars, what is that; one ticket? Caveh’s reply: I’m imagining that’s one senior citizen ticket.

By Scott Macaulay on May 18, 2006 Filmmaking

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