SXSW
-
The Women of SXSW: Ukraine is Not a Brothel Director/Producer/Editor Kitty Green
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the director of the SXGlobal documentary, Ukraine is Not a Brothel, Kitty Green. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Green: Ukraine Is Not A Brothel is a feature documentary about the topless Ukrainian feminist movement FEMEN. The film follows these “titillating” activists as they wage a war against patriarchy in a corrupt and poverty-stricken Ukraine. I came […]
-
The Women of SXSW: I Believe in Unicorns Writer/Director Leah Meyerhoff
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the director of I Believe in Unicorns, Leah Meyerhoff. Leah Meyerhoff is the definition of “independent filmmaker.” For her debut feature, I Believe in Unicorns, Meyerhoff cast rising talents Natalia Dyer and Peter Vack, moved her production to her childhood home in San Francisco, and sprinkled fairy pixie dust (figuratively and literally) all over her film set. Shot on a combination of Super16mm […]
-
The Women of SXSW: Vessel Director Diana Whitten
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the director of the Documentary Competition film, Vessel, Diana Whitten. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Whitten: At first I was compelled by the metaphor of a woman having to leave one realm of sovereignty to reclaim her own. I thought it was a rare and interesting example of the offshore being used not for crime […]
-
The Women of SXSW: Wicker Kittens Director Amy C. Elliott
Following her “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this interview, she talks with Amy C. Elliott, the director and also d.p. of Wicker Kittens, screening in the Documentary Spotlight section. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Elliott: When I first heard there was such a thing as competitive jigsaw puzzling, I just wanted to know more. And in particular, I wanted to know more about the specifics — how many […]
-
The Women of SXSW: Kelly & Cal Director Jen McGowan
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the director of the Narrative Spotlight film, Kelly & Cal, Jen McGowan. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? McGowan: I loved the script. I loved the script and I loved the writer. And I could see it. I could see that I could do something special with it. This project originated at a USC alumni program called USC First Team which connected […]
-
The Women of SXSW: Honeymoon Writer/Director Leigh Janiak
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the writer/director of Honeymoon, Leigh Janiak. Honeymoon screens today in the Midnighters section. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Janiak: My writing partner Phil and I had been writing together for years, and finishing a script is satisfying, but it’s never really a finished project… So I think it was sometime in 2010, after seeing Monsters and Tiny […]
-
The Women of SXSW: I Was a Teenage Girl Director Augustine Frizzell
Following “The Women of Sundance” article in our print and online additions, Danielle Lurie continues her coverage of female filmmakers with a series of pieces highlighting women directors at SXSW. In this email interview, she talks with the director of Augustine Frizzell, whose I Was a Teenage Girl premieres in the Texas Shorts program. Filmmaker: Why this movie? Why did you decide to do it? Frizzell: I started with the concept of three shorts about three separate pairs of girls, all around age 15, entering a period in their lives where the issues they’re faced with rapidly change from […]
-
25 Picks for the 2014 SXSW Film and Interactive Festivals
Airline fares entered the stratosphere weeks ago, hotels were booked months ago, and SXSW begins today. As always, I’m interested in film and tech. Regarding the latter, Jenna Wortham at the New York Times checked in with a number of the big companies that launched in Austin in the past and found that many, like Foursquare, are skipping it. In their place are tech start-ups from Africa, South Korea and Brazil. Scanning the program, I see fewer rock star speakers (is Chelsea Clinton a rock star speaker?) and many folks from on-the-horizon tech like personal health management and computing wearables. […]
-
SXSW Announces Midnighters and Shorts Lineups
Coming off the heels of last week’s announcement, SXSW rounds out their lineup with the Midnighters and Shorts sections. As was the case with the bulk of the festival’s Features, there’s not a huge carry over from Sundance, beyond Adam Wingard’s The Guest and Jonathan’s Chest, Person to Person, Notes on Blindness, Funnel, Dig, Verbatim and Marilyn Myller in the Shorts section. Also of note are 25 New Faces Mohammad Gorjestani and ornana’s Danny Madden, who will screen Refuge and Confusion Through Sand, respectively. Check out the full list of Midnighters; Narrative, Documentary, Animated, Midnight, Texas and Texas High School Shorts; and Music Videos below. MIDNIGHTERS Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – […]
-
SXSW Releases 2014 Features Lineup
Here we go. Unlike many other major festivals who favor an incremental approach, South by Southwest unloads 115 films from their extensive lineup (barring the midnight and shorts selections) in one fell swoop, so there’s plenty to parse through here. 68 of the featured films are directorial debuts, a number of which can be found in the Visions section, which housed my favorite discovery from last year’s festival: Petra Costa’s Elena. That’s not to say there aren’t a few familiar faces: Lawrence Michael Levine’s Wild Canaries will premiere in the Narrative Competition, while Festival Favorites boasts Sundance selections from a bevy of […]
