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Coogler, Tully, Guerrero, de la Vega and Cretton Among SFFS KRF Grant Winners
In recent weeks, we profiled in three posts on the site, the 13 finalists for the San Francisco Film Society’s Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grants. (In the current Fall issue of Filmmaker, we also spotlight the SFFS’s Filmmaker360 program, of which the KRF grants are the centerpiece.) Today, the winners of the KRF grants were announced, and five of the six were “25 New Faces” alums. Ryan Coogler, got postproduction funds for his forthcoming first feature, Fruitvale, which will debut at Sundance next month, while Michael Tully got money to finish his current film, Ping Pong Summer, which wrapped a […]
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Volunteering, Donating and Voting Post-Sandy
I live in downtown Manhattan, so in the wake of Hurricane Sandy I was without power and, for the most part, cell service. Now that power is back, I’m more online, watching TV, and more realizing of the extensive damage caused by the hurricane and of all the people still needing power, shelter and the reconstruction of their neighborhoods. If you’re able to volunteer or donate, here are some links guiding you to people and organizations assisting in what is and will be a major effort. At its NYC Service site, the City of New York has a comprehensive list […]
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This Ain’t California: This Ain’t a Doc?
The most gratifying aspect of curating a film fest is being able to bring an under-the-radar gem you feel passionate about to an audience that might never otherwise see it. And as the director of programming for this year’s Santa Fe Independent Film Festival I was asked several times to name my favorite selection (which, of course, is like being asked to choose between kids). Nevertheless, I’d be lying if I pretended one film didn’t immediately leap to mind, a flick I’d fallen head over heels in love with when I caught it over the summer, courtesy of Rooftop Films. […]
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“25 New Faces” Update: Our Nixon at MoMA, Kickstarting F to 7th, Borscht Commissions, Mayer Erases the Web
I’ve not been posting as regularly recently as much of my focus has been on the redesigned Filmmaker website, which will be launching in the very near future. But, on this quiet Friday afternoon, I thought I’d take the opportunity to provide a few quick updates on the current class of filmmakers in our “25 New Faces,” who are a very productive bunch. Firstly, New Yorkers should head to MoMA this Sunday, October 28, for The White House Home Movies: Richard Nixon on Super-8, a screening which is part of the 10th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation. There will be clips […]
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Encrypting Basic TV
On October 12, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously approved a measure to allow the major cable companies to encrypt basic tier programming. Basic tier consists of traditional “over-the-air” broadcast channels. Previously, the leading Multi-System Operators (MSOs) were permitted to only encrypt programming offered as part of more expensive packages. The major MSOs have long argued that providing non-encrypted basic tier service was inefficient, expensive and opened them to theft-of-signal piracy. They complained that the restriction imposed unfair competition on them because alternative TV services providers like satellite and telcos (e.g. Dish and AT&T) were exempt from the regulation. The […]
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Filmmaker Magazine & IFP to Program reRun Theatre, To Play Girl Walk // All Day, Otelo Burning & Habibi in November
Following on from the “25 New Faces” screening series that we have been organizing around the country, I’m very happy today to announce that Filmmaker and IFP will be programming theatrical runs at the reRun Theatre in Brooklyn, starting on November 2. The first three films we will be showing at reRun are Jacob Krupnick’s crowdpleasing NYC dance movie Girl Walk // All Day (above), Sara Blecher’s South African drama Otelo Burning, and Susan Youssef’s Gaza-set love story Habibi. We’re incredibly excited to be entering into this partnership with reRun and, through it, to continue what the magazine has been […]
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THE ‘BLUE VELVET’ PROJECT, #109
Second #5123, 85:23 Knife blade at his throat, Jeffrey is silent. Has he already decided that he’ll kill Frank? Something in his face has changed. He has the weary look of someone who knows how the game will end. In one of the first great books of modern film theory, The Aesthetics and Psychology of the Cinema (1963-65), Jean Mitry traced the gradual emergence of cinema’s ability to use shots and camera movement not merely to convey narrative information but also to convey a point of view that implies some level of judgment about characters in question: Liberated from the […]
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The Best Animated Films of 2011
It’s a good time to be making animated films, enough so that even regular indie filmmakers may want to sit up and take notice. Animation has always been on the cutting edge of film artistry and technology, and in a year that saw innovative use of motion capture, rotoscoping, CGI, and 3D (in documentaries, no less), an animated picture may be indie film’s next big thing. 2011 was also exciting because it gave us a wide open field for cartoons. For over a decade Pixar has dominated feature animation, but there’s now room for newcomers and underdogs to enjoy their […]
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HIGH BEAMS
Originally published in the Spring 2009 issue. Although cameras always seem to attract the most interest, lighting (and the correct use of it) is perhaps the most vital aspect of the cinematographer’s craft. The major innovation of the lighting front in the last few years has been the appearance of LEDs. LED (light-emitting diode) technology has been around for almost 40 years, however, so what’s new about it that impacts the movie-making industry? Only in recent years has the technology advanced to the point where LED light sources can provide enough illumination for movie lighting. The attraction is obvious: LED […]
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Leitner’s Mondo NAB, Part 2
Originally posted April 2011. I wish to continue my notes about developments in large-sensor cameras, but of course the magnesium-powder newsflash sucking up all the oxygen at NAB today is Apple’s stealth sneak peek at Final Cut Pro X last night. Apple hasn’t officially attended NAB for several years—many of us miss the consummate showmanship of their former press conferences—so when news broke on the eve of NAB that an entire slate of speakers at the 10th annual FCP User Group SuperMeet had been swept aside for a special guest, Apple fever took hold. The event sold out in a […]
