Shushers, Vulgar Auteurism and the NSA: Sunday Morning Links, August 11, 2013

Here are some links to take your through the rest of the weekend. Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine gives his first interview since the release of mbv. The encrypted email service Lavabit has shut down rather than, it is surmised, comply with U.S. government demands regarding its data. “If you knew what I know about email, you might not use it,” says its founder. At the New Yorker, Richard Brody responds to discussion of “vulgar auteurism”: There has been lots of talk online in recent weeks about a critical phenomenon called “vulgar auteurism” (V.A.), a term coined—as I just…  Read more

Remember to Talk about the Movies!

For those of you who are in the film business, I have some advice: when taking a meeting, remember to talk about a movie! Now, I’m not saying this as some kind of altruistic public service, as if independent film will die if you don’t get out there and talk it up. No, I’m offering it as a piece of practical self-help because, when meeting someone from the film industry, you will seem a more interesting and worthwhile person if you have something interesting to say about a movie itself! This piece of advice may seem a bit oxymoronic. I…  Read more

What’s in the Summer Issue of Filmmaker

The Summer issue of Filmmaker is in mailboxes and on newsstands. Appearing on the cover is Fruitvale Station writer/director Ryan Coogler in what has been called an epic dialogue with fellow director Ava DuVernay. Their talk encompasses Coogler’s practice of working with two editors, how he preps for his shoot day, the concept of black innocence and the reason he included the dog scene. And while much of our print content is print only, we’ve unlocked the paywall for this story. You can read it here. Also in the issue: our annual 25 New Faces selection, our pick of the…  Read more

Filmmaker’s Most Popular Posts of July, 2013

Via Google Analytics, here are our most popular posts of July, 2013. 1. 25 New Faces of 2013. No surprise here. Our annual survey of new talent regularly nabs our top traffic of the year — so much so that our site has crashed for two years straight. (Thanks, site5!) If you haven’t surveyed the list, you can find all 25 of our directors, actors, cinematographers and new media artists here. 2. Summer Grant Deadlines for Filmmakers. Dante Pilkington’s listing of funding opportunities for both fiction and documentary filmmakers took the number two spot. But if you’re just coming across…  Read more

Filmmaker Seeks Contributing Web Editor

Are you a good writer, knowledgeable about new developments in film and new media, and a reader of Filmmaker? Filmmaker is currently seeking an NYC-based Contributing Web Editor. This is a part-time position involving daily writing and posting to this site. In addition to possessing strong writing, reporting and editing skills, our ideal candidate will have experience with filmmaking itself, whether that’s in features, shorts or web/new media work. Our Contributing Web Editor will report on developments of interest to our filmmaking audience, including reports on new equipment and technologies, software and events as well as stories focusing on the…  Read more

Follow Filmmaker on App.net

You can now follow Filmmaker on App.net. What is App.net? Well, here’s Ben Friedland last August on the App.net blog: App.net is a subscription-based, advertising-free social network and API. It’s a platform that developers can rely on and that members can use to interact with each other. App.net connects members’ feeds across clients built by third-party developers. Developers are free to build on our API – we’ll even send you a monthly payment, if your app is well-received – which means that members have a variety of apps to choose from to access the network. Most of the larger press…  Read more

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Director David Slade on His First Shoot

Filmmaker Paul Stone has launched a great online interview series, “My First Shoot,” which features filmmakers talking about their first time on set as directors. What’s particularly interesting about it is the perspective the passing of time affords. These aren’t directors talking about the shoots they wrapped last week. No, in many cases these are experienced directors reflecting back, pulling from their memory banks, and constructing lessons that can only be gained by the perspective continued practice provides. An example is provided by the latest interviewee, Twilight Saga: Eclipse director David Slade. I interviewed Slade for Filmmaker during the Sundance…  Read more

Harmony Korine in the Paris Review, World/Life Boundaries, H.P. Lovecraft, Coding, Film Locations and More: Sunday Links

On the rerelease of his collage novel, A Crackup at the Race Riots, Harmony Korine is interviewed by Christopher Higgs at the Paris Review. Here, Korine describes the process that created the book 15 years ago: At that point in my life I had no idea how to contain my ideas. The creative process was more explosive for me. And I didn’t have a filter, and I didn’t try to filter anything, as much as just try to get stuff down. So, I would just write everywhere. I would wake up in the morning and hear a conversation on the…  Read more

The Kids from Kids, Savages, the Internet, Screenwriting, Soderbergh, Mellow Pages and More: Sunday Links

For Narratively, Carolyn Rothstein revisits the kids from Kids, 20 years later, in “Legends Never Die.” Chloe Sevigny and Rosario Dawson are stars, Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter have passed away, and the others are living their lives in diverse and at times unexpected ways. As her interviewees tell it, Kids was not just about people but a city: The kids say the film was accurate, except for the most fantastical stuff. There’s no denying they weren’t sober during filming. Even the scene with Javier Nunez, at fourteen, by far the youngest of the skate crew, and three other little…  Read more

Hope, Soderbergh, Bowie, Hannah, Bolano and Glass (Google and Ira): Sunday Morning Links

The San Francisco International Film Festival is underway, the first under the San Francisco Film Society’s new head, Ted Hope. In an interview with Casey Burchby at the San Francisco Weekly, Hope tells the story of his move from producing in New York to running the organization in the Bay Area and how it reflects his own evolving ideas on independent media in the 21st century. I especially like this quote about how artists can rethink their process in a time of plenty. Emphasis added below: Burchby: I wanted to connect your vision for the SF Film Society to the…  Read more