What’s in the New Fall Edition of Filmmaker (And Why You Should Pick It Up)

Filmmaker‘s Fall issue is now live, arriving on newsstands, in mailboxes and online, both as a digital issue and in Apple’s Newsstand. (The iPad edition can be bought here) and you can subscribe here. I like this issue. It’s got an old-school Filmmaker flavor to it, in a way. By that I mean it’s got an eclectic mix of articles, each with its own voice, covering topics ranging from practical filmmaking concerns to theory. Our Line Items section, consisting of long-form articles, is particularly robust, which I think is appropriate. These days when you buy an individual copy of a…  Read more

Welcoming Contributing Web Editor Sarah Salovaara

This week we are happy to welcome Sarah Salovaara to our Filmmaker team as our new Contributing Web Editor. Filmmaker readers will recognize Sarah’s byline as she has contributed previously to the site as a freelancer, but with this new position she’ll be contributing each week on a wide range of topics spanning film production, financing, new media and criticism. Most recently in a series of thoughtful and well-read articles, she spoke with the founder and participants of Dogfish Accelerator, looked past the media circus of Blue is the Warmest Color and spoke with director, actor and No Budge founder…  Read more

R.I.P., Lou Reed

Lou Reed died today. My condolences to his wife, Laurie Anderson, as well as to everyone who, like me, he meant so much to at so many different stages of our lives. Here are just a few of my favorite Lou Reed songs.

iOS 7 at the One-Month Mark: 18 Picks and Pans

Apple’s “polarizing” mobile operating system iOS 7, an update which stripped away the skeuomorphism (i.e., the fake leather and other real-world metaphors found in apps like Calendar and Game Center) of previous versions in favor of a “flat” design style, was unveiled by the company on June 10 at its WWDC keynote and pushed to users on September 18. And for the most of this year, the Apple media universe — the parade of blogs and podcasts that have made a mini-industry of commenting upon the Cupertino company — have spoken of little else. But now that the OS is…  Read more

On Watching Half of The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby

In the Fall issue of Filmmaker that went to the printer last week is my coverage of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. But there’s one film — or, rather, half a film — I didn’t write about. I’ll explain, but that involves a detour into a discussion of ’90s experimental theater. The Sarajevo-based Open Stage Obala’s Tattoo Theatre is a lovely work that follows a couple from courtship to old age, tracing their loves, infidelities and reunions with evocative, unexpected imagery. (Old age, for example, is represented by the actors standing face to audience and covering themselves with flour.)…  Read more

How Much Would You Pay for a Banksy?

How much would you pay for a Banksy? A shot of a Banksy, that is, not the actual work itself. As RobertoofParkSlope’s Instagram documents, the British artist’s New York tour seems to be providing income opportunities for enterprising folks over here.

Filmmaker John Greyson Remains Jailed Inside Cairo Prison

Acclaimed Canadian director John Greyson and Dr. Tarek Loubani remain in a Cairo, Egypt prison following yesterday’s no-show by a prosecutor scheduled to meet with lawyers for the two men. Greyson and Loubani were arrested on August 16 on their way to Gaza City, where Loubani runs a program training doctors at a local hospital. Greyson was reportedly planning a documentary project. Due to strife in the region, the two extended their stay in Cairo an extra day when they were arrested and held for a 15-day detention period, a stay which ended yesterday. Now, they are being held indefinitely…  Read more

What New Film Has the Most 25 New Faces of All Time?

There are many good reasons to see David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, opening today. Many of those are articulated in David Barker’s interview with Lowery and Anthony Kaufman’s interview with its D.P., Bradford Young, but here’s another: this single film displays the work of more of our 25 New Faces than any other picture. Here’s that list: Jay Van Hoy & Lars Knudson. Now mainstays of the independent scene, New York-based Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen were, in 2006, the first producers to appear on the “25 New Faces” list. At the time the Parts and Labor team…  Read more

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