A curious celebration of cinema and the mix of craft, history and ideology that goes into its making, Angela Ismailos’ Great Directors provides a chance to travel into the minds of ten of the world’s most celebrated film directors. In conversations with Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Liliana Cavani, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, Richard Linklater and John Sayles, Ismailos probes these directors for the secrets of their success while recounting much of the history of post-War world cinema via archival footage, occasionally ponderous black-and-white B-roll of the filmmakers, and mostly insightful voice over commentary. Detailed and […]
On March 20 & 21, IFP, with The Writer’s Guild of America, East, will present its annual Script to Screen Conference in New York City. This year’s conference opens with The Daily Show’s Steve Bodow and closes with Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Twilight) and Brian Koppelman (Rounders, Ocean’s Thirteen). Other guests include Peter Hedges (About a Boy), Debra Granik (2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Winter’s Bone) Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls), Ry Russo-Young (You Wont Miss Me) and recent Filmmaker “25 New Face” Lena Dunham (Delusional Downtown Divas) to name a few. The guests will discuss new challenges and opportunities taking […]
Leading up to the Oscars on March 7, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Ira Sachs interviewed The Messenger co-writer-director Oren Moverman for our Fall 2009 issue. The Messenger is nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Woody Harrelson) and Best Original Screenplay (Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman). The two Iraq war soldiers played by Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson in Oren Moverman’s astonishing directorial debut, The Messenger, serve in a different kind of military theater. It’s not in the Middle East but at home, here in […]
Anthony Kaufman’s current Village Voice piece, “New York’s Independent Film Community Goes from Boom to Bust: My Big Fat Greek Collapse,” has some good quotes that speak to the changes the indie film world has gone through this past decade. I’m not one to periodize things too much by saying that things were once X and now they are Y. Independent film has always been too multi-headed a hydra, and the business plans that a distributor talks about were often ones that didn’t have much to do with the majority of actual makers. That said, on decade’s end it’s clear […]
Thanks to Jamie Stuart for the heads up about the trailer for After Last Season, which is in the early stages of going viral by virtue of its genuine oddness. Michael Tully at his Indiewire blog writes, “It’s like Todd Haynes lost his mind after Safe and was hired to direct a series of cable access sci-fi infomercials,” while David Lowery writes, “I’ve watched the trailer about ten times now, and have yet to tire of it. It is so beyond logic in its construction that it essentially reinvents itself anew upon each viewing.” In addition to being featured on […]
I tend to be a check-in, sit on my hotel or condo bed and go through the catalog kind of person. I don’t really plan my schedule way in advance. This year I’ve taken a longer look at the catalog than usual and jotted down a few thoughts on some films I want to see and a couple that we know a little bit more about. Consider these the equivalent of notebook scribblings and reminders-to-self — more coherent (and substantive) writing on many of these films will follow later. Dramatic Competition Amreeka: I saw the first 18 minutes of this […]
Independent filmmakers like to think that they are creating works of art that contribute to an enduring American culture. There’s just one problem: these works of art are disintegrating. Literally. More concerned with life rights than half-life, filmmakers are allowing their films to crumble and dissolve into analog blurs and forests of digital glitches as formats change, materials are uncared for, and elements are left forgotten on lab floors. Enter the Sundance Collection, a collaborative program with the UCLA Film and Television Archive. It is the first archive to be devoted exclusively to the preservation of independent cinema. This year, […]
At his blog Keef has assembled a tasteful playlist of music videos by feature film directors. Van Sant, Jarmusch, Wong Kar Wai, Sayles, Scorsese, Lynn Ramsay and Gaspar Noe all make appearances. Here are two. “Savoure le Rouge” by Indochine, directed by Marc Caro. “Disapearer,” by Sonic Youth, directed by Todd Haynes.Sonic Youth – New Music – More Music Videos
The cinematic year of the pregnant woman continued as Juno won Best Picture, Best Actress (Ellen Page, pictured), and Best First Screenplay at the Film Independent Spirit Awards this weekend while nominee Angelina Jolie, clad in a tight-fitting black dress, made gossip page news by premiering her own baby bump at the event’s red carpet. The Spirits have always managed the tricky business of blending authentic Hollywood glamour, cheeky awards-show irreverence, and sincere salute to independent film, and this year was no exception. Winners spanned the range from mega-hits like Juno to no-budget indies like Chop Shop, and the crowd […]
Juno was the big winner of the Spirit Awards, which just wrapped up on a soggy afternoon in Santa Monica, CA. The film walked away with Best Feature, Best Female Lead for Ellen Page and Best First Screenplay for Diablo Cody. The complete list of winners is below. BEST FEATUREJuno BEST DIRECTORJulian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly BEST MALE LEADPhilip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages BEST FEMALE LEADEllen Page, Juno BEST SUPPORTING MALEChiwetel Ejiofor, Talk To Me BEST SUPPORTING FEMALECate Blanchett, I’m Not There BEST SCREENPLAYTamara Jenkins, The Savages BEST FIRST SCREENPLAYDiablo Cody, Juno BEST DOCUMENTARYCrazy Love, Director: Dan […]