37 Results for “v/h/s”
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Can Microbudget Filmmakers Graduate to the Big Time?
Independent film has long been considered the farm leagues for Hollywood’s majors. But with fewer specialized distributors and a risk-averse studio system, do up-and-comers still have the opportunities they once did during the ecstatic exuberance of the sector’s heyday? The crossover success of former DIY filmmakers Lena Dunham (with HBO’s Girls), Sean Durkin (who is developing The Exorcist TV series) and the Duplass brothers (with their studio-indies Cyrus and Jeff, Who Lives at Home), suggests that breakthroughs are still very possible. And yet, for every Jeff Nichols (Mud) or Zal Batmanglij (The East), there are numerous filmmakers who have made […]
by Anthony Kaufman on Jul 19, 2012 -
Photos and Notes from the Maryland Film Festival
The Maryland Film Festival, which wrapped its 2012 edition on Sunday, is one of the East Coast’s most intimate and engaging film events. With 40 features, over 70 shorts and an amazingly healthy contingent of loyal filmmakers annually making the trip to Baltimore, Maryland functions as both a discovery festival and friendly pit stop for directors on the independent circuit. John Waters hosts a movie — this year Barbara Loden’s seminal and still influential Wanda — and takes the audience out partying afterwards; the Opening Night consists of shorts, not some star-bloated, sub-standard mini-major feature; and, for the second year […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 11, 2012 -
DISPOSABLE MEMORIES FROM SXSW
I pack quickly the night before leaving for SXSW. Not only do I forget to bring business cards, I don’t even pack my digital camera. I pop into a CVS once I’ve landed in Austin and pick up a two-pack of disposable cameras. I’m surprised they still sell them. My five day jaunt across SXSW is a flurry of rain, movies, tacos, friends, panels, and long lines. I watch Purple Rain on VHS. I watch V/H/S in a movie theater. I’m asked by multiple people if I’ve heard what this year’s Tiny Furniture is. I hear a big-four agent tell […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Mar 16, 2012 -
SXSW ANNOUNCES MIDNIGHTER AND SHORTS PROGRAMS
SXSW announced today the lineups for their Midnighters and Shorts programs. The Midnighters section pulls together a batch of genre-heavy world premieres, including Spanish found-footage horror sequel [REC] ³ GENESIS and dark comedy Girls Against Boys, as well as proven festival favorites V/H/S and John Dies at the End. The shorts program meanwhile is as extensive as ever, featuring 135 selections including works from James M. Johnson, Jeremiah Zagar, Bill Plympton, Dustin Guy Defa, and Josh and Benny Safdie (who present their Sundance Jury Prize winner The Black Balloon.) The full lineups: MIDNIGHTERS Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – provocative after-dark […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Feb 8, 2012 -
Let Me Out: Ti West on The Innkeepers
The problem with so many horror films today is that you feel like you’ve seen them before. I’m not talking about their plots or characters because ghosts, vampires and serial killers have been and will be dramatized again and again. No, I’m talking about the feeling of watching these films, the internal clock that prepares you for this jolt by minute three, that one by minute 10 and a final shocker just before, or after, the closing credits. Among the many excellent qualities of writer-director Ti West’s filmmaking is its refusal to be straitjacketed by the more programmatic notions of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 10, 2012 -
WHAT’S IN MY INSTAPAPER: SUNDAY MORNING LINKS, 12/4/11
I haven’t done one of these in a while — a roundup of a few things I’ve stored in my Instapaper for weekend readings. As the year goes on, Melancholia is emerging as my favorite film of 2011. Part of the reason, I think, is that the discourse about it is becoming more and more interesting. Whereas Von Trier’s Cannes comments dominated the dialogue following its opening, now not just critics but viewers are grappling with the film’s meanings. From the Occupied Territories Tumblr comes “Depression, Melancholia, and Me: Lars Von Trier’s Politics of Displeasure,” an extraordinary essay in which […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 4, 2011 -
2012 SUNDANCE SPOTLIGHT, MIDNIGHT, NEXT & NEW FRONTIER TITLES ANNOUNCED
Today the out-of-competition films were announced for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. The complete list of titles are below. See the films in competition here. See films in the Premieres sections here. Some of the highlights here include the U.S. premiere of Lynn Shelton‘s Your Sister’s Sister, which received a lot of buzz at Toronto; Katie Aselton‘s thriller Black Rock starring Lake Bell and Kate Bosworth; found footage horror V/H/S directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg and Radio Silence; and Craig Zobel‘s follow-up to The Great World of Sound, Compliance and Tim and Eric’s […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Dec 1, 2011
