All of you budding Bela Tarrs, take note: Vimeo has increased its upload limits to 5 GB. Okay, that won’t you get into Satantango territory, but it will let you stream two-and-a-half hours of HD content from the video sharing site. That’s more than enough for the majority of indie features and docs. The press release is below. LAS VEGAS, Jan. 5, 2011 – Online video sharing site Vimeo(R), an operating business of IAC [NASDAQ: IACI], today announced that it has increased the size of a single file that a Vimeo Plus member can upload from 2GB to 5GB. As […]
I have to admit, I find the way ads are served on the Film Annex sites is kind of weird. My browser gets spazzy as the “Pet Fit” commercial affixed to the head of this Abel Ferrara clip montage plays. That said, it’s worth sitting through a chirpy model telling you how to slim down your canine for this collection of prime moments from Abel Ferrara’s career. (How great was Madonna in Dangerous Game?) Ferrara is the subject of a series of mostly new films at the Anthology Film Archives this week, “Abel Ferrara in the 21st Century.” (Note to […]
Award-winning Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman (Divine Intervention) makes idiosyncratic films about the endless conflict between Arabs and Israelis, stitching together wryly humorous tableaux that speak to the absurdity of life under occupation. Suleiman himself is often a character in these tragicomic dramas, a mute witness quietly observing the agitations of the Middle East at ground level, with lidded eyes and a mournful face that commentators have repeatedly likened to Buster Keaton’s. As a youth infatuated with socialism, Suleiman (now 50) fled a pending arrest warrant in Nazareth (the authorities were under the impression he was a gang member) and moved […]
I’ll be writing more about this award and the films in the days ahead, but, for the moment, here is a press releasing announcing a new award Filmmaker is very happy to be sponsoring at Cinema Eye this year. New York – The Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking announced today the five nominees for the first annual Cinema Eye Heterodox Award, sponsored by Filmmaker Magazine. The Cinema Eye Heterodox Award marks a new award category created to honor a narrative film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production. These films illuminate the formal possibilities of nonfiction […]
Back in the day, designing an issue of Filmmaker meant two or three weeks of long evenings sitting around our office in the DGA building on 57th street with our beloved designer Wayne Van Acker. Wayne passed away a few years ago, but I thought of him today when I saw this notice that designer David Carson is returning to print journalism with a new magazine titled, appropriately, Carson. We were — and still are — closet design geeks, and we always held up certain designers as our heroes. Neville Brody was the one we could all agree on, with […]
Here is the introduction to a series of posts from filmmaker John Yost on today’s micro-budget filmmaking scene. Check back each week for John’s conversations with various filmmakers debating issues related to the making and distribution of ultra-low-budget movies. — S.M. What is micro-budget filmmaking? What makes a film micro-budget? Is it simply the amount of money spent? Is it the quality of the story, image, and sound? Is it a cliché at this point? Where did it come from? What about the word “indie”? Is “indie” just a buzz word now? Is the sky falling? Are we going to […]
One of the great joys of being a critic is the childlike sense of wonder that comes with being the first to discover something new (that, and as the esteemed music critic Lester Bangs once put it, getting free shit). I first met Zachary Oberzan after seeing his one-man show Rambo Solo, developed with Nature Theater of Oklahoma, in early 2009. (Yes, for the record the tickets were comp since I was reviewing for Theater Online.) At the time I wrote, “I have seen the theater future and its name is Rambo – or more accurately, one fearless thespian named […]
Back in September we asked, “Is Apple Delaying a New Final Cut Studio?” The French rumor site Hardmac reported that the next version of editing software had experience “setbacks” and that, furthermore, engineering talent was being transfered to the iOS department. Now, Hardmac is reporting that a new version of Final Cut Studio “should” come out in March or April. From the site: Let’s start with Final Cut Suites. AS we reported earlier, all version of Final Cut should be unveiled in March or early April. It should be a substantial update when compared to the previous version, but not […]
Vimeo has launched what they’re calling Vimeo Film School — a collection of online videos walking you through the process of selecting a camera, learning to shoot and take sound, and mastering the next level of technique, like using follow focus and lighting. Here’s one of the early episodes below, in which Philip Bloom shows Andrea Allen the Canon 5D Mark II, the Canon 60D, and the new Panasonic GH2. Watch them all at the link. Introduction to DSLR Cameras with Philip Bloom from Vimeo Staff on Vimeo.
New York Blizzard – ITV Daybreak VT from dantv on Vimeo. Watch the complete film, “Idiot with a Tripod,” here.