While at Sundance I sat down with director Floria Sigismondi to discuss her debut feature, The Runaways, starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning as Joan Jett and Cherie Curie. I’ve been a fan of Floria’s for years, and with The Runaways she has brought her keen sense of place and design to convincingly recreate the Los Angeles rock scene of the ’70s. We talked about the origins of the movie, her cinematic inspirations (Christianne F.!), and getting the City of Angels right. Thanks to Sabi Picture’s Zak Forsman, Kevin Shah and Jamie Cobb for shooting and editing the piece.
So I’ve been a little out of touch, I know. It’s taken some time to absorb what’s been going on since we premiered at the G-Tech 500 seat theater in the Austin Convention Center on Monday afternoon. Everything has been happening so fast. Jeanette Maier, the subject of our film, seemed pretty calm as we all had our photos taken in front of the step-and-repeat (the yellow SXSW logo wall) and there was a huge lineup before anyone got in. I realized this just after I sent a message to two colleagues who I’d been emailing with (but had never […]
The Tribeca Film Festival announced today its line-up of short films. The Festival has selected 47, including Joachim Back’s 2010 Academy Award-winning film for Best Live Action Short, The New Tenants. They will be presented in six thematic programs with 21 world premieres, a record number for the festival. Selections include shorts directed by Ken Jacobs, Max Hoffman, James Cromwell, Joshua Bell, and returning TFF directors include Jacobs, Domenica Scorsese, Rodney Evans, Mark Street, Jean-Gabriel Periot, Tal Rosner, Bill Morrison, Thomas Hefferon and Sara Zandieh. Learn more at tribecafilm.com/festival. Full list of titles are below. HARD CORE Bedford Park Boulevard, […]
Here is Ride Rise Roar director David Hillman Curtis’s post-screening, post-Austin blog. Back in Brooklyn. Missing the warmth. The house we rented. The juice shack down the street I went to everyday, the festival and the films and the camaraderie we shared in that big house on Barton Blvd. It was an exciting trip for so many reasons. Like any big project, our film almost met an early fate several times. There were the cuts David rightly did not like and the commercial projects that sidelined the film for months at a time. A couple little flare ups looked as […]
It’ not everyday that I can stream in its entirety a new film by Jean-Luc Godard on the website. Okay, I don’t know for sure that the teaser trailer for Godard’s forthcoming Socialism is the whole film, albeit sped-up, but I imagine it is. From a blog called Radio Deleuze comes what seems to be a synopsis: A symphony in three movements. Things such as: The Mediterranean, a cruise ship. Numerous conversations, in numerous languages, between the passengers, almost all of whom are on holiday… An old man, a war criminal (German, French, American we don?t know) accompanied by his […]
Heather Menicucci from Howcast, the online site that develops filmmakers by having them create its instructional training videos, was down at SXSW meeting filmmakers and interviewing them for Howcast and YouTube’s Creator’s Corner. She’s just posted this video with tips from directors on how to attend SXSW. SXSW may be winding down on the film side (the awards are over but films are still screening), but, needless to say, these tips hold true for independent filmmakers and fests in general. Heather says the series will continue in coming days so check back to her site.
Garth Donovan’s Phillip the Fossil got good buzz at SXSW, with its lead actor, Brian Hasenfus, picking up a Special Jury Award for Best Individual Performance. I met Donovan on Tuesday and used my Flip camera to ask him a few questions about his movie.
Today is the day our film screens at the gorgeous Paramount cinema in Austin. We were there opening night for the raucous screening of KICK-ASS and so it feels like we have big shoes to fill! However a quick glimpse at the theatre at lunchtime with a queue already forming despite the rain, we had some hope of at least filling the 600 seat stalls before we had to worry about the balcony. It ended up being better than we could have expected (I know I keep saying this, but SXSW keeps amazing me!) and we had lines all around […]
An operatic look at the largely forgotten life and times of Benito Mussolini’s first wife Ida Dalser (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), veteran Italian helmer Marco Bellocchio’s Vincere is a tragedy on scales both intimate and national. Il Duce’s transformation from a anti-war journalist to socialist rebel rouser to brutal fascist dictator is glimpsed through the lens of his misbegotten first marriage to Dalser, a beautiful and politically conscious Milano hair dresser who, enraptured by his charms and ideals, sells off her business and belongings to fund his early publishing efforts. However, in the wake of their marriage and the birth of their […]
The winners of the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas were announced tonight. Here is a complete list of the awards: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – Marwencol (Director: Jeff Malmberg) Runner-up: War Don Don (Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen) NARRATIVE FEATURE – Tiny Furniture (Director: Lena Dunham) Special Jury Award – Best Ensemble: Myth of the American Sleepover (Director: David Robert Mitchell) SPECIAL JURY AWARD – Best Individual Performance: Brian Hasenfus in Phillip the Fossil (Director: Garth Donovan) Feature Film Audience Awards DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – For Once in My Life (Directors: Jim Bigham & Mark Moormann) NARRATIVE FEATURE – Brotherhood (Director: Will Canon) […]