Sometimes people ask me how I went from living in Los Angeles, writing a studio film like 40 Days & 40 Nights, to living in Minneapolis, directing an independent comedy like nobody. It’s a fair question but it seems there’s a subtext here, too. Many people think independent film is a step down from the studio system. And I’m sure it is — for some people. But let’s go back. 40 Days & 40 Nights is about a guy who gives up sex for lent and then meets the perfect girl. The short version of how it was made goes […]
Toronto Life lists the 51 hotspots that you should be aware of if you want to survive TIFF 09. From where to get coffee to where you can see the celebs this is an essential guide. They also have a list of bars that have received licenses to stay open past last call during the fest.
A STILL FROM DIRECTOR JOE BERLINGER’S CRUDE. COURTESY FIRST RUN FEATURES. Joe Berlinger is a filmmaker who makes documentaries that tell important stories with integrity, while still always entertaining his audiences. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1961, Berlinger studied English and German at Colgate University, and got his first taste of the movie business while working on TV commercials at an advertising agency in Frankfurt. After deciding he wanted to make films, he moved to New York City, where he got a job working for the Maysles brothers. Berlinger’s first foray into directing was the documentary short Outrageous Taxi Stories […]
Here’s the teaser for Harmony Korine’s Trash Humpers, premiering this week in Toronto and then heading to the New York Film Festival.
Ted Hope has an essential post this morning, “Ten Steps (Plus One) for how to Survive the Current Indie Producer Hell.” Reading it I almost thought of it as a sequel to his 1995 Filmmaker piece, “Indie Film is Dead,” which remains one of the best things we’ve published. (Reading that earlier piece is both fascinating and depressing. The more things change….) There’s a tiny bit of tongue-in-cheek in this post because, frankly, these steps are virtually unattainable for the vast majority of producers out there, as some of the commenters in Hope’s comments thread argue. Here are the first […]
Over at Movie City Indie, Ray Pride posts a two minute clip of Guy Maddin’s short film Night Mayor which will have public screenings at TIFF on Saturday, Sept. 12 @ 4:00PM (ISABEL BADER THEATRE) & Sunday, Sept. 13 @ 1:15PM (JACKMAN HALL – AGO). Looks like vintage Maddin to me. A description of the short reads: The filmmaker whose cinematic style inspired the term “Maddinesque” delivers a fantastical film about the night mayor of Winnipeg, an inventor of Bosnian descent who harnesses the power of the aurora borealis to transmit distinctly Canadian images across the Great White North. Guy […]
With their latest film, How to Fold a Flag, documentary filmmakers Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein have come full circle. Their first feature was 2004’s Gunner Palace, which told the story of soldiers in the Army’s 2/3 Field Artillery as they patroled the streets of Baghdad in late 2003 and early 2004. Told in a gritty style that threw viewers right into the midst of conflict, the film resisted an overt political agenda, focusing instead on the daily lives of the troops. The Prisoner: Or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair followed, a chillingly Kafkaesque story of an Iraqi […]
More in today’s New York Times that’s worth noting: Alice Pfeiffer’s piece on how the art world is dealing with digital art creation and sales. Again, much of the most interesting thought about these issues is happening outside of the film world. An excerpt: The speed of change in electronic technology, the disconnect between data storage and display and the virtual nature of digital imagery raise difficult questions: how to tell genuine from fake or copy; how to create and protect uniqueness; and how to protect a work against technological obsolescence. Video art, for example, is typically sold as a […]
From today’s New York Times, a piece by Ben Ratliffe on Jim O’Rourke and his move to Japan, his turn towards improvisation and film scores, his new album The Visitor (pictured), and his attempt to control context. An excerpt: Mr. O’Rourke’s production style is precise and dry; he creates a sound picture in which tiny sonic details matter. But where his Drag City records are concerned, everything matters: the pacing, the length, the sound, the cover images. For this reason he won’t allow “The Visitor,” or any of his albums, to be sold as downloads, on iTunes or anywhere else. […]
The Further Adventures of Death Tripper, Ouroboros and What lies Beyond Jupiter Cannes, France. In a cinematic year filled with visions of extreme sex and violence, the enfant provocateur of French cinema Gaspar Noe illuminates a phosphorescent direction forward. In person Noe could be mistaken as the progeny of Aleister Crowley with sunken-in, charcoal-lined eyes and shaved head. But lurking behind this visage is a filmmaker who courts controversy with vivacity and confidence. The last time Noe was at Cannes was to premiere his film Irreversible; he ingratiated himself into the hearts and minds of audiences willing to be subjugated […]