Just posted in our new issue is Roberto Quezada-Dardon’s second article for us about shooting on the new DSLR still cameras. This one is “Pimp your DSLR,” in which Quezada-Dardon looks at some of the new accessories that are being manufactured to bring video camera functionality to these cameras. He also has his own blog, Outtakes, in which he’s posting a lot of great related material, including links to Canon 5D workflows , blog posts on working with HD, and outtakes from the pieces he’s written for Filmmaker, which include extended interviews with filmmakers like Zak Forsman. Recommended.
I was at a dinner with a number of filmmakers last night and had a long discussion with a fellow producer that verged into all of the things people in the film business discuss today. Namely: how can the distribution platforms that currently exist today (theatrical, video, VOD, etc.) be somehow combined, re-ordered, reconstituted in a way that will enable a more financially beneficial base for independent film production? It is a tough question. I will admit that I’m in the camp that believes that there are potential rewards for the filmmakers willing to put the sweat equity into the […]
Hands down one of my favorite films of 2007 is this funny yet poignant documentary about a driven San Francisco Pentecostal minister who wants to make films. Though I will admit I was a little late on the One bandwagon (I didn’t see the film until we started screening titles to consider for that year’s Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You for the Gotham Awards, which unfortunately, because of the talented crop of titles that year, wasn’t nominated for the award), Michael Jacobs’s film found a lot of success on the festival circuit, winning awards at SXSW, […]
Directors Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden highlight the life and work of jazz great Anita O’Day in this beautifully packaged 2-disc DVD release spotlighting one of the last living female greats from the golden era of jazz. Known as “The Jezebel of Jazz”, Day died at 87 soon after the production of this documentary was complete. But as in her prime, Day comes off as a feisty lover of life in the doc, not shy to speak her mind and unapologetic of the mistakes she’s made in the past. Self-described as “not a singer, but a song stylist”, Day, who […]
Select stories from the Summer issue are now online. Check out our annual 25 New Faces of Independent Film list. Jeffrey Levy-Hinte talks about his doc, Soul Power. And Lynn Shelton, Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard and the rest of the creative team behind the Sundance sensation Humpday talk about the process to make this poignant comedy. Plus, Roberto Quezada-Dardon follows up on his DSLR piece from the Spring issue with a look at the accessories that are bringing video camera functionality to single-lens reflex cameras. Esther B. Robinson looks at the day jobs working filmmakers are doing. And in his […]
On Saturday night an exclusive dinner was hosted for participants to discuss issues involving alternative and arthouse film exhibition. The IFP’s Danielle DiGiacomo was there, and she files this report. On Saturday afternoon, in the sun-drenched backyard of the El Paso Tacqueria on 104th and Lexington, Rooftop Films, Cinereach, and IFF Rotterdam launched both a new partnership and a new form of the “panel discussion.” As white sangria flowed freely and guacamole was savored, several of independent film’s industry leaders and filmmakers and programmers came together to confab about “New Collaborative Models of Film Exhibition.” At least, according to the […]
Oscilloscope Pictures founder, Beastie Boy member, and recent IFP Board member addition Adam Yauch has announced that he’ll be undergoing treatment for cancer of the salivary gland. The group is postponing the release of their next album and tour while Yauch and his doctors address this very treatable form of cancer. Everyone at Filmmaker sends our best wishes to Yauch for a speedy recovery.
I stopped by St. Mark’s Bookshop this afternoon and noted that they are remaining open past midnight on Monday, August 3 (until 12:30) to sell copies of the new Thomas Pynchon novel, Inherent Vice, which goes on sale Tuesday. This new Pynchon has snuck up on me — I knew it was coming out but I hadn’t realized so soon. So, Googling I come across the cover, which at first I thought was a joke. It’s got a real Elmore Leonard ’80s design thing going on, or maybe a Carl Hiassen vibe, or, less charitably, as a poster on at […]
We continue with our series of posts from the Sundance Labs, this time with producer Thomas Woodrow, who is attending the Sundance Creative Producing Lab. For some reason, when I think of the role of the producer, I am always reminded of the role George Martin is characterized as having played for the Beatles in a documentary I saw years ago. It’s not exactly the same in music as in film, obviously, but in that documentary, Martin was ever-present: encouraging, discouraging, masterminding, playing politician, literally writing orchestration at times (for Sgt. Pepper) and at all times moving the process toward […]
The International Film Festival Rotterdam and Rooftop Films has teamed up this weekend for two screenings highlighting titles from the fest. Last night at the American Can Factory in Brooklyn was Edwin’s (yes, first name only) Blind Pig Wants to Fly, which took home the FIPRESCI Prize this year. (Pictured above, left to right: Rotterdam Film Festival topper Rutger Wolfson and directors Eugenio Polgovsky and Edwin.) It was great to see a sold-out house on a rainy night (the screening was moved indoors) for this sweetly unusual film. Brandon Harris was there seeing the film for the third time, and […]