The world of arts and criticism used to be such that one critical work published in the correct publication would ensure one’s permanent place in the culture. For George S. Trow, who wrote numerous articles and plays and who died in Naples this week at 63, that work was a 1980 New Yorker essay entitled “Within the Context of No-Context.” Its thesis, that television and celebrity culture had destroyed contemporary discourse and altered our relationship to the rhythms of history, had its echoes in Adorno,, Marcuse, Baudrillard and many others, but Trow’s stark, aphoristic prose published in a weekly magazine […]
Gotham Tribute recipients Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban (the latter a no-show at the Gothams the other night) may have created the most buzz in the blogosphere with their multi-platform release of Soderbergh’s Bubble, but another company with equally deep pockets is conducting a window-busting experiment this weekend. Clickstar, a joint venture between chip-maker Intel and actor Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment, has partnered with THINKfilm to release Brad Silberling’s 10 Items or Less in theaters; in two weeks, on December 15, the movie will be available for digital download. Over at the Cinematech blog, Scott Kirsner tells you what to […]
In the second day of lineup announcements for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, titles range from the the already announced opening night film, Brett Morgen‘s Chicago 10, to the closing night film Nelson George‘s Life Support. Other notables include, Craig Brewer‘s Black Snake Moan, Sarah Polley‘s Away from Her (which was already praised at Toronto), Mike White‘s Year of the Dog, and Gregg Araki‘s stoner comedy Smiley Face. Premieres AN AMERICAN CRIME/ USA, Director: Tommy O’Haver; Screenwriters: Tommy O’Haver, Irene TurnerA fictionalized account of the true story of a young girl’s torturous ordeal at the hands of a troubled mother […]
If you’re wondering how filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden made a great first feature that has racked up a ton of awards, including last night’s Gotham win, well, ask them yourself. The Daily Reel has them in their “Ask the Expert” section. Click on the link for the email address to forward your own questions about independent production.
The Gotham Awards were handed out Wednesday night in a ceremony at the Chelsea Piers. The big winner was Half Nelson, which took the Best Feature, Breakthrough Director (for Ryan Fleck, pictured at left with producer and co-write Anna Boden) and Breakthrough Actor (Shareeka Epps, an award split with Babel‘s Rinko Kinkuchi). Steve Barron’s Choking Man won the “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You Award,” sponsored by Filmmaker and MOMA. D.p. Ellen Kuras was awarded a tribute for her work shooting innumerable great independent films, and other Gothams went to Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner, Kate Winslet, […]
Chris Smith. George Ratliff. Jeffrey Blitz. David Gordon Green. Jessica Yu. Those are some of the names you will recognize while looking over the 64 films below that were announced today for the 2007 Sundance Film Festival International Film and World Cinema Competitions. The festival will be held Jan. 18-28. Documentary Competition BANISHED (Director: Marco Williams)—This story of three U.S. towns which, in the early 20th century, forced their entire African American populations to leave, explores what—if anything—can be done to repair past racial injustice. World Premiere. CHASING GHOSTS (Director: Lincoln Ruchti)—Twin Galaxies Arcade, Iowa, 1982: the birthplace of mankind’s […]
Looking through the nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards I’m very happy to see Ali Selim’s Sweet Land nominated for Best First Feature and Best Female Lead for Elizabeth Reaser. Since I saw it premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival (where it won the Audience Award) in 2005 I’ve been a big fan. Set in a turbulent post-WWI America, Reaser gives a gripping performance as a German immigrant sent to Minnesota for an arranged marriage and hope for a better life and David Tumblety’s camera work of the Northwestern plains are breathtaking. The film had to go the self-distribution […]
Gotham Awards Tribute recipient Ellen Kuras takes us into the fast-paced life of an in-demand DP. Ellen Kuras operates like a perpetual-motion machine. One moment she’s photographing Michel Gondry’s latest feature. The next, shooting The Rolling Stones for Martin Scorsese. There are meetings with Lou Reed about an upcoming concert project. Also, a long-gestating documentary she’s been directing at every opportunity. And in between all of that, she found time to replace her old car that just died and pick up her new tailless cat from the vet. ELLEN KURAS. There are, of course, rewards to such endeavors. Like being […]
Below Andre Salas gives you some details about the special screening series at MOMA this week of the films we selected for our “Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You” Gotham Award. This is the second year of this award — last year we selected Caveh Zahedi’s I am a Sex Addict as the winner and Robinson Devor’s Police Beat as one of the nominees, and this year I think we picked films of similar quality. Indeed, it’s gratifying for all of us at Filmmaker to take such a concentrated look at worthy films that have really fallen […]
Ira Deutchman emailed to tell me about the new blog for his company Emerging Pictures and a post he has up remembering Robert Altman. It’s great and long, a collection of Ira’s memories having worked with Altman on the distribution of a number of his films. When reading I had a hard time picking a section to excerpt. I was strongly tempted to lift the paragraph about Altman and Deutchman smoking a joint that had been found mashed in Altman’s shoe outside the Beekman on the opening day of The Player, but I’ll let you click to that and quote […]