| Filmmaker Magazine

REMEMBER THE ALAMO

This year I attended SXSW for the first time (embarassingly), and, as a juror for the Narrative Competition, spent a lot of time at the famed Alamo Downtown Cinema and Drafthouse. I watched a lot of their really fun trailer reels, ate a bunch of their burgers and chicken sandwiches, and wound up really getting off on the place’s hip calendar-house/movie fan palace vibe. I guess I should be glad I made it down there this year because, as this article in Ain’t It Cool News reveals, Austin’s Alamo Downtown is soon to be no more due to the typical […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 21, 2007

I AM A FREE MAN!

This weekend the IFP and Filmmaker will be hosting four screenings of Michael Tucker’s The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair. We’ll be doing Q and A’s with director Tucker (whose previous film was the Iraq doc Gunnar Palace) after the 5:15 and 7:20 shows, Friday and Saturday, at the Cinema Village in New York. The doc was a bit hit down at SXSW and I’m eager to talk with Tucker about its production. Here’s how the filmmakers describe the film: In an absurd comedy of errors, a freedom-loving Iraqi journalist is mistaken as Tony Blair’s would-be […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 20, 2007

FESTIVALS ARE DEAD! (LONG LIVE FESTIVALS!)

I’ve long argued that filmmakers shouldn’t view theatrical distribution as the be-all and end-all of their filmmaker efforts. Other forms of distribution, DIY or otherwise, are often more financially remunerative and somethings even emotionally rewarding, depending on the films. But I’ve never made the argument that filmmakers should sidestep the film festival circuit. One filmmaker who is at least posing that argument now is Sujewa Ekanayake, who decided not to submit his Date Number One to festivals while he launched his one series of DIY screenings. In this blog post, he explains his rationale and then makes a counterintuitive proposal: […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 20, 2007

DVD OR DOWNLOAD?

There’s a spirited conversation going over at Twitch about whether or not small companies now releasing cult films on DVD should shift to a “download-to-burn” distribution model. The conversation centers around genre and catalog titles, but it’s applicable to our current independent cinema too. Here’s an excerpt from Swarez’s original post, but click on the link to read all the comments as well. The brick and mortar stores are out to make money and any good business man will tell you that it doesn’t make sense to stock the store with titles which the average viewer knows nothing about. Of […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 18, 2007

JUROR NOTES (SMILING ON FROWNLAND)

I sat on the Narrative Feature jury at SXSW last week. As you know, we gave the Grand Jury Prize to Itty Bitty Titty Committee, Jamie Babbit’s riot grrl riff on Lizzie Borden’s early ’80s feminist indie classic, Born in Flames. In addition to its spirited run through the history of late 20th century feminist political action, from Angela Davis through the Guerilla Girls, the film contains a set of relationships — the Latina lesbian protagonist, played by Melonie Diaz, and her accepting family; Melanie Mayron’s power lesbian and her psychologically enabling lover/rent girl (played by Nicole Vicius) — that […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 18, 2007

THE ART OF IT ALL

Over at On Five, the Criterion Company blog, designer Eric Skillman tells — and shows — us how he got to the DVD design for the Criterion release of Jules Dassein’s Night and the City. Here’s the intro. Click on the link for further commentary and all the mock-ups that lead to the final design, seen here. When I was designing the cover for Night and the City, I wanted to find a slightly different idiom to represent “noir,” to get away from the pulpy, dime-novel look that’s normally associated with that era and style. (Something I think illustrator Geoff […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 15, 2007

LETHEM’S FREE LOVE (MORE RIGHTS FOR FILMMAKERS!)

To complete my series of posts about author Jonathan Lethem and his recent work thinking about — and practicing — a sort of “open source” approach to creative rights management, here’s news of his new novel, You Don’t Love Me Yet, and how he’s handling the film rights. From his website: On May 15th I’ll give away a free option on the film rights to my novel You Don’t Love Me Yet to a selected filmmaker. In return for the free option, I’ll ask two things: I’d like the filmmaker to pay (something) for the purchase of the rights if […]

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 14, 2007

OH, CANADA!

Canadian Front 2007 begins tonight with the New York premiere of Sarah Polley‘s Away From Her at MoMA. The next four days include eight films made in Canada by a diverse group of filmmakers including four women making their feature debuts (Polley being one of them). Film description and screening times are below. Remembering Arthur. 2006. Canada. Directed by Martin Lavut. Arthur Lipsett was a leading Canadian experimental filmmaker whose 1961 short Very Nice, Very Nice remains a seminal work of the avant-garde. A troubled man, Lipsett committed suicide in 1986. Martin Lavut, who knew Lipsett and many of his […]

by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 14, 2007

LETHEM, AGAIN

A reader pointed out that I forgot to include the link to the great Jonathan Lethem essay I raved about below. Sorry about that — here it is: The Ecstasy of Influence.

by Scott Macaulay on Mar 13, 2007

TRIBECA ANNOUNCES COMPETITION AND SPOTLIGHT SELECTIONS

The Tribeca Film Festival announced its World Narrative and World Documentary Feature Film Competitions as well as its selections in the Spotlight category today. The fest’s sixth edition will take place April 25-May 6. See below for the complete list of films. World Narrative CompetitionBorn and Bred (Nacido y Criado), directed by Pablo Trapero, written by Pablo Trapero and Mario Rulloni. (Argentina) – U.S. Premiere. When his life is shattered by a terrifying accident, a successful interior designer winds up in the desolate extremes of Patagonia, trying to find himself among other lost, disaffected men. Pablo Trapero’s haunting film demonstrates […]

by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 12, 2007

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