In his stylish new chamber drama Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, which closed the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, Dutch-born filmmaker Jan Kounen (Dobermann) observes the hothouse affair between married modernist composer-in-exile Igor Stravinsky and legendary French couturier Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (played by Audrey Tautou in last year’s Coco Before Chanel). Based on a novel by Chris Greenhalgh, the film depicts a collision of oil-and-water egos: the brooding composer meets his obscure object of desire in the fiercely independent-minded Chanel, who proves to be forward-thinking about love and as fully immersed in her own art. Prior to tackling this period story […]
Do not ask for whom Kevorkian tolls, Kevorkian tolls for Stranger Than Fiction. Last night, the spring season of the IFC series came to a close with Kevorkian, Matthew Galkin’s profile of the controversial right-to-die-activist’s recent run for Congress. During the nineties, Kevorkian assisted in the suicides of over one hundred people, becoming the center of a media fire storm, a storm he stoked by sending a tape of himself injecting a terminally-ill man with an overdose of drugs to 60 Minutes and then daring prosecutors to come after him. They took him up on his offer. Determined to provoke […]
Jamie Stuart recently purchased a Canon 7D (see our recent interview with Joshua and Benny Safdie for his work) and has been building some homemade gear. Check out this video demonstrating his DIY portable slider — and also the camera’s awesome night shooting capabilities. You can also download a Quicktime here. Night Moves from The Mutiny Company on Vimeo.
IFP has announced the 10 projects selected for participation in this year’s narrative edition of Independent Filmmaker Labs which takes place June 7-11 in New York City. The 2010 Labs include an initial five days of workshops that assist filmmakers with the technical, creative and strategic advice needed to complete their films; a Strategy & Networking Lab following in September with specialized workshops on web building, sales & marketing and audience building, as well as pre-scheduled meetings for the projects with potential buyers, funders and festival programmers during IFP’s Independent Film Week; and a winter intensive Distribution Lab, specifically focused […]
The Krakow Film Festival ended yesterday closing its landmark 50th year. The oldest film festival in Poland, Krakow Fest is one of the most beloved events spotlighting the work of docs, animation and shorts in Europe. This year’s Documentary Competition had two winners: Sanya and Sparrow, directed by Andriej Griazew, about the early consequences of capitalism in the Soviet Union, and the Golden Horn winner Beyond This Place, directed by Kaleo La Belle, about inter-generational drama between a father and son. The winners of the Silver Horns in the same category were Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, who chronicled the […]
Written and directed by David Mamet, shot by Robert Elswit, and starring Kristen Bell, Ricky Jay and Ed O’Neill. David Mamet’s “Lost Masterpieces of Pornography” w/ Kristen Bell, Ed O’Neill & Ricky Jay from David Mamet
I checked out the first two episodes of the Neistat Brothers HBO show on Thursday night at the Rooftop Films premiere party at Kips Bay. I liked them. Somehow, the Neistats got HBO to give them an eight-episode series which mostly seems to be about the two brothers making stuff and doing things and then documenting these processes in as rag-tag, homemade and lo-fi manner as possible. What kind of stuff? Stuff like smuggling American maple syrup past TSA to Amsterdam because the waffles are great but the syrup sucks there, or finding one brother’s biological birth father. (The series […]
The bad news regarding state film and television tax credits for films continues. Yesterday, it was reported that Pennsylvania is out of money for new projects applying for their incentive. Now, New Jersey is contemplating halting their incentive for fiscal year 2011, which begins July 1, 2010. Here is a letter I received from Tax Credits LLC. Senator Paul A. Sarlo, Chairman of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, has called a special public Committee hearing to discuss the future of New Jersey’s Film and Digital Media Tax Credit Program. The Hearing will take place on Wednesday, June 9th, from […]
The 2010 Chicago Underground Film Festival, to be held June 24-July 1, will be honoring experimental film guru Jonas Mekas with its Lifetime Achievement Award. Mekas will attend a number of festival screenings, including that of the new documentary Visionaries: Jonas Mekas and the (Mostly) American Avant-Garde, at which he will participate in a Q&A with director Chuck Workman. Here is the complete CUFF lineup: June 24 8:00 p.m.: The Wild Hunt, dir. Alexandre Franchi. A jilted boyfriend enters the strange world of medieval re-enactments in a desperate bid to win his girlfriend back. June 25 6:00 p.m.: World’s Largest, […]
Outfest 2010: The 28th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will screen 147 films from 23 countries and host panels and events throughout the city, from July 8-18. Opening with Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman‘s Howl and closing with J.B. Ghuman, Jr.’s Spork, Outfest will have two other gala screenings as well as a number of special screenings of LGBT classics like Clueless and Hustler White. Here is the complete list of Outfest features: Opening Night Gala – HOWL, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (July 8 at 8:00pm – Orpheum Theatre) Closing Night Gala – Spork, J.B. Ghuman, Jr. […]