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Editor’s Letter
A year ago in this space, I noted that by the time most people received their issue a COVID-19 vaccine would be available, and that film production was beginning to surge back after the shutdowns, “but when it comes to our film business and culture, there will be no single lightswitch moment.” Now, in this spring ’22 edition of Filmmaker, I’m seeing evidence confirming that prediction, as many of the articles here grapple not with COVID-19, per se, but the types of changes that have occurred alongside the pandemic that are either directly or tangentially caused by it. In his […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 14, 2022 -
Truly Micro: Pete Ohs and Tzvi Friedman on Their Ultra-Low-Budget Features, Jethica and Man
While most producers these days are worried about the latest CPI number—that’s the Cinematic Price Index—one group of filmmakers is, somewhat paradoxically, not: those working on the lower end of the microbudget, or “no-budget,” continuum, producing finished features for the very low five figures. For them, production is retrofitted from whatever money can be raised, and if the price of gas goes up, well, the shoot just has to make do with less in another area. Among such filmmakers, there’s perhaps no one whose model is as stripped-down as Pete Ohs, who recently premiered his latest work, the well-received Jethica, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 14, 2022 -
Stage Craft
After spending much of the past two years working on Marvel streaming series at Atlanta’s sprawling Trilith Studios, location manager Ryan Schaetzle has grown accustomed to the creature comforts of the soundstage. “The cast and crew know where it is, they know where they’re parking. The caterer doesn’t move, there’s no paparazzi. All that good stuff,” Schaetzle says. “You’re working within the cozy confines of a controlled environment, and control is a huge thing.” But after staring at greenscreens too long, Schaetzle “starts to get the itch. Whatever you’re doing, you always seem to want the other thing. When you’re […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Apr 14, 2022 -
Tequila Sunrise: On the Location Shooting of Dos Estaciones
“When I first started thinking about the film, I thought about two things: the place and María’s character,” says director Juan Pablo González of his Sundance-premiering sophomore feature, Dos Estaciones. María (Teresa Sánchez) is an economically besieged tequila ranch owner in Estaciones, which expands the definition of a “one-set movie” to a square-meter extreme: Roughly 70 percent of the film was shot on González’s family’s tequila ranch, in a rural area two hours from Guadalajara, capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco. González is from the area, where he filmed previous shorts and his first feature, Caballerango. His grandfather built […]
by Vadim Rizov on Apr 14, 2022 -
Simple Machines: The Inspiring Teaching of Experimental Animator Jodie Mack
“Find the note, and then deviate,” urges experimental animator Jodie Mack. The colorfully clad artist is a third of the way through her antic presentation to the November 2021 Film Friends gathering hosted by the Echo Park Film Center. Now in its second year, the monthly online series this go-around is focused on “simple machines” for filmmaking. Mack has been cheerfully showing some of her own creations, like a bicycle-driven zoetrope, but speedily moves on to her love for singing. “My voice is a simple machine!” she rhapsodizes before breaking into a wide-mouthed croon, one or two notes above the […]
by Holly Willis on Apr 14, 2022 -
Event Horizon: Gaspar Noe on His Devastating End-of-Life Drama, Vortex
In 2012, after months in Buenos Aires helping care for his Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother, Gaspar Noé traveled to Cannes and saw Michael Haneke’s Amour, about a husband dealing with his wife’s stroke. “Oh my god, I cried watching that movie,” he says. “Even if that movie had nothing to do with my personal life, it was about someone who needs to die, and at that time we were considering how my mother could die peacefully.” After the festival, Noé returned to Argentina; his mother died a few weeks later. When the Palme d’Or–winning, and quite brutal, Amour went on to international […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 14, 2022 -
Science Fiction in a Time of Crisis
In 1968, Judith Merril and Kate Wilhelm planned to run an advertisement in a science fiction magazine with a list of authors announcing their opposition to the Vietnam War. But when they reached out to fellow members of the Science Fiction Writers of America to add their names, Merril and Wilhelm were shocked. There were significant numbers of vehement pro-war authors in the community, and they also wished to share their views with the science fiction-reading public. When the advertisement ran in Galaxy Science Fiction, it covered two full pages. On the right, the names of authors including Ursula K. […]
by Joanne McNeil on Apr 14, 2022 -
O, Vengeance! — Robert Eggers on His Bloody Viking Epic, The Northman
Soft-spoken but direct in his goals, Robert Eggers is dedicated to precise historical accuracy—even though the filmmaking process can prove painful. The director’s previous two films, the 19th century-set The Lighthouse and the 17th century horror film The Witch, were released by A24 to critical acclaim. Now, Eggers travels further back in time for his largest production yet, The Northman, a bloody 10th century Viking epic that’s equally brutal and poetic. In the opening minute, young Amleth (Oscar Novak)—son of King Aurvandil (Ethan Hawke) and Queen Gudrún (Nicole Kidman)—is horrified to witness his mother kidnapped and his noble father slain […]
by Erik Luers on Apr 14, 2022 -
Bigger Budgets: Inflation and Crew Shortages Slam Independent Film
Crew bases depleted as streamer production gobbles up film and television labor, COVID safety departments continuing to add costs, and then there’s the price of gas—as U.S. production roars back following the 2020 shutdowns, producers in the independent sector are facing new budgetary challenges. In the face of rising costs and labor shortages, budgets for projects on ice since 2019 require revision, and the sticker shock is significant. Whether or not these increases are, to use economic parlance, transitory or persistent, they are right now making life more challenging for independent producers. To put it bluntly: Independent features are getting […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 14, 2022 -
Goodbye to the 14-Hour Day: The Entertainment Industry’s Shifting Work/Life Balance
“[I]t’s as if our whole society is burned out.”—The New York Times Magazine, Feb. 20, 2022 During the ongoing “Great Resignation,” tens of millions of Americans—including those in the film industry—have quit their jobs. But the employment shifts in the entertainment business have as much to do with people leaving their work as with reassessing the ways in which they work. After months of pandemic-mandated pauses and soul-searching, phrases such as “work/life balance” and “self-care”—previously anathema to a culture of all-hours dealmaking and work—have finally arrived. If, as one executive says, “14-hour workdays, sleep deprivation and, too often, unhealthy meals” used […]
by Anthony Kaufman on Apr 14, 2022
