Now up on our VOD calendar are titles available for the month of August. Some of the highlights: Meek’s Cutoff, The Beaver, Jane Eyre and John Landis returns to features after over a decade of directing for TV with his dark comedy Burke and Hare (which hits theaters in September), starring Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis as the legendary 19th century body-snatchers. For titles from previous months go to our VOD Calendar homepage.
Producer, distributor, and longtime professor (24 years!) at Columbia Film School, Ira Deutchman has been appointed the division’s new chair. He takes over from the film school’s previous chair, Jamal Joseph. Well known in the independent community, Deutchman was a founder of indie distributor Cinecom, a former head of Fine Line Features, and is currently Managing Partner of Emerging Pictures. Film’s he’s worked on as either a distributor or marketer include The Player, An Angel at My Table, Hoop Dreams, Naked, and sex lies and videotape. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Deutchman commented, “I’ve been teaching at Columbia […]
I always feel odd holed up in my hotel room watching DVDs while at a film festival. After all, a film festival is supposed to be festive, and that means audiences, excitement, buzz. But invariably, once you’ve missed a screening those DVD screeners that weren’t available pre-fest are suddenly pressed into your hands by anxious publicists. Or, maybe you just meet a cool filmmaker on the shuttle bus and agree to watch HIS short that night. If you’re doing your job as a journalist, at least some of your festival stay will be spent watching DVDs in your room, perhaps […]
From her conversation with Anthony Kaufman, recapped at Indiewire. On money, producing and responsibility: “In film producing there is an inherent tension between the director, the money and the producer, and that’s what keeps it flowing and honest and accountable. Sometimes, when I work with financiers or a studio, they see my job as the one who has to tell the director he can’t have something. And that’s a drag. So I have to figure out ways to come up with creative solutions, before I tell him what we’re up against, so it’s not a state of crisis. And Todd […]
(sleep furiously opens theatrically in NYC at Cinema Village on Friday, July 29, 2011. More importantly: FANDOR IS MAKING IT AVAILABLE FOR 24 HOURS ONLY ON FRIDAY, JULY 29TH! Go here to learn more.) It’s tempting to read Gideon Koppel’s sleep furiously as a bittersweet ode to the antiquated community in which he was raised, or, God forbid, to view it as some sort of call-to-arms to not let this slow, quiet way of life fade into oblivion. The truth is that it isn’t either of those things. By refusing to make any grand, preachy statements, Koppel has achieved something far […]
At a Los Angeles press conference today, Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam announced an expansion of the organization’s Artist Services Initiative that will bring independent films to digital platforms. Exclusively partnering with aggregator New Video, Sundance is offering its festival and lab films distribution opportunities on iTunes, Amazon, Hulu, Netflix and SundanceNOW. Filmmakers will retain ownership and control of their titles, will be free to publicize and market them, and Sundance will conduct its own marketing efforts as well as leverage the potency of its brand to gain the films wider audiences. Commented Putnam, “By acting as a conduit […]
“It’s always a battle. Everything…everyday. It’s like,…can I just get off the battlefield for one day? Step out of the war-zone for a minute?” – Jens Pulver from JENS PULVER | DRIVEN This confession from Jens has rung through my head almost daily over the past year as I’ve worked to make, complete and subsequently market and release our film, JENS PULVER | DRIVEN. With the film being fully crowd-funded, having garnered festival play and just released nationally on nearly every major VOD network in North America it can be legitimately counted as a marked success in the micro-budget independent […]
You’ve seen it all before. Amidst a sea of police corruption, one last honest, wisecracking cop and an improbable sidekick unravel a series of criminal entanglements.They’re an unlikely pair and one of them is surely way out of his natural element. There will be chases, usually with cars, although likely on foot too, and gunplay, half quotable one-liners, and maybe a dash of suspense, although it’s highly unlikely either of our leads will meet an untimely demise. How could anyone possible make a tired scenario like this fresh? Just ask John Michael McDonagh, brother of Martin, the lauded Irish playwright […]
Over at The Rumpus, Andrea Manners breaks down her job. From the piece: Rumpus: What’s a typical production day like? Manners: Before we start production, I meet with other departments. I ask the hair department to communicate their ideas for the film, and I ask the makeup department what they plan to do. I’m basically making sure the director’s idea and vision is translated from the script’s point of view. I’m also the liaison between the director and the editor. The editor needs a lot of notes to make the movie since he’s not there. I represent the editor on […]
Filmmakers Esy Casey and Sarah Friedland recently sent me a short video documenting their visit to the Philippines where they met the Cannes prize-winning filmmaker Brilliante Mendoza and visited his construction studio. The video, which catches Mendoza in the lead-up to his new feature, Prey, is posted below. After I received this link, Friedland informed me of the new project of Casey’s she’s producing. Also set in the Philippines, it’s called Jeepney, and it’s a feature doc about this vehicle and the people who drive it. From the project’s Kickstarter page: Visualizing the rich cultural heritage of the Philippines, this […]