Nelson George attended Sundance this year in two capacities. First, from January 9th to the 15th he was an advisor at the Sundance Writer’s Lab. Then, he went to the festival as an executive producer with Good Hair, the doc he made with Chris Rock. In the below video diary he takes us through both events, including the Obama inauguration party on Main Street and the premiere of his film, and along the way he also catches up with a number of other filmmakers at this year’s fest. Check it out. Nelson George: Sundance 2009 from Nelson George on Vimeo.
Recently I linked to a CNET survey of mainstream video-hosting sites that critiqued these platforms according to their usability and picture quality. Now, CNET has published a “part two”: Around this time last year we put together a comparison of various video sites to determine which ones had the best overall quality and user experience. Since then, high-definition-capable digital cameras and camcorders have taken off, and several major video hosts have rolled out official support for wide-screen, super high-quality Flash video in response. So we think the time has come to take another look at what these sites are offering […]
I’m here in Rotterdam with poor wi-fi connectivity, so that’s one reason the blog has been a little light this week. But I want to join many others in the film journalism field by noting my dismay over this week’s Variety lay-offs, which include two great writers, Mike Jones (Filmmaker‘s former Managing Editor) and Ann Thompson, whose Risky Business column was published here at Filmmaker for a couple of years. In addition to being strong writers and reporters, both are journalists who understand the internet, the blogosphere, and the specific topics and tone required to engage an online audience. It’s […]
Congratulations to filmmaker, new media creator, and Filmmaker contributor Lance Weiler, who was awarded the Arte France Cinrma prize here at this year’s Rotterdam Cinemart. In his remarks when presenting the award, Arte’s Michel Reilhac said that the award acknowledged the visionary nature of Weiler’s project and noted that it speaks towards the type of new thinking about audience and platforms that will be necessary if our world of specialty cinema is to survive in the coming years. Weiler’s project is described by him in the program book thusly: HIM is my newest cross-media poject — a collision of film, […]
Via Wired’s Underwire blog comes news of Gotham Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You director Nina Paley’s latest effort to raise money to pay the music rights for her film Sita Sings the Blues. Nominated for a Spirit Award, she’s auctioning off her companion seat. Bids start at $1,000.
Documentarian Doug Pray has made films about grafitti artists (Infamy), an iterant surfing family (Surfwise), Seattle punk scene (Hype!) Hip Hop DJ’s (Scratch) and truckers (Big Rig), and now, with Art & Copy, he profiles the living legends of corporate advertising. Advertising has a complicated relationship to filmmaking — for one thing, many feature and documentary directors make a living doing commercials. The men and women profiled in Pray’s film have been responsible for most revolutionary campaigns of the ad business — VW’s “Lemon” and “Think Small” were by George Lois, who also provoked controversy with his Esquire Covers and […]
The award winners of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival were announced this evening and Lee Daniels‘s Push: Based on a novel by Sapphire was the big winner as it took not only the Dramatic Grand Jury prize but also the Audience Award and Special Jury prize for actress Mo’Nique. Ondi Timoner‘s We Live In Public was awarded the top Documentary prize. The full list of winners are below. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize:Push: Based on a novel by Sapphire, Lee Daniels Documentary Grand Jury Prize:We Live In Public, directed by Ondi Timoner Dramatic World Cinema Jury Prize:The Maid, directed by Sebastian […]
Closing its 15th year, the Slamdance Film Festival announced the winners of its 2009 edition Friday night with Mo Perkins‘s A Quiet Little Marriage winning the Best Narrative Feature Award. The full list of winner are below. Best Narrative FeatureA Quiet Little Marriage, directed by Mo Perkins Special Jury Mention for Best Performance: Larry Fessenden in I Sell the Dead Best Documentary FeatureStrongman, directed by Zachary Levy Special Jury Mention: Second Sight, directed by Alison McAlpine Best Narrative ShortPrincess Margaret Blvd, directed by Kazik Radwanski Best Documentary ShortRare Chicken Rescue, directed by Randall Wood Best Animated ShortUndone, directed by Hayley […]
Previously I posted some thoughts on the Kevin Lee/YouTube situation, and now, via Lee’s Shooting Down Pictures blog, it’s great to report that YouTube has responded to criticism and restored Lee’s account. In a long post entitled “Things I Learned from Losing — and Regaining — my YouTube Account,” Lee tells all of us how we can defend ourselves against a similar type of complaint, the nature of copyright laws and why YouTube may not be to blame for his situation, and also how we can fight further for digital rights and fair use issues. Thanks to Kevin for his […]
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, Jan. 23, 6:15 pm — Eccles Theatre, Park City] Moon was a challenge to write. There were a set of pretty stringent criteria that we had come up with for ourselves in order to give us the best chance of getting the film made. I had to keep in mind a very limited budget, keep the cast as small as possible, write something that would best be done in a controlled, studio environment all while utilizing a very specific set of visual effects that would maximize production value for minimum cost. All that, and we didn’t want […]