Writer, director and producer Edward Boyce sent us this blog post about his experience attending Sundance this year as the producer of a short film. Short. Film. Bitter. Sweet. I’m four days into my life as a Sundance anointed short film producer. I’ve felt obliged to schmooz and glad-hand so much that I feel like a reluctant student-council candidate. And good luck trying to wash off some of the weird tinsel-slime that seems to linger on the fringe of the artistic core at Sundance. (Festival resolution #12: never willingly enter a “gifting suite” again.) It’s a big deal and it’s […]
Up there with Snakes On A Plane in the pantheon of catchy titles, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead is a horror-comedy about Hamlet and the Holy Grail premiering in Slamdance this year. The movie stars Jake Hoffman, Devon Aoki, Jeremy Sisto, John Ventimiglia, Ralph Maccio and Waris Ahluwalia and was only the second East Coast feature film to use the Red camera. The film’s director, Jordan Galland, is a New York-bred renaissance man with deep and varied interests. At age eighteen, Jordan Galland started a band, Dopo Yume, which toured the world with Cibo Matto and Rufus Wainwright, and he […]
Noah Buschel’s The Missing Person stars Michael Shannon, last seen as the asylum-bound neighbor in Revolutionary Road, and if Sam Mendes had directed this film, he might have played it straight, disregarding the minefield of clichés to pay reverent homage to The Long Goodbye; Buschel knows what a bold move it is to make a noir in 2007, so he subverts the genre with un-ironic simplicity and a few tall guys hitting their heads on the ceiling. We meet Shannon’s character in his dungeon-like Chicago apartment. His cell phone is ringing; he’s a PI; he’s offered a lot of money […]
Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 22, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Jason Guerrasio interviewed Vicky Cristina Barcelona star Penélope Cruz for our Gotham Independent Film Awards special section in the Fall ’08 issue. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is nominated for Best Actress (Penélope Cruz). Talking over the phone from London where she’s rehearsing her role in Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical, Nine, Penélope Cruz sounds humbled when congratulated for being named one of this year’s Gotham Award Tributes, but […]
Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 22, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Nick Dawson interviewed Waltz With Bashir writer-director Ari Folman for our Fall ’08 issue. Waltz With Bashir is nominated for Best Foreign Film. It’s been said that the job of the filmmaker is to put on screen things that have never been seen before. And while cinema is essentially an infant art form, these days there are still relatively few films that move into genuinely new territory. Waltz with Bashir, which […]
Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 22, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Brandon Harris interviewed The Class co-writer-director Laurent Cantet for our Fall ’08 issue. The Class is nominated for Best Foreign Film. Starting with 1999’s Human Resources, Laurent Cantet has quickly built an international reputation as France’s most socially engaged narrative filmmaker, crafting films that highlight the ever lingering issues of race and class in both France and, as in the case of his 2006 film Heading South, its former colony of […]
Leading up to the Oscars on Feb. 22, we will be highlighting the nominated films that have appeared in the magazine or on the Website in the last year. Howard Feinstein interviewed Trouble The Water directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal for our Summer ’08 issue as well as the film’s subjects, Kim and Scott Rivers, in a sidebar to the piece. Trouble The Water is nominated for Best Documentary. Brooklynites Tia Lessin and Carl Deal had the near-perfect recipe for what I consider the near-perfect documentary: a unique situation, inimitable subjects, a strong but non-didactic political thrust and that […]
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 19, 8:30 pm — Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City] I’m trying to tell a story as simply as possible. I want the experience of watching the film to be like watching a fiction film so that you feel like you are there and things are happening around you. The editor, Ollie Huddleston, tries to use just one or two shots in each scene so that there’s not a lot of cutting and it flows smoothly. I want the film to be an emotional journey for the audience, one that feels as unexpected and as vivid […]
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 19, 11:59 pm — Egyptian Theatre, Park City] I didn’t consciously think about the forces affecting cinema today at any point during the long development of the movie. The script was inspired by the life of a real person but it’s fiction so we told the story in the way we thought would be most effective. But that’s not to say myself and the writers didn’t agonize over structure. I’m naturally drawn to character and narrative and I’ve worked in current affairs and documentary so that helped. We never made any decisions based on how we […]
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Monday, Jan. 19, 8:00 pm — Racquet Club, Park City] “Was your story — its conception, structure and/or execution — shaped by the forces affecting cinema today?” Absolutely! On the first day of shooting I said to everyone, “Guys, I know we were all excited to shoot a slow, self-indulgent, boring movie. But due to the wintery economic climate, we need to change course and try to make an entertaining movie that people might enjoy. I’m sorry, everyone, change of plans.” And while we were shooting and editing, I often found myself saying, “You know, this looks fantastic…but […]