IFP Documentary Rough Cut Lab – November 6 – 9, 2007, NYC The IFP Documentary Rough Cut Lab is a national program connecting mentors and projects before they are submitted to festivals. The Lab aims to identify 10 high quality independently produced documentaries each year that can benefit from the support and expertise of experienced film professionals. The key creative teams of these projects receive feedback from a range of professionals in editing, scoring, post delivery, outreach, marketing and publicity, sales representation and festival strategy. The 2007 Documentary Lab Leaders: the documentary production team of Arts Engine, Inc.: (Election Day, […]
Over at Movie City Indie, Ray Pride posts a long interview with Tim Kinsella, a musician with dozens of albums under his belt who is turning to filmmaking using the same DIY energy he previously applied to the recording business. His debut feature, Orchard Vale, premiered at the Chicago Underground festival yesterday. Two excerpts: RAY PRIDE: Is the disintegration of the music industry because of evolving technology one of the reasons you decided to explore filmmaking? TIM KINSELLA: I don’t get the impression it was ever very easy to make a living as a musician. By the late nineties, I […]
“The ambiguously desirable New York Ghost,” as the eccentric PDF blog is dubbing itself this month, reviews what they imagine to be the soundtrack to Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Express. Only, they haven’t seen the movie. And, Ghost, hate to break it to you, but I saw the movie the other night and your ten-song tracklist prediction is 0 for 10. Still, there is something kinda cool about such preemptive critical thought. Here’s the Ghost on track one: 1. Talking Heads, ‘Born Under Punches’ (as by a blind Sikh beggar). Train tracks. Dust. Oppressive sunlight. Sublimely penurious farmers wash garments […]
Gregg Goldstein in The Hollywood Reporter writes about an innovative film marketing class based around John Sayles’s Honeydripper. From the piece: “Stomp the Yard” producer Will Packer and Emerging Pictures founder Ira Deutchman are teaming with Clark Atlanta University to launch a film marketing and distribution course for African-American college students across the country. The class will be based around the marketing plan for John Sayles’ upcoming musical drama “Honeydripper” starring Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Stacy Keach, Mary Steenburgen and Sean Patrick Thomas. Lectures will be organized by Clark Atlanta marketing professor Charles W. Richardson Jr., […]
A couple of posts below I discussed the deal that a dozen A-list writers made at Fox in which they’ll each write a spec for the studio and, in return, receive a low up-front payday but good money as well as creative controls if the film gets made. One of the writers, John August, has more on his blog. Here’s an excerpt in which he explains the rationale for the deal: So. Will it work? Will it change anything? I don’t know. I think it’s best to classify it as an experiment. We’re each committing to one script, so if […]
Michael Fleming has a noteworthy story in Variety today reporting that a dozen screenwriters with strong commercial track records have joined together in a collective called Writing Partners which is making a deal at Fox. Offering a stark contrast to the cliche of the abused Hollywood writer, the Fox deal offers the scribes real incentives to bring spec projects to the studio. From the piece: The writers, who’ll take small upfront payments and will only get their usual fees on films that go into production, will also be guaranteed input as producers, and protection from being rewritten without their permission. […]
Pitchfork Media reports today on the soundtrack for Todd Haynes’s upcoming I’m Not There. The film is now slated for release on November 21 and the soundtrack will be release three weeks earlier, on October 30. Artists who will cover Dylan on what sounds like a fantastic disk include Karen O., the Hold Steady, Sonic Youth, Tom Verlaine, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yo La Tengo, Antony and the Johnsons and many, many more. A complete track listing can be found at the link.
Over at Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow reports on the Mission:Impossible-like self-destruction of videos legally purchased from the Google Video Store. He quotes this letter from Google sent to the purchaser of a Star Trek episode: As a valued Google user, we’re contacting you with some important information about the videos you’ve purchased or rented from Google Video. In an effort to improve all Google services, we will no longer offer the ability to buy or rent videos for download from Google Video, ending the DTO/DTR (download-to-own/rent) program. This change will be effective August 15, 2007. To fully account for the […]
The uplifting documentary, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, follows a talented group of Sierra Leonean musicians who cope with the decade-long civil war ragging in their country by forming a band and touring to the neighboring camps to help their fellow West Africans forget their problems. Directed by Zach Niles and Banker White (and executive produced by Ice Cube), the doc was well received on the fest circuit and was awarded the Documentary Award at the AFI Fest. And last June it aired on PBS’ P.O.V. Through the doc the filmmakers follow the band, who have a Western-influenced R&B/Reggae style […]
JULIE DELPY AND ADAM GOLDBERG IN 2 DAYS IN PARIS. COURTESY SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS. It is difficult to write about Julie Delpy’s career without rhapsodizing about the multi-talented Frenchwoman. At just 14, she got her breakthrough in Jean-Luc Godard’s Detective, and while still in her teens she worked with such celebrated European auteurs as Leos Carax, Bertrand Tavernier, Carlos Saura, Agnieszka Holland and Volker Schlöndorff. In the early 1990s, Delpy established herself as one of the most promising actresses around with her work in both arthouse successes (Krysztof Kie?lowski’s White and Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise) and more commercial fare like […]