Final Cut Pro X (version 10.0) arrived 8:30 a.m. yesterday morning at the App Store for $299, unleashing torrents of criticism about missing features and a perceived drift from professional product to one that consumers might find friendlier. So far, so good. Let me explain. I, too, had an advance copy (version 9.9.1.77) and wrestled to overcome personal expectations of what a 64-bit next-gen Final Cut should be, given the countless hours of my life spent in front of this revolutionary NLE since it first introduced us to FireWire and DV editing back in 1999. As I wrote last night […]
If you’re in New York, come out tonight for an evening with Pete Sillen at the IFC Center. Filmmaker is hosting a screening of Pete’s short-form work, and I’m moderating the Q & A. The evening begins at 7:00, and here’s the description: Tonight at 7:00pm! We’re proud to welcome critically acclaimed director Peter Sillen Tuesday December 14 discussing his works with Filmmaker Magazine Editor-In-Chief Scott Macaulay. Sillen will present screenings of a number of his short films, including Speed Racer: Welcome to the World of Vic Chesnutt, Grand Luncheonette, Branson: Musicland U.S.A., and a short working cut of his […]
“Stranger than Fiction,” the annual documentary series at the IFC Center, opens tonight with Jeff Malmberg’s Marwencol, winner of the Best Documentary award at SXSW, Comic-Con and SIFF. From tonight’s program notes: On April 8, 2000, Mark Hogancamp was attacked outside of a bar in Kingston, NY, by five men who beat him literally to death. Revived by paramedics, Mark had suffered brain damage and physical injuries so severe even his own mother didn’t recognize him. After nine days in a coma and 40 days in the hospital, Mark was discharged with little memory of his previous life. Unable to […]
In a release today, IFC Films has announced they have acquired the worldwide rights (excluding Canada) to Barry Avrich‘s documentary, Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project. The release touts the film as a “powerful, uncensored, no-holds-barred account that traces Weinstein’s path from concert promoter on the cold streets of Buffalo to his first trip to the Cannes Film Festival, where he arrived with one pair of pants and closed his first movie deal, to winning an Oscar, and breaking the bank with his first $100 million film. It examines his complex relationships with his brother, his staff, and the Hollywood community […]
According to Variety, Michael Winterbottom‘s adaptation of Jim Thompson‘s novel, The Killer Inside Me sold to IFC in the early hours this morning for $1.5 million. The film, which had mixed reviews at Sundance for it’s controversial scenes of violence and sexual content, stars Casey Affleck as small town psychotic sheriff Lou Ford. Films also stars Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson and Bill Pullman. The film will be released in the late summer theatrically and through VOD. Read how Winterbottom adapted Thompson’s novel to the screen.
This piece was originally printed in our 2010 Winter issue. In a New York Times piece written last month on the commercial success in 2009 of films aimed at female audiences (Twilight: New Moon, Julie & Julia, The Proposal), critic Manohla Dargis also took note of the relative paucity of female directors in Hollywood. Sure, there’s Kathryn Bigelow, who won many critic’s Best Director awards with The Hurt Locker, and there are Nora Ephron, Ann Fletcher and a few others but, for the most part, wrote Dargis, “Only a handful of female directors picked up their paychecks from one of […]
Thanks to everyone who came out tonight for the first in our series, “A New World: A User’s Guide for Filmmakers and Audiences” at the IFC Center. The speaker was Jon Reiss, who gave listeners an accelerated yet detailed overview of his thoughts on DIY distribution and what a theatrical release means today. (Some of these thoughts can be found in this article in Filmmaker.) There was a lot to take away, but here are a couple of things that impressed themselves on me. 1. During the development of your project, think of five specific audiences your film will appeal […]
After a great week of discussions on our Weekly Player forum, Jon Reiss will be at the IFC Center tonight in NYC to conduct our first in a series of events at the Center on new, digital-era ways of financing, distributing, marketing and building an audience for independent films. Reiss’s seminar will teach how to create unique distribution and marketing plans for independent films. He will also be selling copies of his new book Think Outside the Box (Office): The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution and Marketing in the Digital Era. Over at indieWIRE today the site has published a […]
We inaugurate our “Weekly Player” series with filmmaker Jon Reiss (Bomb It), who will be on the forums all this week (November 9 – 16) answering your questions about DIY distribution, marketing, publicity and outreach. Jon is the author the new book, Think Outside the Box (Office): The Ultimate Guide to Film Distribution and Marketing for the Digital Era, and readers will know him from the great series of articles he’s written for us — “My Adventure in Theatrical Self-Distribution,” “My Adventure in Home Video,” and “How to Market Your DVD Online.” These articles grew into the book, which I’ve […]
If you’re in New York I highly recommend you check out the final night of what has been a great series at the IFC Center: Movie Night with Jem Cohen. Tonight the program is Shorts, Rarities and Things to Come, and it’s described like this: Unseen films old and new, excerpts from recent collaborations and a glimpse at the methods behind the madness. The final evening in the IFC Center’s “Movie Nights With Jem Cohen” series offers rare films old and new, excerpts from recent collaborations and a glimpse at the methods behind the madness! To be shown: GLUE MAN, […]