6296 Results for “Open ”
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Three Weeks in July: Greg Kwedar on Sing Sing
The first and best reason to see Sing Sing, the new feature from Transpecos director Greg Kwedar, is for the lead performance of Colman Domingo. One year after receiving an Academy Award nomination for his title role in Rustin, Domingo is even better as John “Divine G” Whitfield, a wrongfully incarcerated inmate of Sing Sing Correctional Facility. An accomplished author, Divine G was a member of Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), a program founded at Sing Sing in 1996 that “helps people in prison develop critical life skills through the arts, modeling an approach to the justice system based on […]
by Erik Luers on Jul 18, 2024 -
“The Hardest Thing Is To Get Out of Your Own Way”: Lady In The Lake‘s Y’lan Noel, Back To One, Episode 300
Y’lan Noel played Daniel in the HBO series Insecure starred in The First Purge, and now he plays Officer Platt in Lady in The Lake, Alma Har’el’s eagerly anticipated new series for Apple TV+ that drops on July 19th. On this episode, he discusses his unique approach to the work, which starts with, and centers on, daydreaming and the avoidance of aiming to do “the right thing.” He talks about allowing for “an energy that’s not me to make certain decisions;” the importance of solitude, space, stillness; how Har’el’s willingness to leave room for the mystical served his process; and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 16, 2024 -
“I Could Do a Dynamite Directors Cut, Because I Know Where All the Best Stuff is, But That Would Defeat the Whole Purpose of the Project”: Gary Hustwit on ENO
What used to be known, literally, as “the cutting room floor,” now exists as a digital bin, an assortment of deleted scenes, unused (and in today’s mode of industrial documentary production, perhaps even unviewed) footage — material that, through its absence, haunts any finished audiovisual work. Often when this material is revealed, on a Blu-ray supplemental features disc, for example, the director’s elisions affirm the strength of their initial creative editorial decisions. Other times, particularly in biographical documentaries, the unused material becomes a kind of lacuna, suggesting not only paths unexplored but a failure to engage with all that’s messy, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 12, 2024 -
Is There Life After Fire?: A Trip to Greece’s Evia Film Project 2024
One of the evergreen questions of filmmaking is: Can cinema make a difference? Usually, the issue is raised in connection with specific movies, such as those championing change, including SeaWorld-skewering doc Blackfish, or better husbandry of the planet. Take one step back, though, and there’s another, perhaps more vital way that cinema can make a difference — by bringing a community together in shared experience and cause. This latter force for good is firmly in evidence at Greece’s Evia Film Project, which has just wrapped its third edition on the island nestled near the mainland a couple of hours from […]
by Amber Wilkinson on Jul 11, 2024 -
Oxbelly Announces the Fellows and Advisors of Its 2024 Oxbelly Retreat
The Greek nonprofit Oxbelly announced today the participants of its 2024 Oxbelly retreat, which was held June 22-30, 2024 in Costa Navarino, Greece. Thirty fellows broken into three strands — screenwriting, episodic writing and fiction writing — received mentorship from an illustrious list of advisors, who included Charlie Kaufman, Chigozie Obioma, Miguel Gomes, Marielle Heller, Barry Jenkins and Michael Almereyda. Leaders and program directors for the three programs were Guardians of the Galaxy screenwriter Nicole Perman (Screenwriting); Jen Blake (executive producer, Joyland) and Deutschland 83 producer Jörg Winger (Episodic); and An Orchestra of Minorities author Chigozie Obioma (Fiction). As the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 10, 2024 -
“Massive Decisions Can Be Made In the Mix”: Composer Anna Meredith on Her Film Score Career
In 2012, Scottish composer Anna Meredith released her first non-classical-music recording, Black Prince Fury, a four-track EP opening with what immediately became her signature tune: “Nautilus,” a ferociously escalating blast of brass running arpeggios up and down at increasingly overwhelming volume. It’s at once visceral and programmatic, applying classical discipline to an earth-shaking instrumental in a mission statement that also opened Meredith’s first full-length album, 2016’s Varmints. In an interview with The Guardian’s Laura Snapes at the time, Meredith was insightful about the economics of choosing to move from the realm of classical music, where she wrote work paid for […]
by Vadim Rizov on Jul 9, 2024 -
“If We’re Gonna Live in This Story, We’ve Gotta Live with Each Other”: Zachary Ray Sherman, Back To One, Episode 299
After early success opposite Kirsten Dunst in Lifetime’s Fifteen and Pregnant, and as Jasper on the CW’s reboot of 90210, he’s gone on to build an impressive acting resume balancing television work (Hulu’s Under the Banner of Heaven) with edgy, transformative roles in independent films (Cuck; Can’t Seem to Make You Mine, opposite Lindsay Burdge; and A Desert, which just premiered at the Tribeca Festival, to name a few). On this episode, he talks about why it all starts with building trust with his collaborators early, the semi-mystical process of aligning his heart with the character’s heart, the importance of […]
by Peter Rinaldi on Jul 9, 2024 -
A Cinema of Gestation: On Returning to Filmmaking After a False Start, Multiple Life Changes, and 14 Years of Motherhood
A Bird Came Down is both a short and a feature-to-be by Heather von Rohr, produced by Nick Dawson, Editor of the Talkhouse and Filmmaker‘s former Managing Editor, and Emmett Kerr-Perkinson. In the guest essay below, von Rohr discusses the film’s themes within the context of its long gestation period. Von Rohr, Dawson and Kerr-Perkinson are currently crowdfunding the short’s post-production. To learn more, visit the project’s fundraising page at the New York Foundation for the Arts. — Editor In mid-June, I shot my first film in more than two decades. It’s called A Bird Came Down, and will be […]
by Heather von Rohr on Jul 9, 2024 -
BlackStar Projects Releases Full Schedule of Programs for 2024 Film Festival
BlackStar Projects, the organization celebrating visionary Black, Brown and Indigenous film and media artists, announced today the full program for its 2024 BlackStar Film Festival. This 13th edition of BlackStar takes place August 1 – 4 at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, with additional screenings, parties and events at various venues in Center City Philadelphia. Among the highlights are the Opening Night selection, Dreams in Nightmares, writer/director Shatara Michelle Ford’s feature follow-up to their acclaimed Gotham and Spirit Award-nominated debut, Test Pattern. Dreams in Nightmares tells the story of three Black queer femmes on a Midwestern road trip […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 9, 2024 -
“The Contingency of the Image Is Its Truth”: McKenzie Wark and Jessica Dunn Rovinelli on Life Story
McKenzie Wark is out in Brooklyn, New York. We’re speaking via video chat in the days leading up to the FIDMarseille premiere of Life Story, her new collaboration with Jessica Dunn Rovinelli. Between questions, and while we wait for Jessica to join us, McKenzie moves around the world just out of frame. She speaks to her daughter, walks into and out of L-Train Vintage, crosses streets, occasionally exchanging greetings with passersby. It is a joy to edit the transcript of this interview later on—sentences are punctuated with “oh hi!”s, “how’ve you been?”s, little subtexts of intimacy smuggled into thoughts about […]
by Frank Falisi on Jul 8, 2024
