6301 Results for “Open ”
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Indie Distributors Respond to Netflix on Issue of Day-and-Date
At the Film Independent Forum a couple weeks back, Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos gave something of a provocative keynote in which he declared that theaters would “kill movies” if they continued to resist multi-platform, day-and-date distribution. Though Sarandos later backtracked, Indiewire picked up the ball and ran with it, soliciting responses from several independent distributors on the matter. Among the executives weighing in were Kino Lorber’s Richard Lorber, Emily Russo of Zeitgeist Films, and Matt Grady of Factory 25. Dylan Marchetti, President of Variance Films, raised an interesting point, noting that “[Sarandos] knows that any resistance here isn’t to […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Nov 6, 2013 -
Trailer Watch: Godfrey Reggio’s Visitors
The premiere of Godfrey Reggio’s Visitors, hosted by Steven Soderbergh and with Phillip Glass’s score performed live by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, was my most singular experience at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. As I wrote in the current issue of Filmmaker: Glass’s haunting soundtrack is among his best, while Reggio’s film is a radical departure from hyperkinetic works like Koyanisquatsi that presaged the visual language of our connected age. Shot in black-and-white and containing less than 60 cuts, the lulling Visitors is mournful yet concerned elegy for a world in which experience has been subsumed by spectatorship. Amusement parks […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 6, 2013 -
Spike Jonze and Greta Gerwig Team for YouTube’s Live Music Video Awards
In an effort to assure traditionalists that anything television can do the Internet can do better, YouTube got their first slice of the awards show pie last night with their inaugural YouTube Music Awards. In Saturday’s Times, Chris Milk — under the watchful eye of creative director Spike Jonze — revealed that each performance would be structured around a live music video, utilizing the platform to generate viral content in house. For the opener, Jonze enlisted one Greta Gerwig, replete with twinkle toes and jazz hands, to accompany Arcade Fire’s “Afterlife,” through forests, apartments, and a bearded man’s embrace. It […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Nov 4, 2013 -
I’m Previewing My Film i hate myself :) Online. Here’s Why.
After I premiered my personal documentary feature i hate myself :) at Rooftop Films this summer, filmmaker Kentucker Audley kindly invited me to show the film on his online screening venue, NoBudge. I hesitated, though. I’m still taking the film through the festival circuit and working on its release, so I wasn’t sure whether even a one-day online preview would be kosher at this point. But after spending quite some time on festival regulation research without reaching a decision, I realized I wasn’t admitting to myself the real reason for my hesitation. I was actually nervous about an online screening […]
by Joanna Arnow on Nov 4, 2013 -
Polish Progress: American Indies in Wroclaw
If any one moment encapsulated the fervor for U.S. independent cinema among the young cinephiles of Wroclaw (pronounced Vrot-swof, by the way), it arrived at around 11:00 PM on my final night of attendance at the 4th edition of the city’s American Film Festival (22-27 Oct, 2013). I was strolling back to my hotel in the company of Killer Films honcho Christine Vachon and Tennessee-based producer Ashley Maynor when a lissome young Polish fellow with rosy cheeks, Kurt Cobain hair, and a T-shirt bearing the legend ‘Hipsters Don’t Wear Frames’ suddenly appeared. With a shallowness of breath that suggested he’d […]
by Ashley Clark on Nov 4, 2013 -
These Birds Walk — A Hammer To Nail Review
A near-perfectly imperfect burst of present-tense poetry, Bassam Tariq and Omar Mullick’s These Birds Walk is messy with life and lyricism, a searching, empathetic piece of cinematic nonfiction that holds a close-up on a misunderstood part of the world and heralds the arrival of two new powerful voices in documentary. What begins as a portrait of Pakistani humanitarian Abdul Satar Edhi and his orphanage transforms into a deeply poignant study of youth under pressure and a potent reminder of the affecting possibilities of observation. The opening shot is a pure jolt of youthful, free cinema, as good a beginning to […]
by Robert Greene on Nov 1, 2013 -
Following the Legacy’s Lead: Barbara Kopple on Running From Crazy
The name Hemingway carries a many numbered associations, “charmed” and “gifted” not least among them. But from the inside looking out, a far less sensationalized view slides into focus. Likening her namesake to Kennedy, Mariel Hemingway’s preferential description of her lineage can be summed up as “the other American family that had this horrible curse.” A curse — of suicide, depression, mental instabilities, drug and alcohol addiction — that is both respectfully and holistically probed in Barbara Kopple’s latest film, Running From Crazy. The youngest of Jack Hemingway’s three daughters, Mariel was often at odds with the free-spirited nature of […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Oct 31, 2013 -
Deb Shoval Interviews Stacie Passon About Concussion and the IFP Narrative Labs
The following is a guest post by writer/director Deb Shoval, whose debut feature AWOL participated in the 2013 IFP Narrative Labs. Nine months ago, I sat down with the endlessly generous Stacie Passon, the writer/director of Concussion, for some words of wisdom on making the low budget, indie first feature. Her biggest piece of advice? Get AWOL into the IFP Narrative Labs. Fast forward to Part 2 of 3 of the yearlong lab fellowship: IFP Week. Stacie, now an IFP Narrative Lab mentor, gets into more detail. Passon: Now if my son comes in during this interview and starts whining, […]
by Deb Shoval on Oct 30, 2013 -
Prairie Song: Felix Van Groeningen on The Broken Circle Breakdown
The Broken Circle Breakdown spares you no sentiment at all. It’s willfully melodramatic and all the better for it. A broad, decade-spanning tale, set in an almost unthinkably weird but remarkably compelling European subculture. Belgian filmmaker Felix Van Groeningen’s newest film, a double prize-winner at Tribeca this year, leaps into loss and love and faith amidst the story of a Dutch couple, bluegrass musicians of all things, who confront, in vastly different ways, the untimely death of their young child. Set largely in the Flemish countryside, the movie goes back and forth in time, dancing from the start of the couple’s […]
by Brandon Harris on Oct 30, 2013 -
John Sloss’ Crusade for Transparency
As the first in what is to become a weekly, unprecedented occurrence, Cinetic Media released the VOD and theatrical gross of Escape From Tomorrow over at its sister site, Film Buff. Utilizing the Producers Distribution Agency catalogue, John Sloss and company will post an aggregate number every Monday that represents revenues from the divergent platforms, before hopefully moving on to films outside their network. “We call upon those distributors who have been pioneers of the day-and-date evolution to supply Cinetic with their cable and broadband VOD gross numbers so we can post a comprehensive snapshot of the distribution industry each week,” Sloss said in a […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Oct 28, 2013
